For both in men and women, part of growing up is the appearance of stretch marks. They commonly appear upon hitting puberty, rapid weight change and the most common in women, pregnancy.
The sad truth is that stretch marks don’t just disappear on their own or fade over time. Fortunately, there are methods that you can apply to reduce the appearance of stretch marks.
Can You Really Make Stretch Marks Disappear?
A striae distensae, or commonly known as the stretch mark, is the reason for the rise of products and treatments with the purpose of making stretch marks go away. Also, most of them claim that they are effective in doing so. Sadly, stretch marks don’t just disappear entirely.
Dermatologists and plastic surgeons perform different types of procedures to minimize the appearance of stretch marks. These procedures are:
- Cosmetic Surgery
- Laser Treatment
- Microdermabrasion
Medical insurance won’t cover these procedures. Not to mention, these procedures are costly.
How To Make Them Less Visible?
Stretch mark doesn’t have any gender and age preference, it affects everyone at any age. If a stretch mark becomes a burden to you, be glad because there are ways you can do to lessen its appearance ultimately making it unnoticeable.
Self-Tanners
You can make the color of stretch mark closely resemble your skin tone with the use of sunless self-tanners. Though over tanning has a negative effect in your skin’s health so don’t overdo it just keep it at a minimal level.
Additionally, stretch marks are unlikely to tan.
Makeups
Makeups can cover up those pesky stretch marks. Be sure to use foundation makeup that closely matches your skin tone.
Ointments
Lots of ointments and topical creams claim that they can effectively remove stretch marks. You can use these products. However, make sure you read feedback’s about the products and see what works and don’t. Need help finding the best one? Check out our Complete Buying Guide
Clothes That Cover More Of Your Skin
You can always wear clothes that can cover the affected areas, like pants and long sleeves.
Causes of Stretch Marks
Even though human skins are naturally elastic, they still have limitations. When overstretched or sudden changes happen to the body (puberty, weight gain, pregnancy), the skin cannot compensate for these changes causing internal tears. These tears become scars, commonly known as stretch marks.
Common reasons for the appearance of stretch marks.
- Puberty
- Pregnancy
- Rapid Weight Gain
- Bodybuilding
- Cushing’s syndrome
- Use of corticosteroids for over a few weeks
Stretch mark is called a striae rubrae in its early appearance. Stretch mark is perpendicular to the affected area and reddish in color. Over time, a stretch mark appears faded and is now called stria albae.
In Conclusion
We cannot avoid stretch marks, but we can apply some methods or products to reduce their appearance. We can even go through medical procedures if money is not an issue.
Even though stretch marks don’t just disappear over time, but when the cause of their appearance in the first place is no longer present, in time they will turn into an unnoticeable scar.