Home Remedies For Stretch Marks

What are stretch marks?

Stretch Marks are long narrow slashes, stripes or lines that develop on the skin especially on the abdominal area as a result of expansion of skin mainly due to pregnancy. They can occur on various regions such as thighs, stomach, hips, upper arm, breasts and lower back. Stretch marks are caused due to the tearing of the dermis. This is due to the rapid stretching and expansion of the skin. The skin is stretched beyond its normal elasticity where the dermis is torn and a trail is left behind on the skin, scarring it.

Stretch Marks are a type of scarring which happens when the skin cannot resume to it's normal form after an intense period of growth and expansion, often due to pregnancy, weight loss, weight gain, puberty. Often they diminish with time but do not disappear completely, which leaves behind scars on the skin which makes it appear ugly, aged, or sagged.

Anyone can develop stretch marks at any point of time, although they tend to affect more of women than men, and women can acquire them other than a result of pregnancy.

Stretch marks cannot be guaranteed to be avoided during pregnancy, especially. But during pregnancy a proper care of the skin is advised to be taken in order to reduce the vulnerability of the stretch marks. There are no clear evidences as to what might help in treating them, though various efforts have been made.

Several different methods that have been tried in treating the stretch marks are laser treatments, glycolic acid, microdermabrasion. These methods are painful and expensive. Several home remedies have been proven to be useful in preventing and treating the stretch marks to a greater extent. The above mentioned home remedies, if followed regularly, will result in healing the stretch marks. As obesity and extreme work out is one of the causes for the appearance of stretch marks, it is advisable that if they are avoided or done carefully, then the stretch marks are less prone to appear. Along with this, having a nutritious diet with regular supply of Vitamin A and Vitamin E will help in keeping the skin healthy and make it less prone to breakouts and stretch marks.

Top 5 home remedies to get rid of stretch marks.

1. Vitamin A-

Vitamin A is referred to as a retinoid. Retinoids make skin appear smoother and more youthful by helping get rid of the scars and marks. Vitamin A is mostly used in topical creams and lotions. Using topical extract of vitamin A, or taking vitamin A orally can help heal stretch marks. A diet including vitamin A rich foods such as carrots sweet potatoes help in increased amount of vitamin A in our body which helps the stretch marks to heal faster.In an older study in 1996, researchers identified retinoids as helping in healing the appearance of stretch marks.

2. Sugar-

According to some research, sugar is considered as a useful homeopathic microdermabrasion method.
Microdermabrasion is performed by a dermatologist and is one of the few clinically proven methods to make stretch marks disappear. Using sugar as a home remedy to get rid of the stretch marks is worth a try.

As sugar is also known to be useful in exfoliating the skin, using the sugar scrub to run on the area of stretch marks will exfoliate the region and help get rid of stretch marks.

To do this:

• Mix one cup sugar with ¼ cup of a modulating agent like almond oil, olive oil or coconut oil and mixing it to get the consistency of a scrub.

• Add some lemon juice.

• Scrub the mixture on the area of your body with stretch marks.

• Repeat several times a week before shower, make sure to rub the mixture on for 8-10 minutes before rinsing off.

3. Aloe Vera-

Though Aloe Vera has little evidence as a stretch mark healer, it can be combined with several other things to make it useful in vanishing the stretch marks. Pure Aloe Vera gel is both a natural healing agent and a skin softener. This property of Aloe Vera makes it an ideal home remedy to try for stretch marks.

Aloe Vera can be mixed with honey & lemon and applied on the affected area, leave for 20 minutes and rinse off. Repeat the process thrice a week for better results.

Vitamin E oil can be added to Aloe Vera gel and applied on the region of stretch marks to get rid of them. Use 2 vitamin E capsules among with ½ cup of Aloe Vera gel and apply it to the required area and leave it overnight. Continue doing it everyday for a few weeks to make the stretch marks disappear.

Simply applying pure Aloe Vera gel from a plant can also result in helping get rid of the scars and stretch marks.

4. Hyaluronic Acid-

To keep our skin in its shape and to make it appear healthy, the protein Collagen in the skin is responsible. As we age, the levels of Collagen decreases in our skin, which makes it appear aged and causes wrinkles and scars. Collagen production can be stimulated with Hyaluronic acid.

Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring glycosaminoglycan found throughout the body's connective tissue.

Glycosaminoglycans are simply long unbranched carbohydrates or sugars called polysaccharides. It plays a vital role in the process of wound healing and it decreases as we age, thus making our skin more susceptible to sagging and cause wrinkles. Hyaluronic acid helps in anti-aging, anti-wrinkles moisturising and curing stretch marks.

Hyaluronic acid can be absorbed by consuming a capsule or extract.

5. Coconut oil-

Since stretch marks are scarring from skin damage, coconut oil might help heal the appearance quickly. As coconut oil has innumerable advantages towards keeping the skin healthy and it has been studied for its various healing properties. Applying virgin coconut oil to your stretch marks each day might help in healing the stretch marks as it might take away some of the red appearance everyday. Coconut oil can be mixed with sugar and used as a scrub. Also adding vitamin E to coconut oil and applying it to the affected area will help it cure.

Coconut oil not only helps in fading the scars but also it helps in regaining the lost structure of the skin. Thus, using coconut oil along with olive oil too seems to be effective towards clearing the stretch marks. Coconut oil moisturizes the skin which reduces the further growth of stretch marks. Regular use of coconut oil will help the skin stay healthy and more youthful.