Stretch marks are basically scar tissue that forms in parallel bands across your skin. When they’re new, they appear red or pink. After they’ve healed, they fade to grayish-silver or white, the exact color depending on your skin tone.
In the early stages, you might be able to feel a slight ridge, and once they’ve healed, there might be a slight indentation. Sometimes they feel itchy or sore, but they’re not dangerous. They’re more of a cosmetic concern.
At Best Impression Med Spa in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, Dr. Robert Mirabile and Dr. Vivian Hsu understand that stretch marks can cause a dent in your self-confidence. That’s why they offer the CynosureⓇ Palomar Icon™ laser system, a platform that removes them safely and effectively.
Here’s what they want you to know about stretch marks and their removal.
Your skin, the largest organ in your body, contains three primary layers:
Stretch marks arise from the dermis layer, when the connective tissue network stretches beyond its inherent elastic properties. Most often, this is caused by a rapid gain or loss of skin cells, as during a growth spurt in puberty, rapid weight gain, or rapid weight loss.
In fact, about 50-90% of pregnant women develop stretch marks as skin on their stomach, abdomen, and breasts expands to accommodate the growing fetus and is then lost post-delivery.
Normally, the dermal connecting fibers can stretch to accommodate growth. But rapid growth often exceeds the tissues’ limits and leads to tears, allowing the deeper skin layers to become visible as bands of colored lines — stretch marks.
Stretch marks may also become more noticeable when your body has high levels of cortisone, a product of the stress hormone cortisol produced in the adrenal glands. Cortisone weakens the tissues’ elastic properties, allowing them to tear more easily.
Marfan’s syndrome, Cushing’s syndrome, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, all adrenal gland disorders, also cause stretch marks because they increase your body’s cortisone levels.
There are a number of different stretch mark treatments, including topical creams, microdermabrasion, and heat treatments.
But here at Best Impression Med Spa, we rely on the FDA-approved fractional Palomar laser system, because it’s able to remodel your skin at the cellular level and provide impressive results.
Fractional laser therapy sends energy pulses into your skin in columns. That means you have treated areas next to untreated ones, which protects surrounding tissue and makes for quicker healing.
The energy targets both the discoloration and the texture of your stretch marks, creating microscopic damage to the tissue and stimulating your body to respond with increased collagen production.
Collagen, a structural protein that helps give your skin resilience and flexibility, smooths the border between healthy skin cells and scar tissue, evening out your tone.
Treatments last 15-30 minutes, and there’s no downtime afterward. You may require additional sessions to fully reach your aesthetic goals, but we advise waiting 3-4 weeks after each session so your skin heals completely.
If you’re bothered by the appearance of stretch marks anywhere on your body, we have just the system to get rid of them for you. Give us a call at 610-272-8821 or book your appointment online today. You can also text us at 484-603-3231, and we offer telehealth visits, if you require them.
