Postpartum Stretch Marks – The Solution.

 

Stretch marks are those little scar-like tears on your skin. They are a normal accompaniment of pregnancy. Your development of stretch marks depends on your skin’s genetic predisposition to weight gain. Postpartum stretch marks usually starts developing from around the 5th month of pregnancy when the abdomen and the other body parts that are predisposed start adding fat deposits under the skin and start stretching the skin beyond its tensile limit.

How do you get stretch marks

Stretch marks appear postpartum on your skin as a result of the effects of the hormones of pregnancy. These hormones lead to softening of the skin and its connective tissues with resultant breaks in the skin as the expanding skin reaches its elastic limit as it accommodates the expanding pregnancy. Fat deposits under the skin in these regions that stretch marks develop in hence you can also observe it developing in the buttocks, breasts and thighs. Sudden fat loss following pregnancy also makes you to get predisposed to development of stretch marks.

Types

Stretch marks are commonly classified into two main groups:

Striae rubrae– The red purple or dark brown stretch marks that marks the onset of the condition.

Striae albae- The white stretch marks that characterizes the mature stretch mark.

Stretch marks can also be classified according to the period of onset those appearing in pregnancy being named striae gravidarium and those occurring during puberty being called striae distensae.

Presentation

You will usually present with your skin looking raised, thin and purple or pink colored initially. As your skin stretches more it can cause irritation with resultant itch – scratch cycle with the scratching causing it to break and worsen in severity hence you are encouraged not to scratch it as it develops to lessen the severity. Your application of soothing creams at this time will help in immensely reducing the severity of the scratch marks postpartum.

Treatment

Your stretch marks may not disappear completely especially as its development has a lot to do with your genetic makeup but they do get lighter with time even without any treatment so if you are not bothered by those lines you might as well bear it as part of the signs of motherhood.

Various treatment modalities exist for taking care of stretchmarks postpartum

Home made recipes

Water: If your skin is well hydrated, it remains supple and maintain its elasticity throughout pregnancy and is always a first line measure in preventing the development of stretch marks especially if you combine it with other home made remedies and a well-balanced diet.

Oils and Creams: Home made oils and creams containing the vitamins A, D and E like cocoa butter, Shea butter, olive oil, castor oil, honey etc and work by increasing the elasticity of the skin can be used in the treatment of stretch marks. Creams containing glycolic acid or lactic acid that have been helpful in improving the collagen content of the body has also been found to be good for stretch marks.

Massage the oil and cream into the skin over the stretch marks and allow it to stay for some time over the skin before taking your bath or you can apply the cream to the skin overnight. It works effectively if judiciously used over time.

Bathing with warm water: Improves the blood circulation to your skin and will help in improving your skin elasticity and rejuvenation.

Exercises: Those exercises that help you to tone up muscles over stretch marks have a great impact on the resolution of your stretch marks on the skin over these muscles as it tightens the loosened skin. Combine this with a balanced diet for a great effect.

Medical remedies

Medical treatments are not recommended for first line treatment of stretch marks. They are not also recommended when you are breastfeeding. They are costly and must be done under the direct supervision of your dermatologist. If, you are really keen on removing those stretch marks completely medical treatments are very effective.

Derma peeling – This is the use of chemical solutions on your stretch marks. The active ingredients in the chemicals consists of trichloroacetic, lactic, glycolic, salicylic or carbolic acids. The application of these chemicals on your skin lead to blister formation over the stretch marks. The skin is later peeled off with resultant formation of new skin layer.

This treatment however may be counterproductive in persons predisposed to forming hypertrophic scars and keloids especially people of African descent so you should look at your skin and how any previous skin cut or injury you had healed to get an idea if you have this tendency before doing derma peeling.

Laser therapy – Laser is a very effective treatment for the removal of stretch marks. You can either use the ablative or the non ablative laser therapies. The two methods you can commonly use are either pulse dye laser or fractional non ablative laser treatment. Laser therapy is costly but permanently removes the stretch marks as it breaks down the affected skin by vaporization with resultant production of new cells. For laser to be effective you may require several sessions to completely remove the stretch marks.

Surgery – Dermabrasion which is the surgical procedure for the removal of stretch marks is not recommended. The leftover scars turn out to be worse than the original stretch marks.

Don’t stretch it

Strech marks happen to be one of the anticipated consequences of pregnancy and though it can be an inconvenience, you do not really need to stretch it too far as you can address your stretch marks by having adequate knowledge of your predisposition. By simply looking at your mother and senior sisters who have been through pregnancy, and then planning ahead while in early pregnancy or prepregnancy on how to minimize the impact you can accomplish a lot. Upon delivery, you can employ several measures to address your stretch marks. The stretch marks will eventually fade over time with the correct measures without resort to major medical remedies but if it still doesn’t fade to your satisfaction the application of the correct laser therapy can conveniently completely remove the stretch mark.

Dr mawa

mypostnatalmanagement.com