Pregnancy Stretch Marks: Causes and Best Stretch Mark Creams for Pregnancy

PREGNANCY STRETCH MARKS

Stretch marks are depressed streaks that appear in the skin. Their occurrence is usually in the abdomen area but can occur in many other parts of your body. Many women get stretch marks on shoulders, thighs, breasts, and hips. The intensity or the size of the streaks is different in everyone.

Causes of Stretch Marks

Stretch marks can be caused by various factors, but the only thing that is common in them all is that they occur when the skin is stretch hence the name. It happens when the middle layer of the skin is so extensively stretched that it has broken in some places. A lot of factors regarding the type of your skin can determine the intensity or the overall occurrence of stretch marks since some people have more elastic skin than others resulting in little to no appearance of stretch marks. The body grows faster than what your skin can keep up with and it occurs in the elastic fibers below the skin surface to disintegrate and conclude in stretch marks. There is not a particular age or a certain reason to get these stretch marks, they happen whenever the skin is stretched to an unbearable extent. The cause can vary from puberty, obesity to pregnancy. These marks do not harm the person or have an impact on the pregnancy in any way but are not something that people do not like or are okay with.

Factors Affecting Stretch Marks

Even though one cannot tell if you will or will not get stretch marks for sure but there are many factors that can result in stretch marks. Hormonal changes in your body during pregnancy can also have an impact on your skin and make it more likely to get stretch marks. Gaining a lot of weight rapidly is one of the biggest reasons to get stretch marks and doing so during pregnancy highly increases the chances of stretching your skin to an unbearable extent. Women gain around 10k to 12kg during pregnancy, it varies in everyone, but the weight gain also depends on the weight before you were pregnant. Mothers with multiple babies are most likely to get stretch marks since the belly gets bigger than a single baby pregnancy. Size of your baby can also have a significant impact on chances of you getting stretch marks. An average baby weighs around 7 pounds, and babies with macrosomia (large body) usually weigh more than 8 pounds.

Best-Stretch-Mark-Creams-for-Pregnancy — Pregnancy Stretch Marks

During the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy a fluid deposits into the amniotic sac from your circulatory system. You baby starts ingesting the fluid and excretes it out as urine then swallows it again, it is a cycle that occurs every few hours. Your amniotic fluid increases until the third trimester but gradually decreases when you are near to labor. In very few cases, the amniotic fluid is too much at some point; the condition is said to be polyhydramnios. This causes your uterus to grow more rapidly than expected and excess amniotic fluid also causes abdominal discomfort, increased back pain etc. The excess growth can lead to the occurrence of stretch marks.

Genetics has a lot to do with you getting stretch marks, if your mother got them during her pregnancy then it is most likely that you will get them too. If your mother did not get any and went through the pregnancy with a smooth skin, you are most likely to do so too. If your mother got them, it is probably because her skin lacked elastin, the connective tissue that prevents skin from tearing apart so there are chances that it might happen to you too.

Your age can affect your chances of getting stretch marks too. People and science all prefer starting a family in the adulthood now their reason might not be to avoid stretch marks, but it is still affected by the age of the woman. Young, youthful skin is taut and firm and is more likely to tear when under pressure. As a person ages, the skin gradually loses its firmness resulting in less stretching of your skin. Many people get stretch marks during puberty due to hormonal and body changes; this dramatically increases the chances of getting stretch marks during pregnancy. If the scars from your puberty are still visible, you are most likely to get more stretch marks. Even if not visible, they might appear again due to your history.

People with lighter complexion have pink or purple stretch marks that are highly visible as compared to people with a darker complexion who usually have marks lighter than their skin and are generally non-visible. It is essential for you to learn about stretch marks before you decide to go ahead and treat them. Many women out there have started accepting the fact that they have developed stretch marks, but there are still many proven methods out there to reduce or eliminate them from your skin.

I sincerely hope that this article guided you and aided you in learning how and why this happens, but remember having developed stretch marks on your skin it does not diminish the value of the beautiful woman that you are.