Is there a 100% stretch mark solution for pregnant moms?
- 01-19-2012, 09:48 PM #1Registered User
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Is there a 100% stretch mark solution for pregnant moms?
I have used a number of stretch mark creams to prevent from getting any. Although I have heard from many mothers that they still got them even while thoroughly using creams and oils. I've also heard that it depend on genetics or what skin type you have.
I've seen a number of pictures online and I find it shockingly scary to picture myself having these.
As a first time mom, I have no idea what to expect. Does anyone have any special recipes or formulas? And if you happen to get stretch marks, can they be surgically removed?
- 01-20-2012, 09:41 AM #2Registered User
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No, absolutely not. There are factors that affect whether you will have stretch marks during pregnancy (and how prominent they may be), but you cannot control most of these factors- i.e., genetics, hormone levels, rate of weight gain (particularly during the last months), etc.
They cannot be surgically removed but there are various creams that can reduce their appearance after the fact. There are also several types of laser treatment that reduce the appearance of stretch marks. However, it is unlikely that any treatment will completely remove them.
Here is a link to the Mayo Clinic's guidance on stretch marks - it should answer most of your questions. But the bottom line is that creams and oils may help your skin feel better/ less itchy, but they won't prevent stretch marks if you are predisposed to getting them.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretch-marks/DS01081
- 01-20-2012, 10:01 AM #3Registered User
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Read this link below and wear your stretch marks with pride :-)
http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/2012...em-with-pride/
- 01-20-2012, 10:38 AM #4Registered User
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In my experience, nothing helps prevent or remove stretch marks. If you're going to get them, you're going to get them. It's just one of the costs of motherhood, I think. Your body will change a lot during pregnancy and afterward. I read a comic once that suggested women take pictures of their breasts prior to having a baby so they can remember what they once looked like. Sure wish I had done that!
Motherhood is really a journey of acceptance. Some things you really will not be able to change and you have to make the choice of 1) are you going to look at your body every day for the rest of your life and hate yourself 2) are you going to accept it, find good in it, and move on? I spent a solid 2-3 years looking at my body every day and hating myself because of the drastic transformation pregnancy put me through.
I still struggle with it. But, this is reality. I think the air-brushed culture we live in (everything is photoshopped--everything) is giving women a sense of something that is not reality.
I found this website helpful in the beginning and have shared my stories there: http://theshapeofamother.com/ .
I hope that you have few stretch marks after pregnancy and childbirth but even if you do, it's normal.“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”
~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)
Mother of Two
JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK
- 01-21-2012, 08:35 AM #5Registered User
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Rather than oils/lotions specially for those marks, I just used almond oil. I didn't get any, I didn't realise it could be a genetic thing.
- 01-21-2012, 09:25 AM #6Registered User
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In my case, totally genetic. Everyone in my family easily gets stretch marks. Even my brother! When he was a teenager he went to live with another family who ran a farm and he was always so thin but then one summer he worked really hard doing manual labor and came back with huge muscles and stretch marks everywhere for where his skin had stretched so fast because of the muscle growth! He was only like 16!
My mom has huge stretch marks as do all of my aunts--doesn't matter if they are thin or not they all have stretch marks from pregnancy. So, try as I might, I couldn't escape. I also didn't use lotions--only natural oils and didn't help at all. :(“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”
~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)
Mother of Two
JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK
- 01-21-2012, 09:37 AM #7Registered User
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Very sorry to hear that. Also, I wasn't saying that I didn't believe it, just that I didn't know!
- 01-21-2012, 10:09 AM #8Registered User
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Yep....that's how it is for some people. So, to the ladies who didn't end up with any stretch marks, call your parents up if you can and say, "Thanks for the good genetics."
For me, gradually and more and more, I'm learning to get beyond it. Yes, there is a price to be paid for having children and my body stands as a testament to that. Sometimes I feel like my body was "abducted by aliens" and returned as something totally different than it was before!“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”
~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)
Mother of Two
JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK
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