Stretch Marks - Stretch Mark Causes & Treatments

For many of us the stretch marks are quite unsightly. Stretch marks are not harmful for the body but are considered unwanted by the conscious. Stretch marks, in most of the cases, occur across the skin when the exterior is stretched quickly due to weight gain, pregnancy, or fast weight loss.

These marks generally begin as dark lines and then turn into lighter lines. These can be eliminated or avoided with proper awareness of the causes that create them.

These marks are caused when your skin grows and doesn't return to its normal shape. This stretching of the skin usually starts in the middle layer of the skin that is known as dermis. As this layer of skin stretches too much in one direction due to some reason which can be sudden weight gain or weight loss, pregnancy etc, a stretch mark appears on your body.

In the beginning it is red or purple in color and then in some cases fade over with time. The common areas where it usually shows up are the thighs, hips, breasts, shoulders and lower back.

These are the areas, which are affected due to sudden weight gain or loss. The type of skin also plays an important part in getting such marks. Usually those with elastic skin are more likely to develop the marks that appear on the abdomen, thighs or buttocks.

Although they cause no harm to the body, still are considered ugly and that is why people having them go in for a variety of treatments for their removal. One such treatment for the removal is plastic surgery. Plastic surgery can offer permanent workable solution for the aforesaid problem.

In plastic surgery certain portions of skin that contain the marks are removed or simply cut off, and the remaining skin is pulled tight. This is how they are removed giving you a stretch marks free skin. However, the plastic surgery is fine on some parts of the body, but not on others.

To get the best solution with the plastic surgery you need to consult a plastic surgeon. It is only after the consultation you can find if particular marks on your body can be removed. The surgery is costly and hence doing it right for the first time is very essential.

Another successful treatment in the removal is micro-dermabrasion. This treatment is effective in the removal without a trace. Still, the micro-dermabrasion has some limitations treating the cause.

Micro-Dermabrasion consists of a scraping away of the skin with a specially fitted tool.The epidermal structure and the condition of the deeper dermis are safely improved through Micro-dermabrasion.

Generally it is the medical sand blasting technique whereby microscopic particles abrade the treated skin. The micro-dermabrasion is a process of microscopic penetration and biological restitution. This process stimulates the formation of new collagen and elastin. You can have the best results if the micro-dermabrasion is regularly repeated in 6 to 10 sessions.

The marks will respond lesser to this treatment if they are already mature and white. If they are already mature they will still be disturbing and the best alternative is to resect the affected skin by means of body contouring surgery.

Another sought after technique for the removal of stretch marks is the laser treatment or surgery. Laser surgery for stretch mark removal is comparatively recent and is known to be effective against stretch marks that are in early stages of development.

However for mature stretch marks, the efficacy of laser treatment is doubtful. This is because laser pulsed light works best on dark brown or reddish marks.