Stretch Marks: Those Beautiful Souvenirs From Pregnancy

From the moment you first discover that you`re pregnant, you can be sure of one thing:  Things are going to begin to change, from your head all the way to your toes.  This includes those wonderful little markings that are bound to pop up on the surface of your skin anywhere along your buttocks, your thighs, your stomach, and even along the skin of your breasts and your arms. 

Basically, they can appear in any part of your body where the skin undergoes a significant amount of stretching.  If it is any consolation, you can be sure that you are not alone in your plight.  Upwards of 90 % of all women who have been pregnant developed these wonderful reminders.  What is still up to you, however, is how many of these little marks you end up with at the conclusion of your pregnancy.

There exist a myriad of lotions in the market today which all claim to work miracles when it comes to preventing the appearance of stretch-marks, among them are cocoa-butter lotion, Maderma, and scar serum.  But with new discoveries being made almost every day, your best bet is to consult your physician about which particular one he or she recommends.  You may also give them a try yourself to see if there is one in particular which seems to work best, keeping in mind the cost of these lotions is not insignificant by any means. 

In addition, making sure that your skin is consistently moist will go a long way toward preventing the appearance of stretch-marks and also toward ensuring that it does not tear either.  Once you do settle on a particular lotion, you must be mindful to apply it to your skin on a daily basis throughout the remainder of your pregnancy if you have any hope of it being effective.  This is where the majority of women will fail because, not seeing results as quickly as they would like, they simply stop applying it altogether.  You need to be persistent with this if you want to be able to look at your body after the pregnancy is over and not have all these little marks all over your skin staring back at you in a mocking way.

You can also do your part to keep these stretch-marks at bay by staying in shape throughout your whole pregnancy and trying your best to stick to a healthy diet.  This will go a long way toward preventing you from adding too much excess weight, since the weight gain recommended during the average pregnancy is in the range of 25 and 35 pounds.  Drinking adequate amounts of liquids will also tend to keep you well hydrated and this in turn, means that your skin will be healthier too.  The moment when your skin begins to get dry, you will likely see the appearance of stretch marks.

The likelihood that you will develop stretch-marks increases along with the number of prior pregnancies.  If this is not your first pregnancy, then you can be certain that your skin has already undergone a significant amount of stretching, making it more easily stretched during your current state.  If you had a very large baby or had multiple deliveries, you are also more likely to develop these marks again.  For this reason you would benefit greatly from taking preventive measures before these stretch-marks even appear, such as commence daily applications with whichever cream or lotion you decide, as long as it is rich in vitamin A and vitamin E.  The earlier in your pregnancy you begin to use these, the more likely you are to prevent, or in the very least lessen, the appearance of stretch-marks at a later point in the pregnancy.

However, despite your very best efforts, you may still find yourself looking at a few of these unsightly stretch-marks after your pregnancy is over, but you should rest assured that they will fade over the course of time, so don`t waste too much effort in worrying about the way they now look. 

If, you have waited a reasonable amount of time after the pregnancy and these marks still have yet to disappear, and you are quite bothered by the way they look, you may choose to have them removed using the latest surgical laser techniques with your dermatologist, or you may even opt for the more drastic option of a tummy-reduction.  However, both of these are significant procedures and both have their associated risks, so be sure that you are absolutely unable to live with these beauty marks of pregnancy before you opt for one of these drastic removal procedures.