Q: How can I get rid of stretch marks?

A: Stretch marks occur when the skin is over-stretched like during pregnancy, during the growth spurt of the teenage years and during rapid weight gain or loss. So the skin, sort of, loses its elasticity, over stretches, leading to the breaking the of interconnected fibres of the middle layer of skin, dermis. When this happens, the blood vessels show through, with the characteristic red or purple colour stretch marks have initially. As the blood vessels contract, the pale fat underneath the skin shows through causing the stretch marks to assume their usual pale colour.

Stretch marks can also occur in people who have a family history, people with underlying health conditions like Cushing’s syndrome ~(where the body produces too much of the hormone, Cortisol) and sometimes after prolonged use/abuse of steroid creams (some of these are used to treat eczema).

Common…