You would be hard pressed to run across a woman who has been pregnant who doesn't have some type of stretch mark someplace on their body. Almost everyone has some type of stretch mark. They can be caused by any type of rapid growth. They can show up during teen years after a growth spurt. A sudden gain and loss of weight is another contributor to stretch mark development. And with that explanation it's easy to understand how stretch marks develop during a normal pregnancy. Our skin was not meant to stretch around a 7 lb baby in a woman's stomach. Once the baby is delivered, the stretch marks stay on.
Stretch marks arise when the skin tears and eventually results in a scar that's colored violet at first. You can take steps to help enhance your skin's elasticity and therefore scale down the stress it experiences when your belly expands. During your pregnancy you can massage creams and oils on your stomach several times a day in a circular motion. The correct products should include cocoa butter, vitamin E or sweet almond oil in their list of ingredients. This will help the skin to expand with a little less tearing of the tissue and will help the skin keep a supple consistency to reduce the degree of stretch mark scarring you will experience.
Besides trying to scale down the development of stretch marks, you also have an answer to removing stretch marks after they've developed.
Back in 2002, the FDA approved a laser technique for stretch mark removal. The technique is designed to treat other skin blemishes as well and works great when it comes to the job of removing stretch marks. It accomplishes this by removing layers of scarred skin. It is becoming a favored procedure that is offered in many cosmetic clinics around the country. If you think this is an option you'd be interested in, take note that it works best on newer scars. The older the stretch marks, the more challenging it is to treat with laser so don't delay for too long.
If you are considering additional pregnancies, it would be a waste of money to get laser removal to remove your scars. I would consider an expensive procedure like laser removal only if your family is complete and no more pregnancies are planned.
For the more acute stretch mark scarring, laser may not be able to remove all traces of damaged tissue but results are very promising and laser treatment can help alleviate the scarring by quite a few degrees.
Author Resource:
Angela Smithers is a self-employed writer for Fix It With Laser. If you're searching for additional advice related to best stretch mark removal then you'll attain exceptional information about cosmetic procedures on our website.