Natural Remedies for Stretch Marks

 What are stretch marks?

 

Stretch marks are those pesky fine lines on the skin surface that often show around skin folds. They form due to the rapid growth of skin tissue which leads to overstretching and tearing.

 

Stretch marks are harmless, they do not have any negative effect on your health as such, they are however of cosmetic concerns and as a result could have a negative impact on the mental health.  

 

 

 

What Causes Stretch marks?

Stretch marks will form in those areas of our body that are often exposed to sudden, continuous stretching. In essence, the rapid increase in the surface of the skin will cause stretching which can lead to tearing.

 

This is often seen in pregnant women when the belly gets bigger in size, in Overweight people, bodybuilders, teenagers due to growth spurts, some medications that would cause weight gain such as steroids, can also lead to stretch mark formation.

The most common areas affected are, the belly, breast, thighs, upper arm and armpit area.

 

 

How to prevent Stretch marks:

Knowing the cause of stretch marks should make avoiding it easier. Avoid overstretching of the skin tissue, avoid rapid weight gain. This sounds easy but reality is, it is not as straight forward as it sounds. A good example of the sometimes-unavoidable situation is developing stretch marks during pregnancy.

Controlling your weight during pregnancy is probably achievable to some extent but the skin stretching caused by growth of the unborn baby is, of course, unavoidable, growth spurt in teenagers is certain. This leads to the next question; how do you treat Stretch marks?

 

 

How to treat stretch marks:

I should probably start by saying that there is no evidence-based effective treatment for stretch marks. In other words, anybody promising you miracle in a jar to make stretch marks disappear in a minute, is lying to you.

 

In most people, irrespective of the cause of stretch marks, the lines become less visible with time and generally do not require any treatment. In some people but rarely, they may become extensive and fragile causing actual skin tear or ulceration.

 

some cosmetic treatments like topical retinoids, chemical peeling, microdermabrasion, and skin needling may help reduce the appearance of stretch marks, problem is, they are often overpriced and not easily accessible. They do not come with a guarantee so why squander the money.

 

There are some management options to help reduce the visibility of stretch marks, but these often take months or even years in some cases. Again, there are no magic creams or interventions, you need time, patience, perseverance, and knowledge (this you now have by reading this article)

 

 

1)          Eat Healthily: This means eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions to achieve and maintain healthy body weight.

2)          Drink Water: I am sure you have been told to drink at least 2L of water a day if you are an adult with no underlying health condition requiring you to reduce your water intake.

3)          Exercise: This helps to tone your muscles and tighten the skin tissue

4)          Moisturise, this cannot be overemphasized. Apart from the first 2 points, this is by far the most important thing you can do for your skin.

 

Natural Moisturisers:

There is a long list of natural moisturizers out there which you do not need to break the bank for. Even something as simple as Vaseline, if applied diligently and consistently, works relatively well as a good moisturizer.

 

Other natural moisturisers that should be applied directly onto the skin include,

 

Raw Aloe vera gel,

Pure organic honey,

Shea butter, coconut oil and argan oil. 

The list continues…

 

Conclusion:

There is no quick fix and sometimes stretch marks cannot be avoided but generally, understanding how stretch marks come about may help you prevent them from occurring in the first place.