The Skinny on Stretch Marks

What is long, comes in multiples, and causes frowns of concerns to women the world over? If you responded with “stretch marks,” you know that you have your finger firmly on the pulse of women worldwide and recognize what makes them worry. Referred to in the world of dermatology as striae, these stretch marks are little more than visible signs of rapid skin expansion in a particular area of the body.

It is interesting to note that even though the skin itself, namely the outer layer or epidermis is quite capable of expanding as needed - it is the underlying layer, the dermis itself, which lacks the amazing flexibility when it comes to rapid expansion. Still able to expand, the dermis needs a lot more time to expand safely, in part because it is the area where the glands, blood vessels and also hair follicles are contained. As the demand for skin stretching occurs, an overly fast need for expansion leads to the damage of the dermis by the creation of a number of rips or tears that leads to the creation of scar tissue - the stretch marks.

Causation for stretch marks varies. Most are familiar with the obvious ones: pregnancy, rapid weight gain, and even sudden growth spurts in children and teens. Yet to a lesser extent a similar phenomenon has been reported by body builders and athletes who perform weight bearing exercises in an effort to increase muscle mass. The increase in muscle size leads to a need for expanding skin, and thus the dermis is once again at risk for tearing.

Stretch marks may appear in angry red or even purple hues, but over time they gradually fade in color, until the marks are flesh colored with just a bit lighter hue. The ridges that at times may look a bit like ripples, however, will not fade away. Both men and women can become subject to dermal tearing, and generally speaking, the areas most commonly affected are the abdomen, the buttocks, hips and also thighs, upper arms, the chest area, and rarely also around the knees.

Since stretch marks provide such a visible mar to an otherwise perfectly toned skin, the numbers of beauty treatments that claim to diminish our outright cure stretch marks are legion. The Internet itself is filled to brimming with companies that claim to sell a variety of creams which will make them go away and help the skin to smooth out. Mall based beauty parlors which are now all the rage, especially in sunny Southern California, offer lunch hour laser treatments to help bearers of such marks to reduce the appearance of the skin tears.

Thus far, many of the creams and tinctures that offer to make stretch marks go away are not supported in their claims by either scientific findings or unbiased reports by those who used them. While they might work for some in assorted cases, an across the board treatment for stretch marks that offers the opportunity for success is at this point in time only found with the help of laser treatments.