Stretch marks
The stretch marks are linear visible scars, which even though do not raise special medical issues, bring an important aesthetic prejudice. They are represented by areas where the skin looks thorn. It is estimated the stretch marks appear on 90% of the pregnant women, 70% of the adolescents and 40% of the athletes. In the stretched area the skin is thinner, soft, curled with increased transparency in case of new stretch marks (that is what generates the red – violet color) and opaque white alongside the skin tension lines. They are a few centimeters in length and 1 – 10 mm width (in some cases even more). Sometimes they cause local itchiness.
The cause of stretch marks
They appear because of the tear of the conjunctive tissue, through excessive fast stretching of the skin, when the conjunctive tissue is reduced and weak.
This situation is caused by nutritional deficiencies and increased secretion of the over renal glands. The hyper secretion may appear pathologically, like in the case of the Cushing disease, or prolonged systemic cortical therapy (in the later cases the stretch marks are large, wide and present on extended areas), but also in case of powerful physical effort, glycemy drop, anabolic steroids use or stress.