While stretch marks are common in women and can, nevertheless, affect some men too, these streaks on the skin will have to count as one of the most challenging skin issues to avoid, more so, to reverse.
Causes And Prevention
You’re probably wondering how to get rid of stretch marks and if there really was a way to make permanent changes to these deep skin lesions. The answer is that ‘yes’ there are ways to improve how they appear but questions remain as to whether or not available procedures can really make them permanently disappear.
Causes
1. Chronic Stress And Raging Hormones
Major changes in a woman’s life like puberty, pregnancy and menopause can all place you at a higher risk of developing stretch marks. Stress and hormonal changes increase your cortisol, stress hormone, levels which weakens your muscles and loosens up your muscle and skin synthesis, making your skin more prone to tearing and breakage. Manage stress to manage your hormones to manage your chances of getting stretch marks.
2. Pregnancy Weight Changes, Sudden Weight Gain And Loss
All of which place pressure on your skin. When it reaches a point where it can no longer accommodate the change, your skin snaps and leaves tears on your dermis, the middle layer of your skin. Gain and lose weight gradually to give your skin sufficient time to adjust to the changes in your body size.
3. Long-Term Use Of Corticosteroids
These topical medications often prescribed for the more challenging skin conditions like eczema, makes the skin weaker, thinner and more fragile. A little change brings tears to the skin. Whenever you are prescribed to use these medications, make sure to use these as indicated only — not too much, not too frequently and not for too long..
Treatment
Lucky you, there are now at least five available treatment options proven to work out improvements on those tears deep within your skin. Are you ready to find out how to remove stretch marks? Here are your top five options:
1. Home Skincare Device
Perhaps today’s hottest news when it comes to stretch marks removal is the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a home device made specially to make those stretch marks disappear for good. Strialite is a skincare device made for personal use. It utilizes Light Emitting Diode (LED) to reinvigorate skin cells and force a more efficient skin cell turnover sooner than normal, causing stretch marks to be rewoven and improve in appearance.
2. Stretch Marks Creams
Whereas more traditional brands and formulations of stretch marks creams depended on caffeine or some other supposed natural remedies, the more advanced ones now contain retinol or other Vitamin A derivatives. These ingredients have been shown many times over to cause a faster skin cell turnover rate and higher levels of collagen production to accompany the process.
3. Radio Frequency Treatments
This procedure makes use of radio waves to systematically and non-invasively heat and treat specific areas of the skin that are affected by stretch marks, without causing harm on the top layer or surrounding areas which are otherwise healthy. The treatment effect that follows restructures the tears in the dermal matrix, making the skin appear healthier and unwanted. These treatments are sometimes combined with a low light laser treatment for better and faster results.
4. Excimer Laser Treatment
While several laser treatment techniques can be used, whether the purpose is to stimulate skin cell turnover or to increase melanin production to improve skin tone on the affected silvery patch of skin, it is the excimer laser which has been used more commonly for the treatment of stretch marks. The procedure has previously received FDA approval for stretch marks treatment. It works both to regenerate skin and to increase melanin production.
5. Plastic Surgery
This may involve cutting out individual stretch marks or a large patch of the skin where a high concentration of stretch marks appear. There is, of course, a catch, you get a surgical wound later.
