Stretch marks can be someone’s most unwanted bodily feature. If noticeably visible, they can make one feel quite unsatisfied in their own skin. Stretch marks are not only annoying but also are incredibly common, as roughly 80 percent of Americans have them.
No matter the size or color, these markings can prove stressful for those who have them. While there are supposedly many ways to get rid of stretch marks with instant results, the truth is that many do not work.
Stretch marks can be extremely resilient, often persisting unless targeted them through surgical procedure. The most efficient of these is laser surgery.
What are Stretch Marks?
Stretch marks are scars that show up as streaks on the skin. They’re usually flesh-colored, red, or purplish. You’ll find them on various areas of the body, such as the arms, breasts, buttocks, and thighs.
These are more commonly for pregnant women or anyone who has gone through rapid weight gain due to diet or hormonal variations.
Stretch marks are viewed as physically unattractive, but they do not cause much medical concern since they pose little to no harm to your overall health. Also called striae, they sometimes can even naturally disappear on their own.
Nonetheless, stretch marks in various areas of the body can indicate that you have a medical condition such as Cushing’s syndrome or another complication of the adrenal gland.
Various over-the-counter treatments exist to reduce the visibility of stretch marks, but it’s important to note that they are not that effective.
What Causes Them?
Stretch marks result from the skin being overextended, causing thin pink-colored lines to appear. Elastic layers of the skin will progressively break down in these stretched areas, causing the dermis to become inflamed and possibly resulting in bleeding and scar tissue.
When the mid-layer of the skin stretches, this forces the epidermis and the skin surface to stretch as well, becoming transparent in color. As time passes, this middle layer starts to push through the outer layer. Once this inflammation and bleeding recovers, a stretch mark is formed.
Laser Stretch Mark Removal
Stretch marks often vary in nature from person to person, and these unique features make them a very complicated feature to treat. Therefore, a surgeon must always offer their patients a customized plan of action for the removal of their stretch marks. This procedure targets each stretch mark with a laser to properly treat it.
Because doctors use different types of lasers with variable wavelengths, laser therapy provides a highly adaptable solution to stretch marks. The two main types of lasers, ablative and non-ablative, vary according to how deep the energy penetrates. Ablative lasers are useful for removing outer layers of skin and encouraging the generation of new skin. Non-ablative lasers are ideal for heating the skin just below the surface to spur collagen production.
It’s common practice that the patient undergoes three to four laser treatments a session if they opt for a less invasive procedure. Below are just a few of the ways laser technology can help your stretch marks:
Color Blending
The physician utilizes a laser treatment that will even out the presence of excess melanin within the stretch mark, giving you a more balanced skin tone in the treated area.
Redness Removal
Vascularization can cause stretch marks to have a red hue. Laser technology is also applied in these cases, treating the microvasculature to ensure that the redness is less visible.
Collagen Stimulation
Collagen is essential for developing and repairing your skin. The physician will stimulate the creation of new collagen to fill the stretch mark.
Smoothing the Skin
Stretch mark removal treatment is finalized once the skin is smoothed out with an epidermal resurfacing laser. It rids the upper layers of the skin, and clears the surface of any noticeable imperfections.