Stretch marks, also called striae or striae distensae, are a type of skin scarring with a pinkish or yellowish colour that appears when your skin rapidly expands or contracts.
Collagen, a protein found beneath your skin, supports and improves the flexibility of your skin. Your skin's attempt to repair any sudden shift or tear in the collagen of your skin could result in stretch marks.
They frequently manifest themselves on the hips, thighs, back, shoulders, chest, arms, and stomach. These grooves or lines are neither dangerous nor painful. However, some people could feel self-conscious about how they look. They eventually regress in importance.
RISK FACTORS
Anyone can get stretch marks, however certain things make you more likely to do so, such as:
- Being a woman.
- Having stretch marks personally or in your family.
- Pregnancy, particularly if you're young.
- Adolescents experience rapid growth.
- Gaining or losing weight quickly.
- Corticosteroid use.
- Undergoing breast augmentation surgery.
- Working out while taking anabolic steroids.
- Having a genetic disease like Marfan syndrome or Cushing's syndrome.
CAUSES OF STRETCH MARKS.
The specific mechanism by which striae develop is a subject of great debate. There appears to be inflammation and damage to the dermis' elastic fibres, which leads to atrophic scar-like changes over time. The dermis is the skin's deeper layer.
These modifications seem to be brought on by excessive physical stretching of the skin.
The development of striae on the skin is predisposed by several clinical circumstances. These consist of
1. An uncontrollably rapid increase in body mass (weight gain).
2. Excessive systemic or topical glucocorticoid medication use (steroids).
Cushing's disease, third (overproduction of glucocorticoids by the adrenal gland).
4. Adolescence
5. Ehlers-Danlos and Marfan syndromes (two uncommon genetic diseases).
6. Breast implants or excessively large breasts.
7. Pregnancy.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF STRETCH MARKS.
Obesity in children usually affects both sides of the body (symmetrically), with the thighs, arms, and belly being the most noticeable areas. The back, buttocks, and knee regions are also occasionally affected.
If you use corticosteroids or have certain conditions, it could be broad or show up in other places.
Its appearance could alter with time:
They start as pale, pink, parallel bands that are grouped in a line and may itch a little.
They frequently have a wrinkled surface as they gradually expand and change colour from red to purple.
They eventually transform into white, slightly depressed, centimetre-long linear marks that are 1 to 10 mm broad and resemble crepe paper.
STRETCH MARKS HOME TREATMENTS
Numerous creams, salves, oils, and other skin ointments are available that claim that they can either prevent or treat them. But there isn't much evidence that any of these products function. Some medical procedures and natural therapies can lighten or cover stretch marks:
Stretch marks can be hidden using body makeup and self-tanner. Be aware that stretch marks won't disappear with tanning. They are now simpler to see.
3. Bitter almond oil:
According to one study, pregnant women who massaged bitter almond oil into their bellies had fewer stretch marks than those who applied the oil straight to their skin.
4. Moisturizers like cocoa butter, shea butter, olive oil, vitamin E oil, and others
These organic moisturizers can soften your skin, but it's unclear whether or not they can treat or prevent stretch marks.
Use a cream, lotion, or gel every day for a few weeks if you choose to experiment with fading stretch marks. Spend a little time massaging it into your skin. Newer stretch marks could respond well to these products.