Stretchmarks –  What they are & how to get rid of them

Congratulations you’ve made it past the first difficult hurdle of becoming pregnant!  However putting on a bikini next summer is probably the last thing on your mind. When you’re pregnant or have given birth there are so many other things to worry about that it’s easy to forget (or simply not care!) about the way you look, as your body, diet, routine and relationships are all adapting to make way for your baby.

But  it is important to give yourself some time as well.  Between 75 and 90% of women develop stretch marks during pregnancy. As you put on weight, the tummy is gradually stretched further and further, usually causing stretch marks to appear in the sixth or seventh month. If you’re really unlucky, stretch marks can appear on the thighs, buttocks and on the breasts as they get bigger and heavier.

The marks start off as thin, parallel red lines in the dermis (the middle layer of skin). They happen when the skin is stretched over a short period of time, and as time goes on, the skin becomes thin and silvery and may appear scar-like. Whilst the marks can fade and become less noticeable, this may take years and a few simple steps from the early days of pregnancy can help keep you in bikinis just that little bit longer.

Not everyone gets stretch marks. Doctors think some people get stretch marks because their bodies produce more of the hormone, corticosteroid, than normal. This hormone decreases the amount of collagen in the skin, and collagen is the protein which keeps our skin fibres stretchy. Most people’s skin needs daily help to give it the best chance to survive the 9+ months intact and free from stretchmarks.

Massage your skin, maintain a healthy diet

Massaging your skin everyday with a moisturising cream or oil  can really help to improve circulation, which encourages new tissue to grow. It is also important to eat a balanced diet rich in vitamins, especially vitamin E, vitamin C, zinc and silica that all help to keep skin the healthy. Consider taking antenatal health supplements to boost your intake of key nutrients.

Drinking lots of water will help with many aspects of pregnancy, including keeping your skin hydrated.

Moisturisers, oils and creams

Start early, and pick creams and oils which contain vitamin E derivatives such as Tocopherol or vitamin A derivatives such as Retinol Palmitate.

Shea Butter (which forms the base ingredient  of Juliet Wilson’s award-winning Nutrilastin Stretchmark Cream) is a skin moisturiser which, although more expensive to produce than traditional moisturising base creams,  has moved to the skin care products forefront because of its recognised moisturising properties. As a result it is used by the majority of the premium brand skin care companies in their top of the range products. Shea is a very unique skin emollient and moisturizer.  Shea Butter, extracted from nut of the African Shea tree,  has proven to be a highly  effective moisturizing, anti-inflammatory agent. It has become an effective treatment for a number of skin maladies, including scars, eczema, wounds, burns, rashes, acne, dry skin, dark spots, skin discolorations, wrinkles, and most importantly, stretch marks. Because of its unique ability to reduce and heal scars, it is understandable that Shea has surged to the top of stretch mark reducing treatments. Shea extract absorbs easily into the skin and does  not leave the body (or face) feeling greasy.

Whilst Shea Butter is important as a moisturising base cream – there are several other naturally occurring active ingredients that are important in stretchmark treatment and prevention. One of the most important  of these is  Rose Hip oil, again included in both the Nutrilastin Stretch Mark Crream and Body Treatment Oils as a key ingredient. A range of scientific research studies  by skin care specialists has demonstrated that rosehip oil greatly reduces the appearance of imperfections in the skin such as stretch marks as well as wrinkles. This natural Gamma Linoleic Acid is an essential oil which research  over many years has shown to contain highly effective skin-repairing ingredients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids and Vitamin A which helps to heal scarring as well as reduce the reddening that is typically associated with stretchmarks. It is also mild enough to be used on even the most sensitive skin. Rosehip Oil is extracted from rose seeds.

Rosehip oil is the only known natural vegetable oil that naturally contains Vitamin A, which has anti-ageing properties such as cell regeneration and collagen promotion. It helps promote skin cell growth and reproduction, in turn regenerating damaged skin. The oil also contains essential fatty acids (oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids) and Vitamin E, which help moisturize skin to keep it radiant and healthy. It is also referred to as a “dry” oil, which means that when applied to the skin, it does not leave an oily film.

