well hey guys in today's video I have
some updated tips and suggestions for
preventing and/or improving the
appearance of stretch marks stretch
marks are linear depressions in the skin
that happened when the skin undergoes
some sort of rapid stretching we
honestly don't know why they happen
probably some combination of genetics
aka bad luck and hormonal influences
they tend to appear around pregnancy or
puberty and also with changes in weight
like weight loss weight gain and then
the other scenario is if you happen to
be using a prescription medication cream
that has steroids in it and you use it
apply it to the skin for a prolonged
period of time it actually can thin the
skin and cause stretch marks that is a
adverse side effect of steroids so if
you have a steroid cream lying around
make sure it's okay to use it check in
with your derm don't just use it
willy-nilly because that is a that is a
bad adverse in fact that can happen with
with using steroid creams
inappropriately or for a prolonged
period of time as I pointed out in my
lot of stretch marks video there are
sort of two phases to stretch marks
initially they are red to light pink
maybe a little purple depending on your
background skin tone and they are raised
but with time they turn white and you
will when you run your hand over your
skin you'll feel a little depression
when it comes to improving the
appearance of stretch marks or
preventing them you have to understand
no one procedure or product is going to
work for everyone these are just some
things that have been shown to help some
people the other thing that's key is
tackling stretch marks early stretch
marks in the phase that I mentioned when
they're read kind of pink and raised
they are more responsive to these
treatments and the ultimate outcome of a
stretch mark will be better if you try
and treat a stretch mark when it's
already depressed and white it's a lot
harder a lot more difficult they're more
resistant so tackling it early is is key
some things that we have learned when it
comes to improving the appearance of
stretch marks applying moisturizer can
actually help and a lot of people
anecdotally report a variety of
different types of moisturizers
made a huge difference for them well
what seems to be the case is not just
the action of massaging the moisturizer
in alone might help so when it comes to
applying moisturizer to areas where you
have stretch marks you're trying to
prevent them it seems as though taking
the time to massage it and really makes
a difference as opposed to just slopping
it on and going maybe a you know works
in the moisturizer better maybe the act
of massaging we do not know but that
seems to help no moisturizer alone
probably helps but like I said there are
a lot of anecdotal reports of different
moisturizers and different moisturizing
ingredients we do have some small
studies looking at each of these
specifically almond oil olive oil cocoa
butter and vitamin E and the studies
show that they actually those
ingredients olive oil cocoa butter
vitamin E and almond oil none of those
actually fade stretch marks at least in
the studies that being said you know if
if it worked for you fantastic like I
said no one ingredient is is a slam-dunk
in terms of efficacy for these now if
you have stretch marks that are older
and are white and nature effect like I
said one common myth is that tanning
will help them go away and that is false
it's actually the opposite tanning will
make them more noticeable because the
actual white part of the stretch mark
cannot count and of course tanning is
destructive to the skin in many ways as
I've talked about in many videos it
destroys collagen so it's definitely the
wrong thing to do but sunless tanners
can certainly camouflage the the white
marks so so give that a try you know if
you're really bothered by the appearance
of stretch marks like on your thighs for
example try sunless tanner there it will
it will stain the white stretch mark and
kind of camouflage it out but you guys
are on your own when it comes to
applying sunless tanner
I have no tips that would be of help to
you i I've never really used it so don't
look to me for that the other an
ingredient though that actually seems to
help is good old-fashioned hyaluronic
said what is hyaluronic acid it's a it's
naturally present in the deeper layers
of our skin but it's in a ton of
moisturizers and products and to
actually fairly large studies showed
that applying hyaluronic acid to early
stretch marks as red rays wands actually
made them lost noticeable and so I've
mentioned this hyaluronic acid
moisturizer in several videos before is
the Neutrogena hydraboost hyaluronic
acid body is it a body lotion body gel
cream couldn't just call it a lotion
this is great it's pretty affordable
this is a great choice just massaging it
in have the action of that hyaluronic
acid another ingredient that has been
shown to improve the appearance of
stretch marks when used early is topical
vitamin A the prescription topical
vitamin A retinol and has been examined
in studies and in studies applying
threatenin to stretch marks in their
early phase when they're read and raised
for 24 weeks resulted in less noticeable
stretch marks and the people in the
study who did not apply tried knowing
they had an increase in their stretch
marks and the stretch marks went on to
you to be you know atrophic and white
and depressed so it seems as though
treta knowing can help and logic follows
that topical retinol might likely also
