What are Stretch Marks?

Understanding what stretch marks are can be an important step in learning how to combat them - both preventively, as well as after they have developed. Stretch marks, in their most basic nature, are just scars.

When your skin becomes deformed over a short period of time, getting stretched far beyond its original size, it becomes scarred in some areas as it cannot produce enough tissue to compensate for its increased size in due time. These scars are initially red-colored, but they tend to fade down over a period of several weeks/days after they have developed, and end up with a slightly lighter or darker hue than your skin's regular one.

Stretch marks aren't strictly related to skin stretching though. In some cases, they may appear due to other, unrelated reasons. One of the popular causes is is hormonal imbalance - whenever your body's finely-adjusted chemical balance begins to tip in a certain direction, your skin may develop stretch marks as a side effect.

Common reasons for hormonal imbalance include teenagers' development in puberty and working out at increased rates for prolonged periods of time. Another common reason for the condition is pregnancy - it's actually very probable for a woman to develop stretch marks during that period. Pregnancy is a good example of both skin stretching and severe hormonal imbalance.

As mentioned above, a good understanding of what stretch marks are and what causes them can be beneficial for dealing with them. Knowing that stretching your skin and affecting your body's hormonal balance can lead to the development of stretch marks (with a high probability, too!), you should do your best to control these factors throughout your life.

When you're planning to start working out more actively, for example, always do it in a way that limits the growth of your muscles, and be careful with overstraining yourself. This would, for instance, lead the body of a man into developing more testosterone, which will, naturally, impact the hormonal balance.

As a final tip, if you're unsure about what the effects of a specific activity may be in regards to development of stretch marks, it always pays to consult your physician. He is the one who can let you know if you risk developing stretch marks by doing something specific, and how to minimize their effects. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - and this is true for more stretch marks as well.