The appearance of white scars, which represent a change in the relief and density of the skin, has not added joy to any woman. Everyone who has encountered them is looking for the opportunity to remove stretch marks at home or with the help of a cosmetologist. However, are there any chances to restore the original beauty of the skin and prevent the situation from recurring?
Is it possible to get rid of stretch marks at home?
First of all, you need to understand why this problem occurs. Professionals advise even women without stretch marks to take care of the issue of combating it: prevention will not be superfluous. Doctors call the main and most common reasons for the formation of stretch marks:
- Hormonal imbalance. Characteristic of adolescence, complicated by malnutrition, lack of physical activity in the proper amount, and pathologies of the endocrine system.
- Sharp fluctuations in weight, resulting in changes in volume. Stretch marks occur as a result of strict diets, especially in obesity, when weight loss at the initial stage occurs rapidly (loss of water). Postpartum stretch marks tend to appear in every third woman.
- Genetic predisposition. Preventive measures in such a situation rarely guarantee the absence of stretch marks.
If we talk about how to get rid of stretch marks at home, professionals tend to give a disappointing answer: success stories are one in a thousand. It makes sense to try to protect yourself from stretch marks, but when they appear, you can catch a chance to restore the skin if you do this while the stretch marks are young: they have not yet turned white. Old stretch marks are characterized by changes in blood vessels in the connective tissue, so they cannot be removed - only to reduce the contrast between healthy skin and scars.
If you are thinking about how to remove stretch marks on your stomach by changing your diet, you can immediately abandon this thought: the hope will be false. This method is only suitable for preventing the formation of new scars, since it will protect you from sudden fluctuations in weight and volume. If you need to lose extra pounds, choose gentle options that don’t promise a change from size 50 to size 42 in a week.
Particular emphasis should be placed on the nutrition of adolescents, who, due to an unbalanced diet, suffer from hormonal fluctuations, skin imperfections, and a number of other cosmetic problems, which leads to complexes in girls. It is recommended to build the menu according to the classical principles of healthy eating, trying to protect yourself as much as possible from “empty” foods rich in factory-made sugar and animal fats.
The benefits of physical activity for the skin are greatly underestimated: women are looking for ways to eliminate cellulite and decide how to remove stretch marks on their stomach with a miracle cream, when they should just sign up for the gym. Regular workouts not only tighten your silhouette, helping to get rid of fat: they increase skin tone, which leads to an improvement in its structure. Young red stretch marks from the abdomen can be removed, but more often this method only works as a preventive measure.
Ineffective, but a good method based on stimulating skin regeneration. To achieve this goal, they focus on vitamins that can affect connective tissue and the upper layer of the epidermis: these are retinol and tocopherol. They are rubbed into the area with stretch marks individually or made into a two-component cocktail. Some women add castor oil (a couple of drops), but the real benefits of such a mixture have not been proven.
What to apply to the stomach for stretch marks during pregnancy
Prevention measures become highly important when a woman is preparing to become a mother. If during pregnancy she gains extra pounds all over her body, the likelihood of getting an ugly and almost lifelong reminder of them after childbirth increases significantly. Instead of thinking about how to remove them, you should take care to prevent stretch marks on your stomach during pregnancy. In addition to the already mentioned healthy diet and adding physical activity, some pharmaceutical and other products for external use make sense:
- Bepanten. Aimed at tissue restoration. Expectant mothers rub the abdomen and nipple areolas (during lactation) to prevent the appearance of stretch marks or cracks.
- Olive oil. The benefits of this food product in the fight for female beauty are invaluable, and it also turned out to be indispensable for the prevention of stretch marks. The safest product that can be used as often as you like.
How to get rid of stretch marks on your stomach after childbirth
If preventive measures did not help or were not taken on time, you have to start fighting the problem that has arisen. How to get rid of stretch marks after pregnancy without harming the body? Young tears from the abdomen can be removed with folk remedies - scrubs, wraps, massage, and for old ones it is worth trying ointments or salon treatments.
