Stretch Marks

As a teenager did you look at your lower back and see stretch marks or, more commonly, have your first baby and realized that your abdomen no longer looked like yours? Although there is no magic wand for the treatment of stretch marks we are now closer to repairing them than ever before.

What are stretch marks?
Stretch marks are parallel lines that form on the skin when men and women have fast growth spurts like during puberty, pregnancy or rapid weight gain. These can be whitish in color or reddish purple in color. They are usually glossy in appearance.

To understand stretch marks, it is important to know what stretch marks are. Skin is normally made up of 80% collagen and 5% elastin the rest of it being blood vessels, and other cells. The elastin cells are the ones that give elasticity to the skin. When there is rapid skin growth, these cells are stretched out so fast that they are damaged to the point where they leave scars or stretch marks. Often as the pregnancy resolves, the body will heal the skin to the point that no stretch marks remain. However, occasionally, that healing does not happen and we are left with these unsightly changes in the skin.

How do you treat red stretch marks?
The best way to decrease the color in red scars is with the use of the IPL. At Laser Esthetica, Dr. Nalini Prasad employs the Sciton BBL to decrease much of the redness that occurs in stretch marks. Also using the SkinTyte feature, we are able to contract the skin which alleviates some of the tension in the skin.

How do you treat white stretch marks?
For the white stretch marks we are now using the Sciton Fractional Resurfacing laser. This laser makes tiny punctures in the skin (very similar to aerating the lawn). As the repair underneath occurs there is increased collagen and thickening of the skin.

Whether you are challenged with red stretch marks or white stretch marks we recommend that you schedule a consultation with Dr. Prasad to see if she feels you are a good candidate for her procedures. Call (916) 333-6993 today.