Are stretch marks more visible after you lose weight?

Stretch mark is a common skin problem experienced by men and women. However, the percentage of women with stretch marks are higher than the men because of more various hormones women’s body can produce. Stretch marks happen mostly to those who are more susceptible genetically—stretch marks are hereditary—or pregnant. Certain body areas are more susceptible of stretch marks. Those are arms, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs.

What cause stretch marks?

Literally, stretch mark is caused by skin stretch. It is caused by the increase of the hormone cortisone, which weakens skin elastic fibers. Along with decreased elasticity, the skin develops inability to return to its original size and form after expanding. There are certain circumstances which can possibly make stretch marks develop more easily. Those circumstances are:

1. Stretch marks are likely to develop during end trimester of pregnancy. At this time, abdomen skin is expanding to support the baby. Therefore, when the elasticity is decreasing, this expansion is likely to leave stretch marks which are visible after delivery. Hormones over-production and switch during pregnancy also holds an important role in stretch marks formation.
2. Weight gain. Weight gain, especially the sudden weight gain causes skin expansion which can cause stretch marks. This also happens with teenagers, when their skin is expanding due to the growth hormones.
3. Medication use. Certain medications which contain cortisone might cause stretch marks if applied continuously for a certain period of time.

Does stretch mark seem less visible after weight loss?

Besides pregnancy, weight gain is the most common culprit of stretch marks formation. When you are gain weight rapidly, your skin will over-stretched and thus, leave some marks that looks reddish and will fade overtime to get similar to your skin tone. Stretch marks are best treated soon after occurring. If you fail to treat this quickly, it will get worse overtime.

If weight gain causes stretch marks, does weight loss dismiss those? Unfortunately, it does not. Losing weight does not necessarily give back your skin elasticity. In fact, your skin does retract after weight loss. Yet, your stretch marks will not get better because of this. Conversely, it may get worse. When you gain weight rapidly, your skin stretch and leave grease lines we know as stretch marks. When you lose weight, on the other hand, the skin will get back to its position as well as the stretch marks. After weight loss, your stretch marks will get closer to one another. As a result, it gets more visible than before. However, there is a good thing about this visibility. When you are losing some weight, your stretch marks might not seem like those white or reddish lines stretched over your skin. Instead, it will resemble plain wrinkles.

Despite this, stretch marks do fade during times. However, there are some ways to do to make your stretch marks less visible both after weight gain and weight loss. Stretch marks that are left untreated can get worse. Hence, you might want to consider these things to treat the marks properly:

1. Drink sufficient water. In order to maintain skin elasticity, you have to keep it hydrated. Eight to ten glasses of water per day is really important to keep the skin elastic to reduce stretch marks visibility.
2. Apply cream or oil onto the affected areas. Applying moisturizing cream or olive oil and massage the affected area circularly will induce collagen production and thus, make the stretch marks less visible.
3. You might have done a lot of exercises to lose your weight. However, these exercises should not stop tight after you have lost some weight, because these exercise might be useful for eliminating stretch marks from your skin. With proper exercises, your skin might be tighter so that the stretch marks will be less visible.
4. Laser treatment. This might be the most expensive treatment, after all. Yet, if you expect an instant way of making stretch marks less visible, laser treatments can be a consideration.

While eliminating stretch marks permanently is almost impossible, making it less visible can be gained through some persistent exercises and healthy lifestyle. However, stretch marks are natural and can be undergone by almost anyone. As long as it does not cause any excessive pain, cover it under your clothes might be one of the most advised treatment.