The previously mentioned Bepanten makes sense, and even if you are trying to figure out how to remove old stretch marks on your stomach - for example, a year or several years after giving birth. From the reviews of women, you can find out that the ointment showed itself with dignity even in relation to stretch marks “at the age” of 10-12 years or more. Shallow scars are completely eliminated; more noticeable scars are not so noticeable. The “cure” period is individual: the approximate course of using the ointment is 4-6 months.
What other drugs will help:
- Zinc ointment. Stimulates the synthesis of collagen, which is responsible for the elasticity of the epidermis and the condition of connective tissue. Apply once a day.
- Heparin ointment. Restores blood circulation that is lost in the vessels of old stretch marks. Doctors often recommend this remedy to young mothers.
- Retinoic ointment. The principle of action is to destroy the dying layer of skin.
- Elaskin product. Claimed to be an effective fighter against stretch marks of any degree, based on oils: almond, jojoba, rose.
- Clearvin. Pharmacy cream with Indian herbs that affect skin tone. The estimated duration of the course is 6 weeks.
Most of these methods involve scrubbing the skin and wrapping problem areas. The last procedure is most convenient for the thighs, but some women also do it for the abdomen. How to get rid of old stretch marks safely and on a budget?
- Scrub made from ground coffee beans with sea salt and sea buckthorn oil. The mass should have a very thick consistency, proportions can be determined by eye.
- A scrub made from salt with honey and glycerin, taken in equal proportions. Can be done morning and evening.
- It is advisable to perform wraps with blue clay and any citrus essential oil before scrubbing the abdominal skin. They require changes in temperature conditions: mandatory heating of the treated area.
- Cooling the abdomen with an ice cube after all procedures will affect the blood vessels.
How to deal with stretch marks in the salon
Cosmetology, especially hardware cosmetology, is perceived as something omnipotent. This is largely due to the wide range of services offered. Removing stretch marks from the abdomen is also among them, but do the procedures that are done in aesthetic clinics and salons help, and which of them deserves absolute trust?
- Ozone therapy. Injections into the abdominal area that affect metabolism. Additionally, they trigger cellular renewal, which eliminates the severity of stretch marks. Real beauty injections that help with any problem that requires an effect on skin tone.
- Mesotherapy is the hardware or manual introduction of a special cocktail that stimulates collagen production.
- Laser cosmetology. All women who have at least once wondered how to remove deep stretch marks on their stomachs have thought about this. Today, such a procedure is the only reliable way to correct the condition of the skin. How to remove stretch marks on the body with laser? Perform fractional thermolysis - painless, local, to any depth of the dermis.
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Few people know how to remove stretch marks on the stomach, meekly accepting these skin imperfections caused by its deformation. In fact, there are several ways to eliminate this problem; in order to decide on the right approach, it is necessary to establish the cause of their occurrence. As a rule, it lies on the surface and is directly related to either sudden weight loss or hormonal changes. There are home methods for getting rid of stretch marks and salon methods.
After childbirth
Often stretch marks on the stomach of women appear after pregnancy, as one of the consequences of childbirth. It can be associated both with changes in hormonal levels and with an increase in body weight. The skin is deformed, in some places micro-tears form, which change color and become stretch marks. Usually they begin to appear already during pregnancy, so at the first signs, you need to start adjusting your diet, including more foods that nourish the skin, and use cosmetics that eliminate stretch marks on the abdomen (rub in vegetable oils or special cosmetics).
If you perform these procedures in advance, it will be much easier to get rid of postpartum stretch marks. It will be possible to add a massage with essential oils, wraps with clay and plant extracts, as well as physical exercises to the range of activities. It is better to abstain from procedures that can cause stress to the body at first, so that this does not affect the quality and quantity of breast milk, and therefore the baby’s health.
After losing weight
If stretch marks on the stomach are a consequence of sudden weight loss, then measures should be taken immediately - over time it will be more difficult to get rid of them. They can also be deep or not very deep - it depends on how much weight the person has lost.
In any case, to get rid of stretch marks on the stomach, you need to properly structure your diet, be sure to supplement it with plenty of liquid (the daily norm is at least 2 liters of still water, in addition you can drink green or herbal teas). Include physical exercise in your daily routine: it is best to combine active sports with a stretching routine; this will help tone your skin and muscles in a short time.
