Your skin is very stretchy, and will change shape with you as you go through life such as when you put on weight or loose it, but sudden changes to your shape such as fast weight gain or pregnancy can cause problems for your skin, and can damage the dermis causing unsightly marks which are known as ‘stretch marks’.

These stretch marks are the result of too much stress being put on the collagen and elastin fibres in your dermis causing them to rupture, and although they are basically harmless they can be very obvious, resembling red or silvery stripes across key areas of skin such as the breasts, stomach and thighs, and so it is important to treat them as soon as possible to help reduce their appearance.

Initial Stages

Stretch marks will begin as red, purple or brownish stripes across the area of skin that has seen sudden weight loss/gain, and may look slightly raised or bumpy.  This is the time to start treating stretch marks, as when they have moved on to the next stage, (which is when they become silver or white in colour and slight indented), they can be much more difficult to treat.  For early stretch marks it is important to moisturise the skin at least four times a day with an intensive moisturizing cream that contains ingredients such as shea butter, cocoa butter or wheat germ oil, as this will help the skin to stretch as it needs to without so rupturing so badly.

You could also try a stretch mark cream that contains alpha-hydroxy acids or tretinoin (such as Retin-A), which can be recommended by your dermatologist, as these are thought to reduce the swelling and inflammation of newly formed stretch marks and help to reduce their long term effects on the skin.  Some people have also found glycolic acid treatments also very effective at this time as this is thought to increase collagen production in the skin, and this treatment is usually carried out by a dermatologist.  Revitol Stretch Mark Cream also claims to increase collagen production and is easy to apply yourself at home, and contains moisturisers as well to help improve the overall appearance of the skin.

Later Stages

If you already have stretch marks then topical treatments can be less effective.  Trilastin SR contains a number of deeply conditioning ingredients that can actively work to reduce the appearance of older stretch marks, but you may find that more invasive treatments are needed such as laser therapy if you have deeply indented, very noticeable stretch marks.

Fractionated laser therapy is quite expensive, around $1000 per session but it has proved successful at reducing the appearance of older, indented stretch marks in just two to three session, and excimer laser therapy can also be effective on older marks, as it triggers melanin production so that the silver/white stretch marks take on a more natural skin colour and blend in more effectively.

Microdermabrasion has also been used to treat older stretch marks successful and works by smoothing out the skins surface and stimulating new growth to reduce the appearance of any marks.

Related Tags

, indented stretch marks , does glycolic acid work on stretch marks , stretch marks , how to get rid of silver stripes , stretch mark indentation , indented white stretch marks , ph , silver white stretch marks , 0 , blend white stretch marks , does glycolic acid work on silver stretch marks , glycolic acid stretch marks , stretch marks indented , white indented stretch marks , white stretch marks , 3 , are silver stretch marks noticeable , are stretch marks indented , best way to cover indented stretch marks , blend white stretchmarks , collagen silver for stretch marks , deep intented stregth marks , does excimer laser work on stretch marks , does glycolic acid on stretch marks work