Get Rid of Stretch Marks

Stretch marks or striae are actually scar tissue that is produced by your body in order to heal the damage resulting from your skin of being overly stretched. Normally, over stretching of the skin is brought about by growth, pregnancy, puberty, rapid weight loss, rapid weight gain, and surgery.

Stretch marks form so that your overly stretched skin can heal itself the quickest time possible by using its own resources. However, because the overly stretched skin most often become damaged internally, textured scars form, which as you can guess by now, are the actual stretch marks.

Can you really Get Rid of Stretch Marks?

Because of the deep scarring and damage to the skin’s internal structure, no therapy can get rid of stretch marks completely. However, there are stretch mark removal creams and various abrading methods like laser removal and microdermabrasion that have proven to be effective in improving the appearance of stretch marks.

On the other hand, not all remedies that claim to get rid of stretch marks work, or work in the same level, and deliver the same results. This is because some removal methods to get rid of stretch marks don't address the root cause of the problem. Likewise, they do not offer anything in terms of stretch mark prevention.

Dermabrasion: This abrasive stretch mark removal procedure works to remove your skin’s superficial, damaged layer with the use of a diamond fraise. Simply put, it works to get rid of the outside layer of the skin.

It cannot be performed on the deeper layers of the skin, where the stretch marks actually form, because there is a high risk of patchy pigmentation, scarring, and skin ruptures which will leave you with more skin problems.

Microdermabrasion: This stretch mark removal solution is another abrading method derived from dermabrasion. It involves abrading the skin’s superficial layer by blasting micro-crystals on the affected areas. Like dermabrasion, it can only work on the skin’s superficial or outer layer, to smooth out the appearance of stretch marks, and not get rid of stretch marks. It also poses an increased risk of scarring.

Laser Treatment: Like dermabrasion and microdermabrasion, laser stretch mark removal only works to remove the skin’s outer layer, but this time, by burning it. As with the two previous methods claiming to get rid of stretch marks, laser also does not work on older, and more pronounced stretch marks.

Laser treatment is considered generally safe, but carries with it risks such as scarring and hyperpigmentation, especially with darker skinned women. Further, the cost of dermabrasion, microdermabrasion, and laser treatment per session will set you back approximately $200 to $1000 when performed by more established dermatologists and licensed professionals.

Superficial Peels : Superficial peels are normally done with use of glycolic acid. No scientific evidence is available to back up the claim that glycolic acid helps in considerably improving the appearance of stretch marks since it only acts superficially to whiten the affected area.

Medium Depth Peels: These peels use TCA or Trichloracetic at strengths of 35% or 50% to remove the skin’s outer layer and whiten it. However, it can also cause burning and dark spots. It is however capable of diminishing the appearance of stretch marks by tightening the affected area.

Deep Peels: Deep peels, like all methods mentioned above are only capable of reducing the appearance of stretch marks superficially. Likewise, it uses phenol, which is a relatively tricky and dangerous substance, since if used incorrectly, can cause not only scarring but reduced hemoglobin in red blood cells as well.

Using Creams to Get Rid of Stretch Marks

As stated above, plenty of products and services promising to get rid of stretch marks don’t work because they only address one, or some of the stretch marks symptoms, without regards to what caused the stretch marks in the first place.

An alternative to costly and relatively dangerous methods are stretch mark removal creams. Like the abrading methods, these creams work to eliminate the skin’s superficial layer. However, high quality creams consisting of active ingredients backed by scientific trials, addresses the cause of stretch marks to prevent them from occurring again, or in the first place.

When looking to try out stretch mark creams, these products should contain ingredients capable of the following:

• Boosting the synthesis of collagen and elastin.
• Dissolving scar tissues from the skin’s dermal or internal layer.
• Restoring and rejuvenating the skin’s internal and external layers and enhancing skin metabolism to get rid of stretch marks, or the appearance of stretch marks to a significant degree.