Stretch marks are an indication that your skin on the affected area has stretched as far as it can. Therefore, they usually occur among women and a few man with a significant weight fluctuation. Pregnant women, who have a chance of gaining a lot of weight during their time carrying a baby, are not surprisingly the most common group experiencing stretch marks. Stretch marks may also happen to young women who have just entered their puberty. During that time, there is a growth hormone spurt which may cause weight gain in certain body areas. This will cause the skin to expand and thus, creating stretch marks. Women and young girls are not the only groups having the chance of developing stretch marks. Men or women who gain a lot weight through exercises might also develop stretch marks which come from skin stretching.
How does stretch mark occur on skin?
Our skin consists of three different layer. The surface is called epidermis, the middle layer is dermis, and the inner layer is subcutaneous tissues. Stretch mark occurs within the middle layer of the skin, which is the dermis. Stretching itself is not the cause. Instead, inability of dermis to retain its shape after rapid stretching is often the culprit of stretch marks occurrence. When certain hormone circulates inside the blood flow, collagen production in the skin might be inhibited. With this inhibition, the skin loses its elasticity and hence, lose its ability to stretch and retract.
When you gain much weight rapidly from pregnancy, puberty, or body-building, the skin will stretch. However, the tissues beneath the skin, which is the dermis may not have the same elasticity and hence, break. When these tissues are damaged, the inner tissues beneath the dermis show and results in reddish or purplish streaks. These streaks might develop into silvery white streaks which stay permanently.
Removing stretch marks entirely is not possible, although various creams and lotions are claimed to be able to vanish them. However, some treatments might help to make the vivid color of stretch marks fade, which is really helpful to help you gain your confidence. In order to decide which treatment you can use to treat your stretch marks, you might want to know further about stretch marks and their intensity.
What does it mean when your stretch marks turn red?
People usually recognize stretch marks as silvery white streaks which occur on their skin. These smooth lines might occur in various body parts, such as arms, abdomen, buttocks, hips, and breasts. Some areas with more fat are believed to undergo more stretch marks. In fact, silvery white stretch marks are the later phase of its occurrence. Stretch marks do not occur as these white lines in the initial stage. Instead, they pass some stages before the silvery white colored stage.
When your skin stretches with limited elasticity, the tissues on the dermis layer might break. Because these tissues are broken, the beneath subcutaneous tissues show up. Although the dermis tissues are broken, blood is still circulating on the small vessels beneath the tissues. As a result, the affected areas on where the tissues are stroke turn red. In other words, reddish stretch marks is not a sign of danger. Instead, this is a sign that those stretch marks are still new and therefore, are easily to be treated.
Although removing stretch marks completely is not easy, you can make them less visible by treating them as soon as they appear. The reddish color is the best indicator of when you should treat the streaks. Start by taking some retin-A supplement if you are not pregnant, because retin-A boosts collagen production which is really good for skin repair. Should you are carrying a baby, exfoliating and rubbing vitamin E onto the affected area is a treatment you might want to consider.
When finally blood vessels do not pump any blood over the damaged tissues, stretch marks turn into silvery white color. This is the later stage of stretch marks development. When your stretch marks reach this stage, they are harder to treat and remove. Thus, it is wiser to try getting rid of the streaks when they are red in color.