Stretch Marks: Causes and Treatment
Stretch Marks Are Scars
Where You Get Them
Anyone Can Get Them
They Don’t Go Away
Cause: Weight Gain
Cause: Pregnancy
Cause: Medication
Cause: Medical Conditions
Can You Prevent Them?
See a Dermatologist
What May Help: Retinol Products
What May Help: Laser Therapy
What May Help: Self-Tanning Products
Not Likely to Help: Exfoliating
Not Likely to Help: Most Lotions and Creams
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SOURCES:
American Society of Plastic Surgery: "Microdermabrasion."
Cleveland Clinic: "Stretch Marks."
Dermatologic Surgery: "Striae Distensae (Stretch Marks) and Different Modalities of Therapy: An Update."
Doris Day, MD, dermatologist, clinical assistant professor of dermatology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York City.
The Marfan Foundation: "What is Marfan Syndrome?"
National Institutes of Health: "Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome," "Fractional nonablative 1540-nm laser treatment of striae distensae in Fitzpatrick skin types II to IV: clinical and histological results," "Topic tretinoin (retinoic acid) improves early stretch marks."
National Health Service: "Stretch marks in pregnancy."
Teens Health: “Stretch Marks.”
UCLA Health: "Cushing's Disease."
University of Michigan: "Stretch Mark Science."