The stretch marks are scars produced by the streching of the skin, this can be caused by a pregnancy, or simply when you gain and loose weight in short lapses of time, which causes loss of elasticity in the skin.

That is why we offer you some simple homemade remedies that will help to reduce the stretch marks or to avoid appearance of more stretch marks.

Avocado Cream: Mix the pulp of an average avocado with a spoonful of lemon and one of bee honey. Apply every day to the stretch mark affected area giving a circular massage.

Carrot and almond milk: Slice 2 carrots and mix it with milk of almonds until it formas a paste; later apply that paste in the affected zone and leave it as much as time as possible.

Lemon peel and egg:

For the stretch marks in the breasts, dice the peel of half a lemon in the blender and add 1 egg yolk; when it is very well mixed, apply it on your breast and let it act for several minutes.

It mixes an oil cup of salvia, 5 spoonfuls of oil of ger- wheat and 2 spoonfuls of melted lanolin men of. It warms up the mixture to bath Maria and déjala to cool. It greases the cream in the area affected before of acostarte. It grazes of carrot Pon carrots to the steam until they are put smooth, later machácalas like a puree and aplícalo in the affected zone. Déjalo to act by half an hour and it rinses with cold water. The hot water is very bad for the striae since it stretches the skin.

The most used treatments at the moment are the following:

Microdermabrasion: This technique is very effective in curing or improving the stretch marks. The microdermabrasion uses a special machine and very small crystals that exfoliates the skin at deep levels. The microdermabrasion helps to improve the production of collagen and the tone of the skin. The microdermabrasion can improve the stretch marks a lot and even erase the strecth marks completely. Microdermabrasion is done by dermatologists and aesthetic specialists in spas and. normally several treatments are needed to improve or eliminate the stretch marks.

Treatments with Retin A Retinol A (or Tretinol) is very effective treating the stretch marks. A recent study showed that a high concentration of Retinol A (1%) can help to improve the stretch marks (Journal of the American Medical Association) In this study the people who used the product for two months saw positive results. The Retinol A has contraindications and during the treatment it can have excessive irritation and slight swelling in the skin. In most of the countries the Retinol is sold only with medical prescription.

Laser Treatments  Some dermatologists assure that the laser is the solution for stretch marks. The laser treatments are short, painless and they do not leave scars. The laser ray penetrates the skin, the heat that produces in the deep layers of the skin causes that the elasticity increases. The result is one more a smoother skin and uniforms.

It can improve the stretch marks with a single treatment but normally several treatments are needed. The laser treatments generally do not repair the rupture of the skin tissue. This causes that some dermatologists do not use laser treatments for the stretch marks. Some dermatologists use the combination of laser treatments and collagen treatments which results are more effective.

Alpha-Hydroxide acids (AHA). These acids, that come from fruits, exfoliate the skin. One of its uses is in the case of the stretch marks. In a recent study some women who used a concentration of 12% of AHA observed good results. So that creams containing AHA give results must have nonsmaller concentrations of 8%. Many creams exist that contains AHA and several of them assure to contain concentrations of 8 or 10% AHA. In the majority of the cases this is not true. It is very difficult to obtain high concentration of AHA in commercial creams. The dermatologists sell creams in high concentrations.

In conclusion although a remedy does not exist that cures or prevents the stretch marks completely, in the last years have been made many discoveries in this field. In the future surely we will have a treatment that is 100% efective in the majority of the cases. At the moment we have several alternatives that although do not cure the stretch marks completely can improve them much.

Some treatments are meant to eliminate stretch marks and others improve their appearance.

In order to obtain better results it is recommended to treat them when they begin and still they are reddish.

 1- Apply oils in affected areas. It is possible to be used natural oils as it trims off lower branches of, almond, the Coco, castor bean and others. The oil of castor bean mixed with almond to equal parts and a vitamin capsule and is easy to apply and very humectante.

