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Pregnancy

Stretch marks - is there anything you can do to prevent and/ or cure them?

53 replies

justiner · 01/07/2003 11:23

Hi all,
Am approaching the depressing subject of stretchmarks for the forthcoming Mums on Pregnancy with a weary heart and a laddered belly. Anyone got any prevention, cure or cover up tips and if not can anyone tell me how to live with them?

OP posts:

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LucieB · 01/07/2003 11:27

I didn't get stretch marks from my first pregnancy. (Though time will tell with my second!!). I think it definitely helps if you are fit and toned before you get pg, but people's skin is so different that its hard to generalise. Only thing I can really say is that I used Origins 'Birthday Suit' spray throughout. It may have helped or my skin may just be less predisposed to stretch-marks than others....

princesspeahead · 01/07/2003 11:29

nope, I think either you are prone to them or you are not. to do with elasticity of the skin. I didn't get any with my two pregnancies (and have none heading towards the end of this one) and sadly I wasn't fit and toned before any of them!

and I'm very lazy and hardly moisturise or anything at all.

isn't this a completely unhelpful post?!! now if you'd like some information on piles....!

pie · 01/07/2003 11:31

From everything I have read, its pretty much in your genes whether you get strech marks. The creams etc will keep your skin soft but not actually prevent them

I reached 5'9" by the time I was 12 and have strech marks everywhere from growing so quickly, and having babies have now added a nice set to my stomach.

I only really show my skin on holiday as the sun helps fade the marks, but I don't think I'm especially aware of them, don't think I would be showing my belly a la Brittany if I didn't!!

pie · 01/07/2003 11:32

Oh great I'm having an inablity to spell day

Ghosty · 01/07/2003 11:32

Lol .. HRH ... (no I am not stalking you!) but I was going to say the same as you ... I thought there was nothing you could do about them ... you either got them or you didn't.
I didn't get them (but did get a 'floppy' tummy ... nice!) ... and I was average in the 'toned' stakes ... I did moisturise with stretch mark cream ... Palmers, I think it is called ... cocoa butter or some such stuff. I have no idea if it was that that did the trick.

Ghosty · 01/07/2003 11:37

Interesting about other stretch marks Pie ... I didn't have them on my tummy from being pregnant but did on my hips and thighs from growth spurts at puberty and weight going up and down in my teens and early 20s.
And thinking about it I did get some on my boobs when I was pg with DS ... Not surprising going from a 34C cup at conception to a 36D cup at 12 weeks to a 38DD cup at 40 weeks!!! And then of course back down to a 34B () when I stopped b/fing!!!
Sorry not helping with the original question ...

spacemonkey · 01/07/2003 11:47

I think it is genetic. My belly is absolutely repulsive, would have abdominoplasty + skin grafts if i had the dosh!

aloha · 01/07/2003 11:51

Funnily enough I also have faded stretch marks on my hips from puberty, but none on my tummy at all. However, I did discover a couple of livid ones in my groin after having a post baby bikini wax - you really wanted to know that, didn't you?

aloha · 01/07/2003 11:52

PS Got huge, moisturised sporadically but also think it is genetic.

princesspeahead · 01/07/2003 11:53

go to bed ghosty!

codswallop · 01/07/2003 11:54

i hsve none apart from a few on my thighs from adolescence. no idea why. are they genetic?

KeepingMum · 01/07/2003 12:19

I'm another one who has them on her thighs and boobs from puberty but none from pregnancy (first time round - still waiting to see if they appear this time, four weeks to go). It doesn't really make sense to me that my stomach which feels like it is fit to burst hasn't got any, but my thighs and boobs managed to get them - I can't believe they grew so fast when I was a teenager!
My theory is that you have to drink lots of water to prevent them, to keep the skin nice and hydrated. I know I hardly drank anything when I was at school, mainly to avoid using school loos.

oliveoil · 01/07/2003 12:19

I thought I had escaped them until the last week of pregnancy when a couple sprang up round my belly button I have always moisurised - since I was about 14! - and my skin is very soft, I have been told Would recommend the Palmers stretchmark cream, smells nice too.
Weirdly, I have some on my lower back, from puberty I reckon, which look nice peeping over jeans......

fio2 · 01/07/2003 12:32

Im with pie on this one, I was a lanky teenager and got them, then got pregnant twice and got them. They do fade to nothing though dont they-well mine have practically done

mammya · 01/07/2003 12:45

When I was pregnant I was religiously applying a cocoa butter cream to my stomach (Shenya I think, almost pure cocoa butter) and got very few stretch marks there. However got loads on my upper thighs, from getting soooo big, where I didn't apply any cream. I don't know what effect the cream had though...
I also had some on my thighs and boobs from adolescence.

morocco · 01/07/2003 12:46

i didn't get any on my tummy at all but got a few lines on my thighs ( old thunderthighs I was when pregnant) but they faded almost straight away. I still have silvery stretch marks on my boobs as they're always changing size but they were never purpley coloured. I was very haphazard about moisturising but used Body shop body butter
My mum didn't get any at all - so I think it must be genetic.
Do people ever show off their tummies again anyway after having kids??? Can't imagine myself in a bikini right now - no stretch marks but lovely rolls of flab.

fio2 · 01/07/2003 12:46

yes Ive got more on my thighs than on my stomach

zebra · 01/07/2003 13:05

I like my stretch marks (all from adolescence, none from babies.). I think they're very pretty. Why do people dislike stretchmarks????

fio2 · 01/07/2003 13:09

they dont bother me either zebra

lou33 · 01/07/2003 13:19

Didn't get any with my 4 either. I think it just depends on make up of your skin. I have a collagen deficiency, maybe that was why I didn't get them.

princesspeahead · 01/07/2003 13:26

is that why you are called zebra, zebra? because you are all stripy?!

TheOldDragon · 01/07/2003 13:49

You can easily prevent stretch marks by not getting pregnant.

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Tinker · 01/07/2003 14:00

I got them as well in puberty which, considering the less than ample size of my breasts, is surprising. None in pregancy but I thought that was becuase I was 'older' ie starting to stretch a little anyway. Always believed that younger mothers suffered from them more.

pie · 01/07/2003 14:02

OldDragon, you can also prevent them my never growing, there could be hordes of infant size adults living their stretch mark free lives

codswallop · 01/07/2003 14:07

Hoorah for the old dragon

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