Stretch marks of the abdomen
Stretch marks of the abdomen, What are they ?
Stretch marks (medically called striae) are irregular lesions of the skin that can appear in various body districts, the most frequent being the striae gravidarum that is, those that occur during pregnancy especially in the region of theabdomen and breast.
There are different types of stretch marks that can be classified by body district, abdomen, breasts, buttocks, etc., and by characteristics as we see listed below:
1) striae gravidarum (following pregnancy),
2) striae rubrae (red),
3) striae nigra (black),
4)striae caerulea (dark blue).
5) striae albae (white),
6) striae atrophicans (thinned skin),
7) striae distensae (stretched skin),
Stretch marks of the abdomen, why do they come?
Stretch marks are the outcome of a skin healing process, which assumes that some form of injury occurs first.
In fact, the most likely mechanism in their formation involves physical hyperdistension of the skin that occurs under conditions of rapid increase in body volume such as pregnancies or weight changes.
However, there are additional concurrences outside of physical stretching, hormones, and collagen composition are in fact implicated.
This explains why some individuals are more prone to this blemish than others.
Stretch marks of the abdomen, natural history and when to intervene
In general, after their appearance, with time, stretch marks on the abdomen stabilize by changing from a red color ation to a more uniform coloration with the surrounding skin.
This is the most reasonable time to think about possible treatment.
Stretch marks of the abdomen, nonsurgical treatments
Creams, in spite of the various advertisements have very limited or close to zero efficacy. Some action would be noticed with vitamin e preparations.
Laser treatments seem promising for their action at the vascular level and on elastin , but to date there is no single type of Laser among the many that exist that has demonstrated repeatable and certain results.
Needle radiofrequency also appears to be feasible for use in the treatment of stretch marks and applies an energy source deeper than lasers.
Stretch marks of the abdomen, what surgery can do
What can surgery do to treat stretch marks on the abdomen?
Before answering this question we need to ask what really bothers us about abdominal stretch marks .
It can probably be said that the most annoying aspect is thedynamic effect of stretch marks, which, especially in some positions, makes the skin jagged.
The classic wrinkled, crumpled appearance of skin in the periumbilical region that appears from sitting or tilting the torso forward.
Stretch marks promote this appearance and aggravate the underlying blemish that is sustained by the presence of excess skin.
With this in mind, surgery can be very effective with the removal of excess skin while not directly treating the stretch mark.
abdominoplasty (tummytuck) complete, miniabdominoplasty (tummytuck) and facelift stretch the skin and reduce surface roughness.
Stretch marks move downward and are partially removed along with the excess skin. The remaining ones are generally less noticeable due to the restoration of skin tone .
