What are the earliest signs of stretch marks?… by Louise
I'm almost 28 weeks pregnant and appear to be getting little thin red lines along the sides of my belly. I'm really worried they could be the beginnings of stretch marks but I'm not sure. Does anyone know please?
Best Answer:
Stretch marks, called striae distensae, are often seen in varying degrees during pregnancy. They may only appear later on in your pregnancy, and usually around your abdomen, breasts, hips and buttocks. After your pregnancy they may fade to be the same color as your skin, but they will not go way.
Stretch marks start as red lines on the skin that are slightly raised. Depending on the color of your skin, they may also look pink, reddish brown, or dark brown. The lines then change to purple, before slowly flattening out. As the lines get flatter, they also fade, and usually end up a few shades lighter than your natural skin tone. Stretch marks usually appear in parallel lines. The skin is thin and silvery and often looks scar-like. They usually fade and become less noticeable over time, but this can take years. Stretch marks usually appear in places where a greater amount of fat resides. In women, the places include breasts, hips, thighs, and buttocks. In men, the places where stretch marks could be found include upper arms, thighs and buttocks.
To help avoid the occurrence of stretch marks during pregnancy, you can ensure that your weight gain throughout your pregnancy is steady, as any large increase of weight will cause stretch marks to appear more readily.
Some people may recommend that you use a steroid cream, such as hydrocortisone or topicort, to treat stretch marks. You body will absorb the steroid and it may be passed onto your baby. Before using any steroid creams, discuss your options with your health care provider!
What you can do for stretch marks?
Although the formation on stretch marks forming during the course of your pregnancy may be high, there are a few steps which you can take to try and help reduce the degree to which they appear, or how well they will heal post pregnancy, you may want to try the following:
1. Drinks lots of water, and eat healthy foods. Foods which are high in antioxidants, such as fruits and vegetables that are bright red, orange or yellow, provide the essential nutrients for tissue repair and healing.
2. Maintain your skins elasticity by eating adequate amounts of protein and smaller amounts of fat. Flaxseed, flaxseed oil, fish and fish oils are all good sources, but be careful with your fish consumption, as you don't want to eat too much fish.
3.Stay out of the sun.
4. Follow a regular exercise program. The regular exercise will help keep your skin and body in good condition throughout your pregnancy. It will also help to ensure that your weight gain is steady, and help to improve your weight loss post pregnancy. Get more information on exercise during pregnancy.
Treating Stretch Marks Post Pregnancy
After your pregnancy you will have a few options as well to help treat the effects of stretch marks. In fact there are some new treatment methods which seem to be working well.
The use of Retin-A or Renova in combination with glycolic acid has been shown as a fairly effective treatment method. However, you will need a prescription for Retin-A and Renova, although you can get glycolic acid from your dermatologist.
An over the counter method of fighting the effects is a cream called StriVectin-SD, which is available from www.strivectin.com
However the most successful method of treating stretch marks is laser therapy. The down side to laser therapy is it may be costly, and so is often done in combination with medical methods described above.
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