2- Apply cacao butter every night in the prone or affected areas. Aromatherapy Lavender and Peititgrain The essential oils of lavender and petitgrain help to that the skin is but elastic. It remembers that the essential oils never are applied directly on the skin. To 8 ounces of oil of almonds or another light oil add 10 drops of the oils before mentioned. Massage the skin with the fingers. Lavender, Orange and Geranium Another prescription of aromatherapy is the following one: Essential oil of lavender, orange and geranium. 6 mixed drops of each essential oil in 25 ml of oil base or almonds, the Coco or jojoba and 25 ml of oil of wheat germ. It is very important to maintain the skin hydrated during the pregnancy to prevent the stretch marks. For this massage with pure vegetal oil preferably an oil mixture of sweet almond and germ of wheat.

Sudden changes of weight. If we gained weight quickly the skin is forced to stretch and accommodate it. Therefore the stretch marks are very common during pregnancy.

Hormonal changes. The most common case is when the children reach puberty and the bust or breasts begins to grow.

Inheritance. This it is the most common cause, our genetic disposition, if we are predisposed to have stretch marks, any of the other causes will detonate them. So if your sister has stretch marks you should work harder to prevent the.

The general health of the skin. A combined dry skin with a poor diet that does not provide all the nutrients to the skin causes that the skin is more prone to develop striaeetch marks.

Ethnic group. The people of African descendants tend to have less stretch marks.

Fast muscle development. This it is the case of the body builders. The muscles are developed vvery fast and the skin gets broken creating stretch marks.

When the stretch marks are already formed the results will be better in the vascularized phase that in the scarring.

The products you can take among others are:

Extracts of liquorice that inhibits the excessive collagen fiber synthesis.

Vitamins A, B, F, especially the kiwi that favors the regeneration of the conjunctive tissue and therefore the correct healing.

Magnesium indispensable for the collagen synthesis. The action of these active principles will be made more effective by doing, indirect massage in the area, passive gymnastics, etc. At the moment very good results have been obtained in laser therapy.

With these treatments we will try to have a re absorption of the fibrous tissue by increasing the blood irrigation to the area re activating the formation of the normal skin tissue in the edges of the stretch mark. In order to secure to effective results and a total disappearance of the stretch marks it is necessary to resort to the aesthetic surgery or plastic surgery.

In order to prevent the formation of stretch marks during pregnancy, the treatments will tend to maintain and to increase the elasticity of the skin, applying cosmetic products that include elastine hidrolized components, extracts of placenta, amniotic liquid, extracts of plants like the quisetum (horse tail), seaweed, etc. by means of massages that stimulate the cutaneous circulation and the penetration of the active principles.

The main principle in preventing stretch marks is to keep the area very hydrated, by means of creams and lotions, some of the most recommended stretch marks lotions and creams include: Coca butter, apple based lotion, elastine creams and lotions.

There are several over the counter creams and lotions designed for this specific purpose, if you have used any of these we welcome your comments and results.

There are two types of stretch marks:

Distension stretch marks: also called albicant lines. These are observed in pregnant women, in obese people who have lost weight drastically and in pathologies like the renal syndrome and ascitis.

Dark red purple or purpuric stretch marks: normally violet colored, these are a characteristic of the Syndrome of Cushing by the excessive cortisol production (hipercortisolism). They can also be created by the prolonged consumption of pharmaceutical corticoids.

Stretch marks are cutaneous atrophies in the form of winding lines of mostly white or blue colored that are located in the conjunctive tissue in which transparency is observed through the epidermis.

They are located mostly in the wall of the belly, abdomen or stomach, hips, rumps, buttocks, legs, thighs, arms, back and sines. In fact, they are a pathological state of the conjunctive tissue of the dermis, characterized by an excessive fibrosis located in the form of cords in answer to the rupture and bad quality of previously existing fibers.

We can say that they are scars of this tissue. At the beginning stretch marks are violet color, because the dermis still has sanguineous irrigation. Later stretch marks become pink, also has irrigation. When no longer it has sanguineous irrigation the stretch marks become pearly color. They can disappear with treatments for the skin.