Women especially are extremely self-conscious and self-deprecating when it comes to their bodies. They fight a constant battle with refraining from physically picking themselves apart. Not to mention trying to hide their flaws from men they are wishing to impress. When you mention stretch marks there seems to be an all around "cringing" response. They are unattractive and unfortunately many women and men share these physical blemishes.

Why oh why are people given stretch marks? Is it a kind of karma of sorts, where what goes around comes around? Not at all, that would be too simple to eradicate. Stretch marks come from once tout skin that stretches due to rapid weight gain in men and women or from pregnancy. Stretch marks develop when the skin layers break down and become discolored at the dermis level. More than half the pregnant women get stretch marks sometime within the nine months. These lines start out as red or purple when new and gradually fade to an almost white lining when they have been around for a while (or too long for you poor sufferers). They can be found on many areas of the body, basically, any area that has gotten bigger in a short period of time. Pregnant women tend to get them on their swollen bellies, hips and sometimes even on their breasts and buttocks. Men get them on their stomachs and hips mostly. It is thought that whether you have them or not depends on family genetics-whether they be good or bad. So, if your mom sailed through pregnancy without stretch marks perhaps you have a chance of avoiding them. Either way, there may be something to at least minimize the physical appearance of them.

There are quite a few different ways to deal with these stretch marks which may or may not be effective. Most of them merely cause a fading effect because it is quite hard to completely get rid of them. The least evasive and inexpensive way to reduce their appearance is trying a group of medicines called retinoids which are derived from Vitamin C. Depending on their ingredients, they may or may not be non-prescription . These medications are applied topically to the skin and are said to regenerate the skin cells. This in turn may improve the texture and color of the skin and make the stretch marks appear less visible. A more extreme method may involve the costly procedure of laser therapy which again, will only decrease the visibility. In this procedure, laser beams are aimed at the affected area in hopes of stimulating the skin to generate new cells. Mind you, this is not a one shot deal, you would have to have 5 or 6 laser sessions to see improvement.

This lack of promise of completely getting rid of stretch marks is frustrating but often a fact of life for those that have them. The best that can be done is to focus on the available cosmetic treatments to fade them and be aware of any new treatments that may come in the future. Realize that you are not alone and that a few silly stretch marks don't define you as a human being.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Stretch Marks Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell