What Are Stretch Marks?
As we all know, stretch marks mostly occur at the time of pregnancy. With all the stretching/tearing in the body, it is quite evident. But pregnancy is of course not the only reason for stretch marks.
There are a variety of reasons stretch marks occur, for instance, gyming, leading your way to obesity, ergo, gaining weight, growing spurts A.K.A, the growing age for teenagers resulting height and growth increase. All these reasons lead to stretch marks because let’s face it, that is a lot of stretching we doing!
Stretch marks vary in color, from purple to light pink to grey or faded hue. They appear either on your stomach, muscles, hips, breasts or anything that increases in size and causes the skin to stretch.
Stretch marks aren’t harmful in any sense but are the outcome of body changes. What we do tend to miss out is, stretch marks are the outcomes of natural body functions except for obesity. What I’m trying to say is stretch marks disappear just as naturally as they come or at least most of the time!
If they don’t go naturally, seldom cases but can, of course, be avoided or reduced with certain ways which we are going to talk about in this topic ahead. This was brief to what stretch marks are, how they are caused. In this topic, we will particularly focus on stretch marks that are caused while pregnancy.
HOW TO PREVENT STRETCH MARKS?
Stretch Marks In Pregnancy
Our abdomen expands beyond our thinking when we’re pregnant. No kidding we grow like a balloon and it is no joke, we are growing a new baby inside of us! In pregnancy, it is not just our stomach that grows big but almost everything.
We are eating double our diet because come on we need to keep our body fit to support the baby and the big balloon. Now, pregnancy stretch marks are too much because there are two factors behind it, first, pregnancy, duh and second “gaining weight”!
These first, occur when we are 6-7 months pregnant. It is when we actually start growing more than our body hoped for, haha! Now, it is not about how we treat them once they occur but we have to be prepared long back, since the very start! Shall we begin our journey to hoo-lah, ho-lah!
Before we start, one more thing, pregnancy can also be caused due to genetics. So, chances are if your mother to mother to mother to mother had it, so will you! But we can cure it out. No big-a deal!
1. Preparation.
-
Moisturise
As I speak of it, we need to prepare our body before these show up. Start with moisturizing your skin, especially the parts that are very much prone to stretch marks, say, your breasts area, hips, stomach, abdomen.
Our skin gets its firmness from Collagen and elasticity from Elastin. When our body undergoes these major changes, a.k.a, growing into this big balloon, these fiber breakdown/rupture resulting in stretch marks. That is why, my friend, we provide the nourishment to our skin before this incident takes place. Moisturizing nourishes our skin and gives it support for the coming dark days, kidding!
Also, moisturizing softens our skin and those are more likely to occur in dry skin! The other way of keeping our skin moisturized is staying hydrated. My advice is keeping drinking. Drink water, drink fresh juices, drink milk. The more hydrated you are, softer the skin and lessen the possibility of it.
-
Nourishment
We tend to miss out on our diet and weaken our skin’s quality and that leads us to many problems, one of them is stretch marks. So start nourishing from inside. The outer cover might breakaway but if you are strong from inside, no one can touch you, girl!
Look for a diet that nourishes your skin. Mostly we cover it with our normal pregnancy diet but still keep a note if you are forgetting to add something. The list must are Vitamin C, Vitamin D, lots of protein. Vitamin C is a great source for Collagen. And Protein a very good source for Elastic fiber in our skins.
-
Controlling Weight
Hearing it can be a real shocker considering how ironic it sounds whilst pregnancy at hand. But it is actually true and quite possible. Balancing weight is very much important in pregnancy. Obesity is never an answer to any healthy cell lines. But many a time, we tend to ignore it with the thought process that it doesn’t matter. It matters, it matters a lot.
A healthy, non-obese body is good for the baby and yourself and given the benefits of it playing a major role in treating stretch marks. I say it’s a win-win situation. Now, how to turn it into reality. It can be hard telling if you are obese or not for obvious reasons. But there is a weighted call for pregnancy in regulation to your body.
Visit your gynecologist right aways, talk about your body and weight limit. With that done, ask for a healthy diet plan, too. Your gynecologist knows your body way better than me and they can give you a better-planned diet that would support your body, your baby, your pregnancy and forthcoming postpartum.
2. Devil’s arrival.
It’s a dramatic phrase for stating the arrival of Stretch marks. Please don’t mind me. As I mentioned above, stretch marks first show up in the 6th-7th month of pregnancy. Studies show stretch marks can be cured better when fresh. It’s like killing cancer in the starting stage. These can be very nasty when it comes for them to leave like acne.
Resilient! Once treated fresh, they almost fade back to normal. It can be hard to remove stretch marks once they have lived quite a months but depending on the skin type and genetically history, we can always give it a shot.
There are a number of ways to get rid of Stretch marks but first, you need to map down your body/skin type. It’s simple, sit down with your gynecologist and dermatologist and let them tell you what is good and not in anyways harmful for you or your baby!
-
Laser Treatment & Cream
Laser treatment helps your body to produce collagen and elastin, the building elements for the skin. Increase in collagen and elastin helps your skin to heal faster. Consult your gynecologist and Dermatologist before getting one. Ask them if it is completely safe for you and the baby.
Stretch marks therapy includes cream formulas that heal cracked/stretched skin. There are multiple good products out there for stretch marks. Best known Bio-oil, Mederma Therapy, etc.
One highly effective product is Retinoid cream. Retinoid is a derivative of Vitamin A, functions in the making of Collagen. Disclaimer: Retinoid is proven very dangerous to a pregnant woman. It is safe to say use once you have the baby. Don’t ever use it in pregnancy.
These treatments can be very expensive. With this statement, I would like to enlighten the fact that stretch marks to tend to go naturally with time and depending on your skin type they can also stay forever. Either one is equally possible. So spend carefully.
-
A note.
Some of the mothers cherish these and I’m not even stretching it. Pun intended. My son does all the gym-y things and I saw him being proud of his stretch marks on his chest and shoulder area. So maybe you can find the fun and pride in that or you can get it removed. You are beautiful either way with your choice.
Conclusion
We tried to enlighten as much as we could regarding the topic. If you have any experience or idea or ways that cured your stretch marks, let us know in the comment section down below. Until then,
Adios!