Jeannine Morrissette: Yes. Is there anything that we can do for stretch marks? I hear that a lot! Stretch marks.

Dr. Michael Salzhauer: Stretch marks. There's nothing right now that's scientifically proven to get rid of stretch marks, or even improve them a little bit. Anything that's marketed or advertised for stretch marks really is basically snake oil. So, you know, that's my opinion on stretch marks. The only way to get rid of them really is to have them cut out. And if you're fortunate enough that they're in the lower part of your belly, which is where a lot of women get stretch marks, particularly after they have children, a tummy tuck is the answer. But if they're on your lateral thighs, you know, the outer thighs or the inner thighs, or arms or anywhere else, and they're in an area where you can't safely put a scar without making it look worse than the stretch marks, unfortunately, you're stuck. And the bad news about stretch marks is no matter how much you exercise or how much weight you lose, stretch marks tend to stay pretty stable, and look very much the same. Sometimes they even get worse with weight loss. So the bad news for stretch marks, but you know, unless they're on your lower abdomen, where a tummy tuck will help a lot!

Jeannine Morrissette: Well, this lady who sent the email said that somebody told her that the Fraxel laser would help.

Dr. Michael Salzhauer: No. You know, and Fraxel laser is a great tool for very modest skin tightening. It's not– doesn't go nearly as deep as a carbon dioxide laser, or a dermabrasion. But by the same token, the Fraxel laser doesn't have the downtime of a deeper peel or more aggressive treatments like the carbon dioxide laser. So it's sort of a happy medium in terms of downtime and results. But as far as stretch marks go, you know, stretch marks are a tear of the deeper layers of the skin. You know, your skin consists of dermis and epidermis. Now the dermis is the deeper part, and that's a tear– a stretch mark is a tear in the dermis, the deeper part. But the overlying epidermis is in tact, and so you sort of see right through that top layer to the tear on the bottom layer. Now Fraxel laser just takes off the very top layers of the skin, and doesn't in any way, you know, repair the tear that's in the deeper dermal tissues. You might get some tightening of the overlying skin, but you're still gonna have a stretch mark, and chances are it'll be just as noticeable as it was before. Okay, we've got a call?

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 11:01 am and is filed under Dermabrasion, Fraxel Laser, Stretch Marks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.