Laser treatments for Stretch Marks:
For many people, stretch marks can be unsightly and embarrassing and few things can be as frustrating and difficult to treat as stretch marks. Stretch marks often appear during pregnancy but can also appear during puberty, weight gain or loss, or can even be triggered by hormonal fluctuations.
Although stretch marks can fade over time, they may never go away completely. The severity and duration of stretch marks is determined by a person’s heredity, hormone levels, number of pregnancies and amount of weight gain or loss.
There are no sure fast solutions to prevent stretch marks from forming but preventative measures such as using a good moisturizer everyday, increasing your vitamin C intake and using sunscreen can help minimize their impact.
If you suffer from stretch marks, there are now some great new treatment options to help minimize the effect. Advances in laser technology have made treating stretch marks a simple process.
Laser stretch mark reduction consists of treating stretch marks (striae) by resurfacing and restructuring the skin with a laser.
Laser resurfacing works by restructuring and removing the outer layer of skin to encourage healing and growth of new, soft and stretch mark free skin.
During the procedure, beams of light and intense energy are used in concentrated amounts to encourage new cellular growth. While treatment cannot get rid of stretch marks completely, laser treatments can greatly improve the appearance, texture, and color thereby reducing their appearance.
Two types of lasers are typically used for stretch mark treatments: ablative and non-ablative. Ablative lasers (Erbium & CO2) treat stretch marks by destroying and removing the upper layer of skin. The newly generated skin tissue will grow back smoother and softer.
Non-ablative lasers (Q-Switch, Fraxel and ClearLift) are less invasive and don’t destroy the outer layer of skin. Instead they target the underlying tissue in order to promote collagen growth from the inside out.
The good news is that each procedure is quick, relatively painless and has minimal to now downtime associated with treatment.
Depending on the treatment the total procedure typically takes between 30-90 minutes to perform. After the treatment your skin will be slightly pink to red and depending on the treatment performed you can expect healing to occur over a few days up to a few weeks time.
Laser stretch mark reduction typically requires several treatments (1-6 spaced out every 4-6 weeks). Visual improvement takes place as collagen is formed and skin cells regenerate. Because of this a person can expect treatment results to improve over time. It typically takes 4-6 weeks for the formation of new collagen.
Once the series of treatments is completed and you are all done with your sessions, with proper care and maintenance, results can last for years.