What causes stretch marks at a young age?

Stretch marks do not only happen to people in older ages. Instead, some people experience this in a very young age. These marks began with red colored lines which is caused by skin overstretch. Along the time, these marks turn into silvery or grey lines which might stay permanently.

What is stretch mark and how does it occur

As its name suggest, stretch marks refer to the lines caused by the stretching of the skin. Our skin layers consist of the top layer called epidermis, the middle layer called dermis, and the base layer. Stretch marks occur because the middle layer of the skin or the dermis is tore. Basically, stretch marks are caused by skin overstretch which occurs in certain conditions as:

1. It is clear that the abdomen skin stretches a lot during pregnancy, especially in the third trimester. This stretch might tear the dermis tissues and leave stretch marks over your abdomen skin, which might be visible. Whether or not you are going to have stretch marks during your late pregnancy depends on your skin type, your hormone productions, and how elastic your skin is. These stretch marks might fade after delivery, although they might not disappear completely.
2. Rapid weight gain or loss. Our skin is supposed to be retractable. During rapid weight gain, your skin is stretching excessively. Similar to pregnancy, this stretch causes tore skin tissues on the dermis. As the result, some of the areas on your skin are visible of having stretch marks after you have gained some weight rapidly. Those areas might be your arms, hip, buttocks, breasts, or abdomen.
3. Having family history of stretch marks.It is quite clear that stretch marks are hereditary. Hence, someone in your family might transmit stretch marks from generations and make you are more susceptible than someone else.
4. Puberty. This might be an interesting cause of stretch marks. People often assume that stretch marks occur because your skin is lack of elasticity, which happens when you are older. However, it is found that stretch marks can also be caused by puberty. This will be discussed further below.

What causes stretch marks at a young age?

Stretch marks do not necessarily happen to those people in more mature ages. Although lack of skin elasticity might cause skin tissues to break, stretch marks might be caused by various other things. Puberty is one of the most common factor causing stretch marks at young age. Stretch marks are said to be caused by the stretch of the skin. Yet, it is not the stretch itself which causes these red or purple streaks. Instead, it is the rise of the glucocorticoid hormones along with the excessive stretches.

Intense hormonal changes that happens during pregnancy, obesity, excessive muscle gains, and puberty causesthe increasing level of certain hormones called glucocorticoids which are produced by human adrenal glands. Glucocorticoids, which is a steroid hormones which support your body growth during puberty will flow into the bloodstream, causing the middle skin layer or the dermis from producing sufficient level of collagen and elastin fibers which should support skin elasticity.

Along with decreasing level of collagen, your skin elasticity is also decreasing, while your skin is expanding due to your hormone spurt and body growth. Should you are more susceptible of having stretch marks, this skin stretch might cause the dermis to overstretch and cannot retract back to its original shape and size due to the lack of elasticity caused by increasing level of glucocorticoids. Without sufficient elasticity, dermis layer is fragile and can be easily tore. When your dermis is tore, it will leave reddish marks on the epidermis, which with uneven collagen production will give uneven streaks to the skin which are visible as stretch marks.

It is really important to treat stretch marks at the first time it occurs. Hence, when you spot some reddish streaks on your skin, you can massage the affected areas with certain collagen skin in order to have the lines faded. Although there is no exact treatment and product to eliminate stretch marks permanently and completely, frequent massages in the early phase of stretch marks development are proven to be effective.