What Causes Stretch Marks?

There are several theories as to what causes stretch marks. The most common being that when the skin is stretched over a short period, such as occurs during pregnancy, the stretchy fibres in the dermis (the middle layer of the skin) tear resulting in the appearance of those reddish or purplish coloured lines we refer to as stretch marks.

For women, the most common time for developing stretch marks is during pregnancy and studies suggest that almost 90 percent of pregnant women do so.

Although stretch marks, caused by the skin stretching, are generally associated with obesity and pregnancy, the rapid muscle growth achieved by people such as body builders can also cause stretch marks.

Growth spurts during adolescence can cause intense stretching of the skin resulting in stretch marks. Boys tend to get stretch marks on the shoulders, buttocks and thighs, and girls tend to get them on the breasts, hips and thighs.

Hormonal changes and, because of the disturbance to the collagen levels in the dermal layer of the skin that certain medication may cause, the prolonged use of steroid and hormonal related medication may also be a contributory factor to stretch marks.

Stretch marks caused by hormonal changes usually appear during pregnancy, puberty and the prolonged use of certain steroid based medication.

There is also the theory that, because the hormone corticosteroid decreases the amount of collagen in the skin, people whose bodies produce more of this hormone than normal may develop stretch marks.

On and off dieting may also cause stretch marks to form as people gain or lose weight rapidly, which in turn causes the skin to stretch and shrink to accommodate.

A nutritional deficiency in the amino acid arginine, which is abundant in the structure of collagen, and the vitamins (particularly Vitamin C ) needed to support collagen syntheses, may also be an underlying cause in the development of stretch marks.

Being aware of what causes stretch marks and taking early preventative steps can go a long way to eliminating the need for more expensive treatments to remove stretch marks at a later stage.

TriLastin SR for Stretch Marks. Featured on the Tyra Banks Show.
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