Do Stretch Marks Mean you are Overweight?

The thing I’m about to proceed with in this article might be the most familiar phenomenon that someone may experience after they’re faced with puberty or may have seen it happen among their peers and family, and that’s nothing but stretch marks.

Stretch marks have been ruining the confidence of many teens going through their teen years and trying to come to terms with their own self-image for many years.

Although bullying someone because of their stretch marks and name calling used to be worse due to conservative mindsets and people’s tendency to see stretch marks as something to be fixed, the new generation seems to be more supportive in the case of how stretch marks affect one’s physical appearance. 

All that being said, humans seek perfection and stretch marks are still one of the major insecurities found in people. To make things worse, there isn’t just one factor playing a part in the forming process of stretch marks, and each case of stretch marks is unique in its own way.

Because of the mentioned reasons and how each individual has a different set of factors behind their stretch marks, it is important to fully recognize the reason in order to heal the thinned skin. 

What are stretch marks?

The nature of stretch marks is nothing but scars formed on the layers of skin that are closer to the surface due to spontaneous stretches and shrinkings happening to skin that exceeds the elasticity limits of skin within a certain time. The scars end up having the appearance of lines running alongside one another across your skin. 

Most people are unaware of how common stretch marks are, which may add to their insecurity, but it should be noted that up to 90% of people worldwide suffer from this skin condition. Stretch marks appearing during or after one’s pregnancy and or after experiencing a sudden increase or decrease in one’s weight are some of the common situations that people might end up developing stretch marks. Going through puberty and the rapid growth in adolescents are other common cases of stretch mark development. 

Stretch marks can appear on any part of the body that is covered by skin, but there are specific areas of the body that stretch marks are known to appear on frequently. Some of them are:

■ Stomach

■ Breasts

■ Buttocks

■ Thighs 

■ Upper arms 

Stretch marks are known to have a different texture from the rest of the skin, and under the touch of your fingers, you might feel that there’s a slight ridge or indentation in the areas where you have stretch marks. The skin might feel itchy or sore, and if the stretch marks are fresh, they might have a purple appearance. When healed, the skin in the stretch mark areas is thinned out. 

Stretch marks initially don’t pose any threat to your health, but like any other scar, they can end up becoming a permanent pattern on your skin. Even though most of them become permanent, the stretch marks usually change shape and appearance, and some of them even fade away in the course of time. For example, most stretch marks caused by pregnancy usually seem to fade away some time around the sixth day of delivering the baby. 

Signs of stretch marks

Although stretch marks might seem all alike, their appearance is very much dependent on a combination of the following variables:

■ Your natural skin tone

■ Your skin’s health, especially the skin conditions you might be dealing with, and elasticity

■ The body parts that are being affected

As mentioned before, the texture of the skin that is found in the affected areas by stretch marks is different, and the stretch marks come in a set of various colors. Depending on the age of the scars, how deep or how big they are, and the tone of your skin, the stretch marks can have any color, ranging from purple to red to whitish to light gray. 

Some of the signs and symptoms you should keep your eyes peeled for in case you would like to identify your case of stretch marks are listed as follows:

■ Indented appearance of lines or streaks across your skin that can be consisted of different length, width and depth

■ Pink, bluish, red, purple, and dark brown are possible variations that could appear as the color of the streaks. Depending on the skin tone, the stretch marks’ colors of the lines vary 

■ The appearance of the skin of the streaks is thin, slightly glossy and, over time, might change into a whitish color

■ Although not necessarily, skin can be itchy and irritated when it’s near the approximate time of stretch marks’ appearance

Ways to get rid of stretch marks

As explained previously, stretch marks are one of the most common skin conditions all around the world, and the more common a condition is, the more research will be done on it. As the research data about stretch marks is quite high, manufacturers have produced a decent quantity of products and procedures that are supposed to minimize the shape of the stretch marks. But not all of these products can be trusted, and it’s not just the money that would be wasted.

Your time and even maybe your health might be wasted and reduced if you end up using a product that not only doesn’t but also adds to the problem. 

■ Moisturizing products: if you’ve ever looked up for the basic products used to heal stretch marks, you’ve probably been faced with plenty of moisturizing products, from creams and lotions to serums and masks, that claim to be able to help you not only decrease but also completely diminish your stretch marks. If you’re interested in giving it a go, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD)  suggests that for the optimum result, it’s better to gently massage the moisturizer onto the newly appeared stretch marks for a certain period of time, preferably over a few weeks. 

■ Self-tanning lotions: even though self-tanning lotions aren’t a permanent fix, based on the AAD statements, applying self-tanning lotions to stretch marks can temporarily tone the shade of your stretch marks to the same shade of your skin and give you a little break from your insecurities.

■ Prescription Creams: The most researched and most guaranteed of all are the prescription creams. Certain topical creams that are only available by prescription are reported to decrease the appearance of stretch marks faster than the normal speed at which they heal on their own. These topical treatments include hyaluronic acid and tretinoin which is a synthesized form of vitamin A.

Medical options for stretch mark treatment.

Apart from the cosmetic options mentioned in the previous part, there are other options available too. Even though stretch marks fade away over time, if you’re impatient and would like to proceed with the healing process, there are medical treatments available as an option to improve your stretch marks’ appearance. All that said, you should really keep in mind that there is no treatment that would guarantee the removal of stretch marks without leaving traces. 

When it comes to seeking medical advice, a dermatologist is the person you should go to for guidance. Some of the options they might offer are:

■ Tretinoin cream, otherwise known as Retin-A and renova, tretinoin cream’s magic lies within its ability to restore collagen, which is a fibrous protein that helps with scar healing, renewal of skin cells, giving elasticity and keeping your skin looking plump. Pregnant ladies should stay away from the thought of using tretinoin cream. 

■ Excimer laser therapy: this type of laser therapy encourages melanin production that would be helpful in toning the stretch marks with their surrounding areas.

StretcHeal stretch mark cream; our top suggestion

As mentioned previously, cosmetic topical products have also been proven to be practical in the treatment of stretch mark cases, and as an ending bonus, we ought to share our top suggestion for people looking to give cream a go. StretcHeal stretch mark cream is one of the products that we were quite impressed with.

The amount of positive feedback among stretch mark creams for pregnancy reviews about this product is significant. The formula contains a targeted blend of peptides including palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-1, and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-5 that are known to increase skin’s elasticity and protect the skin itself. 

One of the ingredients worth mentioning is hyaluronic acid, one of the best hydrating agents known in the industry of cosmetic products. Hyaluronic acid is much appreciated for its unique ability of being able to hold up to a 1000 times its own weight water inside the skin and protects the moisture of the skin from evaporation, which would give the skin a more smoother and plumper look and it can be helpful in improving the indented appearance of the stretch marks that makes StretcHeal stretch mark cream a great choice for any case of stretch mark whether caused by pregnancy or sudden changes of weight. 

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