It would be useful to take a contrast shower 2 times a day along with scrubs or homemade masks. But the measures listed above help with fresh and shallow stretch marks; if there are a lot of stretch marks on the stomach, then you can try salon procedures.
In men
Stretch marks in men are much rarer than in women. However, men also sometimes suffer from this disease, which can be caused by pancreatic disease, sudden weight gain or loss, or genetic predisposition. You need to get rid of them comprehensively. An integral part of measures to eliminate stretch marks on the abdomen is a properly structured diet, balanced in the number of proteins, carbohydrates and healthy fats.
There are special cosmetics for stretch marks, which come in the form of a cream or gel. One of the main active components of such preparations is vitamin A (often also supplemented with vitamins C and E), which makes the skin more elastic. The most effective for men are: Avent, Venus, Contractubex and Sanosan. The complex should be supplemented with special exercises.
In teenagers
Due to accelerated growth and weight gain, adolescence can also be accompanied by stretch marks. Since young skin is more susceptible to various procedures, a care complex to remove stretch marks on the abdomen may consist of a massage with a stiff natural bristle brush on a dry body. The massage should be carried out with soft circular movements. You can supplement it with any mask that is made based on folk recipes from natural ingredients. After several sessions, stretch marks on the abdomen become less noticeable, and soon disappear completely.
How to remove old stretch marks
In order to remove old red stretch marks, one of the methods will not work. You will have to spend a lot of time and effort to make them less noticeable. The way to get rid of them includes the following steps:
- control of proper nutrition;
- consumption of large amounts of fluid;
- use of specialized cosmetics and home remedies (scrubs and masks);
- conducting a course of soft massage with oils - you should try to avoid rough massage (in particular anti-cellulite), which can further deform the skin;
- seaweed wraps (2 large spoons of kelp per liter of hot water);
- visiting the sauna.
If you cannot achieve the desired result, you can only get rid of old stretch marks on your stomach through surgery.
How to remove stretch marks at home
All home methods should be present in a set of measures against stretch marks on the stomach. After the stretch marks have been removed, the described methods should be used for prevention and maintenance of overall skin tone.
In order to remove stretch marks on the stomach, the components for homemade masks must be used only fresh, and mixed in a glass or ceramic bowl. It is also important to consider the tolerance of each of the ingredients in the homemade mixture.
Lemon mask
Squeeze the juice from half a lemon. Add 2 tablespoons of kefir (if the skin is oily, then the product should be taken with low fat content, if dry - with high fat content) and a spoonful of olive oil. Apply to problem areas for half an hour. To enhance the result, you can create a thermal effect by wrapping your waist with cling film.
Vitamin mask
Grate a couple of aloe leaves (they must first be kept in the refrigerator for several days), add 2 large spoons of sea buckthorn oil and 5 drops of orange essential oil to this porridge. Add the contents of capsules of liquid vitamins A and E. The resulting composition should be smeared on the areas affected by stretch marks, rubbing in thoroughly. Leave on the skin for an hour.
Avocado mask
Grind 1 fruit using a blender, adding blue clay powder (2 tablespoons) dissolved in warm water, add 2 tablespoons of oatmeal (it is also done using a blender by grinding rolled oats). Mix the mixture thoroughly. After this, pour in 2 tablespoons of heated coconut oil. Keep the mask on your body for a quarter of an hour.
Grape mask
Crush 200 grams of green grapes. Add 2 tablespoons of grape seed oil and 6 drops of juniper essential essence. Exposure time - 1 hour.
Yeast mask
Dilute the contents of one package in two spoons of kefir, add a spoon of melted bee honey. This composition should be applied topically to problem areas, leaving for 30 minutes.
