| Are they preventable? Can they be removed?Pregnant Cambodian women work religiously to prevent stretch marks from forming.They employ the same tactics on their gradually stretching skin that their ancestors havedone for thousands of years.�First they take long, hot showers or baths, making sure that their abdomens and breastsare constantly splashed or submerged. The heat and the water open up the skin pores,causing the skin to become more receptive to the treatment about to be given. Then thewomen rub oils deep into their skin, in a slow, deep circular motion. They don’t use theirhands to do the rubbing. They use a smooth pumice stone. They say this gets the healingoil down in there much better.�These women claim that the oils or creams can be virtually any kind, but the ones thatwork best have infusions of natural Vitamins E and A.�The ritual described above is done two or three times a day, throughout the entirepregnancy. The focus that’s required for this tedium never wavers.�And lo and behold, when these women are full term, they almost never have any stretchmarks.�And after their babies are born, they repeat the same self-treatment, with just as muchdedication as when their bodies were swelling.�And again, they are almost always free of any stretch marks.�How can this be? Overstretched skin is unavoidable, the inevitable price of bearingchildren. The elastin and collagen that make up the skin get overextended and disrupted,and there’s no way that won’t show, correct? The hormones that run rampant in the bodywhen it’s pregnant are suspected skin disrupters, as well. So, what’s the Cambodiansecret? How do these women do it? It’s not the least bit unusual to see an Asian witha newborn baby, walking around in a bikini, sporting a smooth, taut belly. Is thepreventative bathing and creaming and rubbing really all that it takes?The answer is most likely no. Lucky genetics is in all probability playing a major rolehere. The inborn ability to thwart stretch marks may be just as prevalent in Asians astheir characteristic straight black hair. But don’t knock their preventative regimens. Theirdevotion to their daily self-treatments most likely plays a big role, too.And so does the health-giving Asian diet. The plentitude of fresh vegetables, fruits, andfish, all rendered in a traditionally low-fat cuisine, is certainly another strong factor.Foods that keep the body well-nourished and slim are foods that are good for the healthof the skin, and its ability to auto-repair.Regular exercise and avoidance of tobacco are likely to also be factors.For all women prone to get stretch marks, the removal of scars that are alreadyestablished is a challenge even worse than prevention. Short of a surgical procedure thatcosts a king’s ransom and involves cutting skin right off, reduction, not a total removal,is the only realistic hope. Laser therapy and microdermabrasion are procedures that mayhelp. The appointments for these treatments add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars,and the results may be disappointing. At most, the striations and furrows will be lessenedand thinned somewhat. For older, whitened scars, a new therapy is available that’ssomewhat akin to tanning: a pulsing light system pigments the white, and this lasts abouta year. Then it needs a redoing.Meanwhile, the people most likely to get stretch marks await the announcement byscience that the stretch mark gene has been isolated, and will soon be repressible. Andsomeday, they hope, the hormones responsible for making stretch marks worse will alsobe tamed and made harmless.Then, and only then, will all women from all genetic backgrounds have the option ofprenatal and postnatal skin exactly like their new babys’. |