help as well now I have several videos
on my favorite over-the-counter retinol
and of course there's adapt alene you
can get brand name different you can get
the LA roche-posay let's call it the
hard way you can get the leverage pose a
version of adapt lean am i holding it
really yeah of adapt lean and then CBS
also sells this over-the-counter a
generic version that's I think it's less
expensive but I could actually be wrong
on that sometimes a price changes around
anyway yeah applied every night for 24
weeks that might actually help I would
also suggest so get the Neutrogena
rapid wrinkle repair retinol
regenerating what does it call rapid
wrinkle repair regenerating cream the
fragrance free version that product
I've actually been using a lot on the
backs of my hands and my upper arms and
the retinol has a good track record of
efficacy but the vehicle the moisturizer
itself really has a smoothing effect on
the skin so it's definitely something
that's in my opinion easier to massage
in you get a nice moisturizing effect I
would totally recommend that as a as a
cost-effective effort to improve the
ultimate appearance of stretch marks
when used in the early early stages
however remember topical vitamin A
unfortunately is contraindicated in
pregnancy so for stretch marks in in
pregnancy this is a no-go unfortunately
but hyaluronic acid is certainly on the
table
quite literally here on the table
hyaluronic acid you could use in
pregnancy
there are also procedures that a
dermatologist can do that will help
stretch marks be less noticeable namely
again when when used early chemical
peels and lasers as well as
microdermabrasion radiofrequency and
ultrasound
all these procedures can help ultimately
improve the appearance of stretch marks
when done early on usually a combination
of a few different procedures is needed
to yield the best results so for example
you might need to have pulsed laser and
radiofrequency to really get the best
results now obviously this is going to
be more expensive than you know using a
body lotion or body cream if you want to
pursue these procedures I strongly
encourage you to go to a board-certified
dermatologist that way you get the best
results those are things that you can do
to improve the appearance of stretch
marks what about prevention is there
anything that can be done to prevent
stretch marks mmm
probably not in all honesty we don't
again we don't really know why they
happen and it seems like it's basically
just bad luck but there are two
ingredients that seem promising from
small studies for the prevention of
stretch marks one of them I've already
mentioned
it's hyaluronic acid in a moisturizer so
using this might be helpful in
preventing stretch marks formation not
the most robust data but this is not
this is not a wasted effort in my
opinion you need a good moisturizer it's
safe and pregnancy when you when you
become pregnant and go through pregnancy
your skin you know can become dry and
irritated very easily and massaging and
moisturizer is relaxing and beneficial
for your skin so give this a try might
help and preventing stretch marks
another ingredient though talk about a
lot of videos I've talked about in my
videos on scarring is
centella asiatica this is a botanic
ingredient that shows promise for wound
healing and seems to be promising for
improving the preventing stretch marks
formation a moisturizer I've talked
about in numerous videos it has sent
Ella in it is the LA roche-posay sic
applies balm b5 this has sent Ella in it
and it's really like a nice thick balm
consistency almost like a diaper cream
but not the same thing and so it's
really good for keeping the skin
hydrated and reducing trans epidermal
water loss but you have the scent Ella
in there which can help with wound
healing so this I have always enjoyed
and I recommend it if you are interested
in and sent Ella as a preventative
stretch mark cream but again things like
vitamin E almond oil olive oil cocoa
butter or those are the the other more
popular remedies that have actually been
studied and not shown to prevent stretch
marks or fade them but their
moisturizers so it's certainly worth a
try
so cocoa butter is sort of you know harm
and a good moisturizer I don't have a
problem with that almond oil I you know
seems to be fine
olive oil actually has been shown to
increase water loss from the skin when
applied as a moisturizer so I don't know
that that's the best choice and then
vitamin E I will caution you vitamin E
just like vitamin E oil people applying
it to their skin you can develop a
contact sensitivity to that and a
contact dermatitis and there actually
was a study that looked at applying
vitamin E oil to scars and it actually
worsened the appearance of scars so I
would say avoid that but you know using
a moisturizer is is it is a good thing
anyway and might help especially when
massaged in but the ingredients
hyaluronic acid and centella are the
ones that have been shown to be
promising for preventing stretch marks
so that's what I can tell you about
stretch marks I wish we had some better
treatments and a better understanding of
why people get them I know they can
really bother people and affect your
self-esteem hopefully these tips are
helpful to you guys if you like this
video give it a thumbs up share it with
your friends and as always don't forget
sunscreen and subscribe I'll talk to you
guys tomorrow bye
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you
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