Stretch Marks & Pregnancy Treatment Tips

Stretch marks during pregnancy occur because the collagen and elastin that bind your skin are stressed during weight gain, resulting in tears in your skin''s elastic fibers.

Causes

The glucocorticoid hormones responsible for the development of stretch marks affect the epidermis by preventing the fibroblasts from forming collagen and elastin fibers, necessary to keep rapidly growing skin taut. This creates a lack of supportive material, as the skin is stretched and leads to dermal and epidermal tearing. If the epidermis and the dermis has been penetrated, laser will not remove the stretch marks.

Stretch marks occur when expanding skin is stretched to its limit and tiny tears appear in the supporting layers of skin. Common in pregnancy, stretch marks affect 50-90% of pregnant women. Eat a healthy, diverse and balanced diet that keeps your weight gain within the recommended range of 25 to 35 pounds. Stretch mark prevention will save you the trouble of getting rid of stretch marks once they''ve occurred. Drink plenty of water. Hydration is important for your overall health and well-being as well as that of your growing baby, and it is critical to healthy skin. The most common treatment is laser surgery for stretch marks. Take your vitamins.

Lotions and Creams

There are plenty over-the-counter treatments for stretch marks. If you are a woman who is pregnant and you are concerned with stretch marks, let your physician know you want to begin preventative treatment before your stomach starts growing. Often, your physician can recommend creams like Revitol or Palmers stretch mark remover.

Factors that influence whether or not a pregnant woman will get stretch marks include:

-- Heredity: if your mother had them, it is likely you will too.

-- Ethnicity: women with greater amounts of melanin in their skin are less prone.

-- Water: ingested during pregnancy, keeping skin hydrated decreases the chance a woman will get stretch marks.

Stretch Marks & Pregnancy Treatment Tips

1. Using lasers to remove stretch marks works because it repairs the skin''s natural synthesis of collagen.

2. Collagen is a protein rich compound occurring in the body that repairs and rejuvenates skin tissue.

3. Drink plenty of water, as this will keep your skin hydrated and make the collagen supple and soft. This will help minimize the appearance of stretch marks. Regular massage during pregnancy also helps in minimizing these marks.

4. A surgical procedure for removing lower abdominal stretch marks is the tummy tuck, which removes the skin below the navel where stretch marks frequently occur.

How To Minimize Pregnancy Stretch Marks

Pregnancy Stretch Mark

Pregnant women develop stretch marks due to the stretch and expansion of the skin all over the body. While some people are only concerned about getting them on their bellys, (pregnancy stretch mark) it is important to keep in mind that stretch marks can also develop on the arms, breasts, thighs and buttocks. Maintaining a healthy diet and nutrition, along with the drinking plenty of water will help pregnant women retain good health that will translate to better skin conditions. However, to effectively prevent the stretch mark scars, the best method still lies with the application of pregnancy stretch mark cream.

Pregnancy stretch mark cream treatments are similar to the regular stretch creams on the market, however, the pregnancy cream is basically encouraging the healing of skin cells, retaining moisture in the skin, and in some cases, creating stronger structure in the skin membrane to prevent the tears that lead to the stetch marks. The biggest difference between the creams made for pregnant women and its general counterpart is in the ingredients that are used in the product, as pregnant women are more sensitive towards chemicals.

Another difference comes in the product itself. Pregnancy creams tend to focus more on hydrating the skin and increase elasticity, strengthening skin cells, while other creams on the market are built with the emphasis on skin cell repair to minimize the visibility of stretch marks. Common ingredients in pregnancy creams include collagen, vitamin E and vitamin C.

It is tough to actually judge the effectiveness of creams when it comes to preventing pregnancy stretch marks. However, there are certainly examples of women that have used the products to a large degree of success previously. After a clear analysis in the other alternatives available on the market when it comes to prevent the stretch mark scars, using pregnancy stretch mark cream still remains as the best available option for pregnant ladies who are concerned about their skin during and after delivery.

Upon choosing to give a pregnancy stretch mark cream a try, you should first find learn more and read the ingredeints of each product and discuss them with your doctor to ensure that it is suitable for your condition.

Revitol makes a great all natural pregnancy stretch mark cream that has many wonderful reviews.

Pregnancy Stretch Marks and Skin Changes

There are countless physical changes to your skin, both pleasurable and painful attributed to your pregnancy only.

The common skin change that most pregnant woman experience is the stretch marks. Stretch marks are separations of the outer layers of skin caused by the overstretching of underlying layers.

Beside pregnant women, stretch marks are found on children who are obese, adolescents who have a sudden growth spurt during puberty and athletes and body builders who do constant exercises. The most commonly affected areas by stretch marks are hips, abdomen, breasts, thighs and buttocks. Stretch marks are itchy reddish marks.

In pregnancy, heredity plays an important role in determining who will have and will not have stretch marks. If your mother has had them, chances are that you will get them too, unless you were born with stretchy skin. There is no sure shot remedy for stretch marks as mostly they fade after delivery. The only way to avoid stretch marks is to prevent them. We recommend the following ?

- Massage vitamin E or olive oil on the abdomen areas from the start of your pregnancy. Massage it liberally over the marks after a shower. Incase you skip a shower, clean the area with a wet cloth and then apply the oil.

- Regular exercise helps to tone your muscles and keep your skin firm.

- Maintain healthy diet and drink plenty of water. Plenty of proteins and vitamin C & E foods should be included in your diet. Increase your intake of minerals such as zinc and silica to maintain healthy skin.

- One ounce of sweet almond or jojoba oil with 7-8 drops of lavender and chamomile oils is a good homemade recipe.

- Avoid excessive weight gain in a short time span.

- Cocoa butter reduces stretch marks and helps to keep the skin supple.

- Wear a glove and massage your skin to increase circulation.

- While massaging your body with body oil, add coconut and almond oil. Daily massage with Olive oil, flaxseed oil, cod liver oil or vitamin E oil after shower or before sleeping is an excellent home remedy for either preventing or treating stretch marks.

- To avoid stretch marks around breasts, wear a supportive maternity bra.

- To make stretch mark cream, mix 1/2 cup cocoa butter, 1 tsp wheat germ oil, 1 tsp apricot kernel oil, vitamin E oil and 2 tsp grated beeswax. Heat the mixture until cocoa butter and beeswax melt, stir well and store in air tight conditioner.