Grapeseed oil, as contained in Juliet Wilson’s Nutrilastin Body treatment Oil, is well known for being a non-greasy massage oil with excellent skin healing properties. Grapeseed oil contains more linoleic acid than other carrier oils which aids general skin health and is highly beneficial for stretchmark treatment and prevention because of its highly  regenerative and skin healing qualities.

The Use of Collagen in Stretchmark Prevention

Collagen is a protein that serves to support your tissues, cells, organs, and bone structure. Collagen makes up around 75% of healthy skin. It represents such a huge proportion of our skin that when collagen fibres  get damaged or when collagen production decreases, the overall health of our skin gets significantly affected. Examples of bad effects are fine lines, wrinkles, and premature ageing of the skin. Another bad effect is the development of stretch marks.

During pregnancy, some hormones make the collagen found in the ligaments around a woman’s abdomen softer in order to prepare the body for the birthing process. Unfortunately, these hormones also affect the collagen found in the skin. Since the skin collagen becomes weaker, stretch marks form as the body grows in order to accommodate the growing baby.

Aside from physical damage to the skin like overstretching of the skin due to extreme weight changes, other factors may bring about the breakdown of the collagen in our skin or cause the rate of new skin production to decline. One example is sunlight exposure.  If unprotected,  skin exhibits damage in the form of premature aging compared to those people who use skin protection like sunscreen and clothing.

In order to prevent and reduce stretch marks, you should aim to stimulate production of new collagen in addition to the maintenance of the levels of healthy collagen in your skin. One way of doing this is to ensure that you are getting enough amounts of Vitamin C and other ant-oxidants. Vitamin C is not only a powerful antioxidant, but also a promoter of collagen synthesis. Eating a balanced diet will help you get the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, also consider taking a good antenatal health supplement during pregnancy to boost nutrient levels. The addition of hydrolysed collagen to the skin through inclusion within moisturising creams and oils, as contained within Juliet Wilson’s Nutrlastin Stretchmark Cream,  has been shown to also contribute to improvement in skin collagen levels.

Don’t Eat for Two!

Your appetite increases at various points in your pregnancy and it’s normal to put on weight, but it is a myth that you need to ‘eat for two’. Pregnant women need to take in extra calories to nourish the baby (about 500 extra calories per day), but make sure these calories are from nutritious foods, not fatty ones, so that you put on weight gradually and are able to shed pounds easily once you’ve finished breastfeeding. As a rough guide:

• It is normal to gain 1 to 2kg (2 to 4.5 lb) over the first 12 weeks
• From week 12 to 28 it is normal to gain 300 to 400g (10 to 14oz) per week
• From weeks 28 to 40 (the last 3 months) it is normal to gain 1 to 3kg (2 to 6lb) per month.

See your GP, midwife or health visitor for advice if you are worried that you aren’t gaining weight at the correct rate.

Surgery

There are a number of options available and it pays to do research on the latest alternatives on the market as technology in this area is improving all the time. Laser surgery, for example, doesn’t strictly remove stretch marks, but it can help them to fade. Laser light therapy is a non-invasive procedure that serves to darken old stretch marks in order to make them blend with the surrounding skin. This treatment option serves to disguise your stretch marks by turning them into a darker shade. In addition, laser light therapy aid in fading old stretch mark as well as improve the elasticity of the skin and promote the production of collagen.  However, laser light therapy is not only expensive and isn’t available on the NHS, but is also rather painful.  An even more extreme option is abdominoplasty, again an expensive operation, which removes excess fat, skin and stretch marks from your tummy area. In all cases such treatments should not be considered lightly and do consult your GP, midwife or health visitor  before you make any decision.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 29th, 2010 at 1:01 PM and is filed under Skin Care During Pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.