What Causes Stretch Marks?
What Causes Stretch Marks? Here's a look at what causes stretch marks.
You might think of things like sudden weight gain or pregnancy, but you might also be interested in what's going on at a molecular level.
Finally, we will see how to remove stretch marks.
But first the cause.
Stretch Marks - How They Look When they first appear, they look like reddish or purple lines on the skin's surface.
They usually fade in color, developing a whitish appearance as time goes by.
Depending on the severity of the stretching, they may be wide or narrow.
The skin's texture in the area of the stretching is smoother than the surrounding skin.
As time goes by, they become very similar in appearance to scars.
They sometimes occur during growth spurts.
Teenage girls may develop them on their breasts for example, during puberty.
Where Do They Show Up The hips, thighs and buttocks are common locations.
Body builders may develop them on their biceps or on other large muscles.
When they are caused by pregnancy, they usually appear below the navel.
What Causes These Marks? Growth, weight gain, enlarged muscles and pregnancy are the things that we usually blame, but that's not actually what causes these marks.
It is true that skin subjected to more stretching force than it can handle will tear.
But, the dermal and epidermal layers of skin can tear.
But, in most cases, the collagen-producing fibroblasts (specialized cells) will kick into gear and create more elastic fibers.
The elastic fibers allow the skin to be stretched without tearing.
When people are young, the skin stretches and snaps back into place quickly, because of all of the elastic fibers.
The production of elastic fibers decreases with age, but not until around the age of 40, as long as you are in good health.
So, the fibroblasts should create enough elastic fibers to allow for the stretching that occurs during growth and pregnancy.
But, something prevents them from producing the elastic fibers.
What is a GC? That something is a group of steroid hormones called glucocorticoids or GCs.
That's actually what causes stretch marks.
The GCs act on the fibroblasts and prevent them from doing their job.
GCs are not all bad.
We need them for many things.
They are responsible for regulating inflammation, maintaining blood glucose levels and breaking down the fat in adipose tissues, among other things.
GC levels are naturally higher during pregnancy and puberty.
There isn't anything we can do about that.
Excessively high or unhealthy levels do not occur naturally, but taking synthetic GCs (steroids) can and does cause health problems.
In the case of some bodybuilders and athletes, steroid use might be what causes stretch marks.
Other side effects of steroid use include acne and psychosis.
Other Causes Other hormonal changes and genetics may be involved in the development of the lines.
They are not a health threat; do not interfere with normal immune system function or the skin's ability to protect the inside of the body from harm.
Despite that, people don't like them.
What You Can Do to Remove Stretch Marks? So, that's what causes stretch marks.
Even though we can't do anything about GCs, we can do something to stimulate the production of elastic fibers, which should prevent them.
We can also make them go away.
You can learn about that in my next article.
Now that we have the answer to What Causes Stretch Marks?, we will learn How to Remove Stretch Marks in the next article, just click this link How To Remove Stretch Marks.
Also See Resource/Author Box Below.
You might think of things like sudden weight gain or pregnancy, but you might also be interested in what's going on at a molecular level.
Finally, we will see how to remove stretch marks.
But first the cause.
Stretch Marks - How They Look When they first appear, they look like reddish or purple lines on the skin's surface.
They usually fade in color, developing a whitish appearance as time goes by.
Depending on the severity of the stretching, they may be wide or narrow.
The skin's texture in the area of the stretching is smoother than the surrounding skin.
As time goes by, they become very similar in appearance to scars.
They sometimes occur during growth spurts.
Teenage girls may develop them on their breasts for example, during puberty.
Where Do They Show Up The hips, thighs and buttocks are common locations.
Body builders may develop them on their biceps or on other large muscles.
When they are caused by pregnancy, they usually appear below the navel.
What Causes These Marks? Growth, weight gain, enlarged muscles and pregnancy are the things that we usually blame, but that's not actually what causes these marks.
It is true that skin subjected to more stretching force than it can handle will tear.
But, the dermal and epidermal layers of skin can tear.
But, in most cases, the collagen-producing fibroblasts (specialized cells) will kick into gear and create more elastic fibers.
The elastic fibers allow the skin to be stretched without tearing.
When people are young, the skin stretches and snaps back into place quickly, because of all of the elastic fibers.
The production of elastic fibers decreases with age, but not until around the age of 40, as long as you are in good health.
So, the fibroblasts should create enough elastic fibers to allow for the stretching that occurs during growth and pregnancy.
But, something prevents them from producing the elastic fibers.
What is a GC? That something is a group of steroid hormones called glucocorticoids or GCs.
That's actually what causes stretch marks.
The GCs act on the fibroblasts and prevent them from doing their job.
GCs are not all bad.
We need them for many things.
They are responsible for regulating inflammation, maintaining blood glucose levels and breaking down the fat in adipose tissues, among other things.
GC levels are naturally higher during pregnancy and puberty.
There isn't anything we can do about that.
Excessively high or unhealthy levels do not occur naturally, but taking synthetic GCs (steroids) can and does cause health problems.
In the case of some bodybuilders and athletes, steroid use might be what causes stretch marks.
Other side effects of steroid use include acne and psychosis.
Other Causes Other hormonal changes and genetics may be involved in the development of the lines.
They are not a health threat; do not interfere with normal immune system function or the skin's ability to protect the inside of the body from harm.
Despite that, people don't like them.
What You Can Do to Remove Stretch Marks? So, that's what causes stretch marks.
Even though we can't do anything about GCs, we can do something to stimulate the production of elastic fibers, which should prevent them.
We can also make them go away.
You can learn about that in my next article.
Now that we have the answer to What Causes Stretch Marks?, we will learn How to Remove Stretch Marks in the next article, just click this link How To Remove Stretch Marks.
Also See Resource/Author Box Below.
