All About Stretch Marks
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“So ubiquitous are stretch marks to the human experience that you’re more likely to run into someone who has them than you are to encounter a coffee drinker (1).” So why, then, are we so obsessed with removing them? And can we even erase them? What are stretch marks anyway? Let’s dig in!
Fast Facts:
“Studies estimate that up to 90% of pregnant [people], 70% of adolescent [cis]girls, and 40% of adolescent [cis]males will develop the marks (1).”
Varieties include: striae atrophicans (thinned skin), striae gravidarum (following pregnancy), striae distensae (stretched skin), striae rubrae (red), striae albae (white), striae nigra (black), striae caerulea (dark blue) (2).
Causes of stretch marks include: rapid growth OR rapid weight loss (!), mast cells (histamine, or allergic, reaction), meds such as steroids, chemotherapy, prolonged antibiotics, contraceptives & neuroleptics, congenital conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), or other conditions such as anorexia nervosa, chronic liver disease (2).
“Histopathology of striae rubrae reveals excessive fine elastic fibers in the papillary dermis with thicker tortuous fibers in the periphery, with perivascular lymphocytes, dilated dermal vessels and edema. There are reduction and reorganization of elastin and fibrillin fibers, and structural changes in collagen fibers, which are thicker and densely packed in parallel rows. Histopathology of striae albae shows epidermal atrophy, loss of rete ridges, less vascularity, and densely packed, thin and scar-like horizontal collagen bundles (2).”
In other words: stretch marks change the actual structure of the skin.
And do creams work? “All of those creams are moisturizers. A stretch mark is not caused by dry skin. Will it make your skin look a little more hydrated? If it looks hydrated, will it look smoother? Yes. Is it going to affect the pathophysiology of the stretch mark? No.” -Dr. Brooke Jackson, dermatologist (1)
So whyyyy do we hate them so much?
Jameela Jamil, an actress with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, asks some very good questions. “Yes I understand we should all be allowed to do whatever makes us feel good, but can we not also question why fully disguising our entire natural selves makes us feel better? . . . . Why do we feel bad about ourselves? Who did that? Who profits off it? Do boys have to live up to the same standards? Are they shamed *as* easily and frequently as us femmes? Isn’t there something a BIT off about making people’s happiness and confidence lie in doll-like perfection?” (3, emphasis in bold mine)
So what do we do?
“This is your mission: wear your skin. Read your skin’s story and share it with the world. Touch your skin and find joy in what you feel. Admire your skin with awe and recognize it for the miracle it truly is. Let your skin record your memoir, physical poetry, and read it every day with love, honor, and admiration. Do not allow your story to be erased. Be radical (4).”
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