Stretch marks appear when the tissue under the skins expands faster than the skin itself. This will cause tiny tears in the skin. Stretch marks are basically scars that form to protect the skin.

One obvious reason for getting stretch marks is weight gain and as women tend to gain the most weight during pregnant stretch marks are often inevitable when you’ve had your baby. Losing a lot of weight can also cause stretch marks as well, so if you are losing weight, you have to use a solution in order to prevent it from occurring.

 

How can you prevent stretch marks if you are pregnant or if you have gained a lot of weight and are now losing it?

 

The first thing is to pinpoint the areas where a person can have stretch marks. Pregnant women typically have stretch marks on their hips, bellies and breasts. People who are losing and gaining weight can have stretch marks on the part where they gained or lost weight. Identifying the areas is very important so you would know which areas to prevent stretch marks.

 

If you’re having a baby gaining no more than the recommended amount of weight and gaining it slowly may help reduce your chances of getting them. Rapid or excessive weight gain will only compound the problem of stretch marks and likely cause you to have more in the end. The same rule applies if you are losing weight; keep your weight loss slow and steady, say no more than 1 or 2 pounds a week, as this will decrease your risk of stretch marks.

 

Keeping your skin well-moisturised may help prevent stretch marks. A nourishing lotion, oil or cream applied on a daily and nightly basis will moisturise your skin (and also reduce itching!) There are many products especially for stretch mark prevention that contain ingredients such as vitamin E, vitamin A, emu oil, cocoa butter, wheat germ oil. Certainly moisturising helps to improve the skin’s elasticity, however, do bear in mind that the effectiveness of these products in preventing stretch marks have been shown to be rather limited.

 

A sensible diet containing plenty of fruits, vegetables and leafy greens is a must. Excellent nutrition also contributes to the strength and health of your skin. Eating foods such as those high in vitamins C, found in fruits and vegetables and vitamin E found in nuts and seeds, zinc, found in pumpkin seeds and silica, found in soybeans, will help your skin to stretch better and also help your skin to bounce back quicker after giving birth. Drinking plenty of water and taking your prenatal vitamins (like Ante Natal Plus – see the Resources Page) or a daily multi vitamin and mineral if you aren’t expecting are also critical for beautiful skin.

 

Laser treatments may be beneficial and are rapidly gaining in popularity. Using a laser or intense light, stretch marks are treated by flashes or beams of laser light that pass through the skin into the collagen within the second layer of skin. These treatments are quick, with little recovery time involved. Cosmetic surgery is another option, but is used as a last resort- for the most severe scarring from stretch marks. Unfortunately, these kinds of procedures are expensive.

 

The bad news is that stretch marks are permanent and very rarely disappear. The good news is that stretch marks usually become considerably less noticeable over time (naturally), eventually becoming a few shades lighter than your natural skin tone and the best way to help that natural process along is to lose weight slowly and steadily, to eat healthy, drink plenty of water and exercise regularly.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 3:30 am and is filed under Pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.