The main goal that needs to be achieved with proper nutrition is to increase the firmness and elasticity of the skin. It is necessary to provide her with maximum nutrition with useful elements and vitamins. Taking this into account, in order to remove stretch marks on the stomach, you should include the following in your diet:
- cereals (oatmeal, buckwheat, brown rice, pearl barley);
- seafood (shrimp, mussels, squid);
- fish (red and white fatty varieties - trout, saury, mackerel, sole, salmon);
- vegetables;
- fruits;
- lean meat (chicken, turkey, beef).
It is better to avoid a strict diet during the process of getting rid of stretch marks - so that there are no weight fluctuations that negatively affect the condition of the skin. You should also drink at least 2 liters of still water daily.
They won’t take much time, but will help in the fight against stretch marks on the stomach. They can be performed as independent exercises or supplemented with a set of usual workouts:
- Twisting. Starting position - lying on your back, arms behind your head, elbows pointing to the sides, knees bent. At the same time, you should lift the lower and upper parts of the body from the floor - with bent legs, aim for the chest, and bend the upper part towards the legs. Perform 10-12 times in 3 approaches.
- Boat. Starting position: lying on your stomach, legs straight, hands along your hips. Raise your upper body to the waist, and at the same time lift your legs off the floor, pointing as high as possible. Perform 10 times in 3 approaches.
- Straight leg raise. Starting position - lying on your back, legs straight, arms extended along the body. Raise your legs straight, creating a 90º angle with your body. After this, lower your legs straight, avoiding contact with the floor. Do 12 repetitions in 2 sets.
How to remove stretch marks using salon methods
When home treatments are unable to remove stretch marks on the abdomen, you can only resort to extreme measures in the form of salon methods.
Massage
Allowed at any stage to remove stretch marks from the abdomen. The rules for both salon and home massage are the same: it should be performed with soft circular movements from bottom to top. It is better to combine massage with other procedures - sauna, masks and wraps. It will not harm either as a strengthening method when performing other salon techniques. Quick results can be achieved if you massage with one of the vegetable oils: apricot, almond, coconut, sea buckthorn, olive. Or with the addition of a few drops of essential oils: orange, rose, juniper, sandalwood.
Chemical peeling
This technique allows you to remove stretch marks on the abdomen thanks to the action of organic acids, dosed injected into the necessary areas. It should be taken into account that peeling, although highly effective, has a fairly wide range of contraindications and is not suitable for people with hypersensitive skin.
Ozone therapy
This method can also remove stretch marks in beauty salons and clinics. As the name implies, the main active ingredient is ozone. It is injected under the skin, puncturing the area where stretch marks are present.
Mesotherapy
This type of salon service can remove stretch marks by introducing various medications (vitamins, acids, plant extracts, chemical elements and enzymes). Since the injections are administered in very small doses, the course of mesotherapy can last quite a long time - up to six months.
Laser
Of all the salon techniques, this is the fastest and most painless. It consists of a hardware impact on the necessary areas of the abdomen (or other area). The laser method also has disadvantages and they are quite significant: firstly, it is a high price, and secondly, it should be taken into account that laser treatment does not act deeply, and it can only be used to remove stretch marks superficially.
Microdermabrasion
Specialists in salons can remove stretch marks using vacuum cleaning. Removal is based on local exposure to the affected areas with a special peeling device, which gently exfoliates dead skin particles, thereby renewing it. Abdominoplasty It is used only in advanced cases when other methods remain powerless.
Abdominoplasty
represents a surgical intervention, with all the ensuing circumstances - a recovery period, observation by a doctor and the necessary examination.
In order to remove stretch marks on the stomach, you need to maintain regularity, do not neglect treatment and use all available methods, resorting to salon treatments only in critical cases.
The content of the article
Causes of stretch marks on the skin
Stretch marks on the body can appear completely unexpectedly, both in men and women. They can be of different sizes and different shades. As a rule, the shape of stretch marks depends on the reasons that caused their appearance. The most common places for stretch marks to appear are the arms, chest, stomach, legs, thighs and buttocks. That is, those places that are most susceptible to fat deposits and that can lose weight.
The most common reasons for the formation of stretch marks on the skin include:
Dramatic weight loss. This is the most common reason that leads to the appearance of stretch marks on the skin. Rapid weight loss in a short period of time leads to the formation of stretch marks on the body. It takes time for the skin to tighten and contract. Thus, the desire to quickly lose weight is fraught with the appearance of stretch marks.
