How preventable are stretch marks?

[Alias]

I had my daughter almost six years ago, and my pregnancy went well with no real difficulty or annoyances. Stretch marks didn't seem that much of an issue for me, so I didn't care too much when I got a few. They aren't bad, just a few around my hips. No biggie.

Well, I was talking to a male friend of mine (more on this in the BBQ pit) when I mentioned stretch marks, and that I had some that showed if I wore a bikini or low rise pants. His response was something along the lines of:

"Stretch marks? What do you have those for? They're the easiest thing in the world to prevent."

So, is this true? I used cocoa butter every day of my pregnancy. I slathered it on like paste because I heard that it aided in preventing stretch marks. Like I said, I don't have bad stretch marks at all, but I do have them. Is my friend just being a jerk or is there something to what he says?

Of course I'm not sure how much faith I have in his knowledge of stretch marks considering he's an unmarried, unattached, childless, thin guy who doesn't work in the medical profession.

[Ice Wolf]

Looking through the websites that abound out there about this ("Hey! Buy our Snake-oil Brand! Ban Stretch Marks! Buy! Buy! Buy!"), I found this from About.com at least.

As stretch marks occur when the collagen separates in the skin, there actually isn't much to do in the way of prevention. They either happen, or they don't.

[Primaflora]

Your friend's full of it. You either get them or you don't. Certainly smearing stuff on the surface of the skin won't prevent them as they happen below the skin. IIRC there's a genetic predisposition to them and some people do get them much worse than other people.

I used cocoa butter, thinking of it as a form of sympathetic magic. I got stretch marks which were astoundingly bad but I also went through 2 pregnancies in one year. 9 years on, they're faded somewhat.

[Cat Fight]

Hard to tell, but sounds like he was kidding. Maybe he's heard lots of women bitch about them and read one too many spam emails selling products to eliminate them.

[beagledave]

From babycenter.com,

Depending on your skin color, stretch marks start out as pink, reddish brown, or dark brown streaks. Many women use various types of creams, lotions, and oils to try to prevent them from forming. Unfortunately, while such products soothe and soften the skin, studies show that they don't prevent stretch marks or even make them any less severe. After pregnancy, the reddish-brown pigmentation in the stretch marks gradually fades, and the striae begin to look like glistening silvery lines of scar tissue.

Apparently some studies indicate that retin-A and/or lasers may help after birth.

[truthbot]

You can put me down for some of those "silvery" lines that beagledave mentioned. I have been underweight all my life, and that included my pregnancies. Yet, I still got stretch marks.

My youngest child is 21. I now have barely noticeble stretch marks, after using alpha & beta hydroxies and retinol for the last few years. As far as I know, there's no way to prevent them. Either you get them, or you don't.

[Spit]

I have a friend who is a stripper, and she used baby oil throughout her pregnancy....no marks.

OTOH, Madonna probably had access to the best stuff in the world, yet her stomach looks like a road map. (and that's WITH makeup)

As stated before, YMMV.

[dangermom]

Some people get them. Some don't. Seems to be something inherent. My gym trainer person gets them every soccer season (??). The stripper is probably just lucky.

I myself have them all over; they seem to pop out on a whim. When I was younger, I got them on my inner thighs from growing taller. Pregnancy resulted in marks from thighs to ribs--I had a big kid. Nothing stops them.

[Spiff]

Condoms, when properly used, are 90% effective in preventing stretch marks.

[istara]

I guess your friend prevented getting stretch marks himself by not getting pregnant.

[Thaumaturge]

I'm a thin guy, and I have stretch marks on my upper thighs just from growing. I guess that's what they are from anyway. I think they are kinda neat actually, like weird parrallel scars.

[Teebone]

I have them on my stomach and I'm a guy. (There was a short period in my life where I got fat.) When people see them, I just say I was pregnant and sold my baby on the black market to pay for college.

FYI, to prevent, just don't get fat or pregnant.

[grettle]

As [b]genie[\b] said, "some peopel get them, some don't." THere is no way to pervent getting them and doctors don't actually know for sure what causes them. (says my dad, who is a doctor) Obviously an extreme change in weight [i]can[\i] cause them, but doesn't in all cases. And Because they do not know what actually causes them, there is not and cannot yet be any reliable prevention measure. I've had stretch marks on my behind since adolescence and have never been fat or pregnant.

[Snickers]

My spouse's got 'em on his back. He's now 6'6" (or 2 m) but was apparently normally-sized as a kid. When he started his growth spurt in his teens, he grew to fast for his skin, so now he's got stretch marks on his back. When I noticed them, I thought it was pretty cool (seeing how I've got mine on my thighs and have never been pregnant. He deserves some too).

Snicks