Hormonal changes in adolescents. Girls during puberty may suddenly develop stretch marks on their skin. This is also facilitated by an unhealthy lifestyle (sedentary lifestyle and poor diet).
Stretch marks often appear during pregnancy. This is due to the natural hormonal adaptation of the expectant mother’s body, as well as a significant increase in body weight. Often women, being in an interesting position, allow themselves to eat beyond the norm. Over time, this leads to significant weight gain. This contributes to the appearance of stretch marks on the skin. In this case, stretch marks mainly form on the hips and buttocks, sides and abdomen.
Stretch marks after childbirth. After a rapid loss of body weight, the skin does not always quickly return to its previous shape. In addition, the breasts fill with milk, significantly increasing their size. This causes stretching of the skin, which contributes to the formation of stretch marks. To avoid this, you should not neglect special shapewear.
Ways to get rid of stretch marks
Healthy and proper nutrition is an important component of success in the fight against stretch marks. Experts recommend sticking to a separate and proper diet. It is necessary to structure your diet in such a way that it is dominated by grain porridges, seafood and fish, fresh vegetables and fruits. Meat should be chosen from lean varieties - poultry or young veal. Thirst must be quenched with herbal or green tea, pure mineral water.
Sports should be part of your life on a regular basis. Swimming and running are excellent cardio exercises that will help make your body more resilient, your body slim, and your skin smooth. Sports activities will tighten your skin, tone your muscles and help you lose weight.
A contrast shower will also help in the fight against stretch marks. It helps to activate the metabolic process and restore elasticity to the skin.
To successfully get rid of stretch marks, you need to understand what they are physiologically. The appearance of white scars is caused by microdamage to the upper layer of skin. Pregnancy or a sharp increase in weight contribute to severe stretching of the connective tissue, which then loses its elasticity and firmness. In places of micro-tears, stripes of stretch marks, also called striae, are formed.
Most non-surgical methods available for at-home use are aimed at improving skin elasticity. Unfortunately, there is no universal method, the use of which could restore the former elasticity of the abdominal skin and completely remove stretch marks. The best results can be obtained using an integrated approach
Massage
A great way to increase blood circulation in the right area of the body. Circular movements of the palms in a clockwise direction will help tone the skin and speed up regeneration. For better results, it is necessary to use excipients: special creams and aromatic oils (lemon, grapefruit, orange, lime).
Regular contrast shower
Changing hot and cold water during water procedures has a beneficial effect on the skin, helping to increase its firmness and elasticity. A contrast shower in combination with other activities helps make stretch marks less noticeable.
Using Olive Oil
Probably the only oil whose use constantly and in any quantity will never cause harm. Rubbing it into problem areas can significantly soften the skin and improve blood circulation. The maximum result can be obtained by applying olive oil after water procedures: open pores promote deeper absorption.
Many oils have a similar effect. Applying castor oil, lavender oil, flaxseed oil and chamomile oil to the problem area will significantly improve the condition of the skin and help smooth out fine wrinkles and make large scars less noticeable.
Wrap and exfoliate
Most ways to get rid of stretch marks at home involve the use of a scrub and wrap. You can prepare the scrub yourself, for example from ground coffee and honey. Sea salt and sea buckthorn oil are excellent. The scrub should be quite thick to make it easy to apply. It is recommended to cleanse the skin with a scrub up to 2 times a day. Before applying the mixture, you can take a cold shower or wipe your stomach with ice cubes, this will close the spores, and rough physical cleansing will not harm the skin
The wrap is made mainly from blue clay with the addition of a few drops of essential oil. The oil is applied to the body, wrapped in cling film and left for a while. You can also do seaweed wraps or honey compresses.
When using cosmetic products to remove stretch marks, pay attention to the presence of components such as hyaluronic acid, vitamins C and E. These substances stimulate the tissues to produce their own collagen, which is so necessary for skin restoration. Eating foods that contain these vitamins will also benefit your skin.