Hey guys welcome to this week's video which is all about stretch marks we're going to learn how
to get rid of stretch marks we're going to learn about stretch mark creams we're going to learn
about the treatments for stretch marks we're going to learn about everything to do with stretch marks
including the causes and most importantly we're going to look at preventative steps on what you
can do to prevent you from getting more stretch marks in the future so welcome to my channel if
you haven't been here before we talk about everything healthcare and everything medical
we always look at the evidence so you know it's information that you can trust so what we're going
to do in this video is we're going to break down all the information in the description below so
feel free to click on a chapter which has got the relevant information that you want if you
want to find that information quicker but as i always say i'd highly recommend you watch the
entire video that way you're going to become a bit of a stretch mark pro also please don't
forget if you do find any of this information helpful or if you learned something new today
don't forget to click that like button because it's going to help me it's going
to help the video grow so it's going to be available to a much larger audience and help
loads of people around the world who might have stretch marks and want information on it as well
now let's begin okay so let's begin with some science first of all stretch marks they are very
normal for us to get it's part of us being human okay so it's very normal for us to have this in
terms of statistics we're looking at about 90 of pregnant women potentially getting stretch marks
we're looking about 70 percent of adolescent women getting stretch marks and 40 percent of adolescent
men getting stretch marks so as you can see it's very very common so please don't think to yourself
you're the only person that has them statistics say that a lot of people have them as well and
it's very very normal for us to have them so now that we know how common stretch marks are there is
lots of information available online about stretch marks and unfortunately some of them are myths and
not really through some of the treatments so we're going to be going through all of that and talking
about real science and real science-backed and evidence-backed stuff that you can do to
try and help with it and to try and prevent it now in terms of stretch marks why did it happen
i want to make it really simple i've got a really good explanation for you remember the skin
is the body's largest organ okay and the skin can stretch and it can retract okay now i want
you to imagine a balloon that's probably the best way to imagine it when you've got a balloon that
you've never blown it's all nice and small but then when you blow it and then it deflates again
that's been blown for a while actually it deflates again it never goes back to that size again it's a
bit wrinkly it's a bit you know unusual looking it's not like how the balloon was to begin with
and that's kind of how stretch marks happen it's because that stretch is happened too far for too
long and it's unable to retract to its original position so basically it's that rapid expansion
of the skin that causes the stretch marks hence why when we have pregnant ladies and they've got
a rapid expansion of skin when they're pregnant it causes the stretch marks or if you put on a
lot of weight and then you lose a lot of weight or for example if you're lifting weights and you're
building muscle and it stretches the skin so all of these can potentially cause it now in terms of
where do they usually occur they can occur pretty much anywhere but generally speaking we usually
get them around the stomach around the shoulder area sometimes around the palm pit area as well
here when there's a crease you can get around the bottom area around your thighs so it can generally
be all over and the way it looks is we get this sort of ripple mark these straight lines on the
skin known as striae now please do also remember there are many other reasons for stretch marks as
well i'm going to have a little box appear here now if you want to read more about these click
pause and give it a read because it's not just pregnant ladies and people who are weightlifting
and get it there's loads of other reasons for it as well so give it a read okay so let's begin with
how to get rid of stretch marks we're first going to begin with some lifestyle tips that everyone
can do at home okay but let's be very clear right from the start in terms of treatments in terms of
lifestyle stuff for example in terms of creams and stuff like that there is no cream currently
that you can say that you put on a stretch mark and it gets rid of it completely so please do
remember that and remember on this channel we talk about everything that's evidence-based i'm
not going to talk about some hocus-pocus remedy that you can make by mixing tumeric and eggs and
all this sort of random stuff and sticking it on a stretch mark and it's going to get rid of it
because that sort of stuff doesn't exist okay we look at the evidence and from the evidence
i'm going to tell you the stuff that can help okay so please remember nothing that you apply on the
skin is going to get rid of it 100 now there are medical treatments that we're going to talk about
afterwards that can potentially get rid of it very very close to that okay but in terms of the
lifestyle stuff please remember that by using these they are going to help it appear a lot
better okay but i'm going to get rid of it 100 but it's really going to help make it less noticeable
and make it appear much more normal rather than having the stretch mark lines that we're
all used to however please also remember there's nothing wrong with having stretch marks as well so
i just wanted to make that very clear right from the start okay so let's begin with tip
number one tip number one is all about vitamin a formulations such as retinoids now retinoids
can be really good at reducing the appearance of scars not only just for stretch marks but
also the acne scars for example it can be really really helpful and the way that retinoids work is
it basically causes the turnover of cells such as skin cells to happen more rapidly so it's happy
it's causing them to die on the top and to turn over more rapidly okay and as a result of that
the skin is going to appear a lot more natural looking and a lot smoother so it's going to get
rid of those scars by basically causing a rapid turnover of cells on the top i hope that makes
sense now retinoids there are lots of retinoids available so obviously give it a quick google
search see which one's the best for you and also please remember this is one of the most important
things you need to remember about all vitamin a formulations such as retinoids or any of them
is that pregnant women should not use retinoids breast-feeding women should not use retinoids
and also if you're thinking of getting pregnant or trying to get pregnant please do not use retinoids
okay this is really important because it can cause lots of problems moving on to tip number
two the next product that i want to recommend is creams containing hyaluronic acid okay it's
a bit difficult to pronounce i'm going to have it written over here for you so you can see
this is a really good cream at potentially helping the elasticity of your skin to improve there have
been a few studies that have shown it to actually do this and by improving the elasticity of the
skin it's kind of like the balloon theory let's say that i said at the start by the
balloon being more elastic it's going to be able to shrivel back to its normal size okay and this
is our thought process for the stretch marks okay because it's had that rapid stretch it's finding
it difficult to retract back so by improving the elasticity with the hyaluronic acid it's hopefully
going to help the appearance of the stretch marks reduce a lot so moving on to tip number
three tip number three is all about sugar scrubs okay and sugar scrubs actually do have evidence
supporting them at helping to fade stretch marks and helping the appearance of stretch marks so
how do you do the sugar scrub i think you're asking the way you do it is very simple
all you need is probably half a teaspoon of sugar you can mix that with any oil such as
olive oil or coconut oil and then use that as a scrub on the area let's say that my
stretch mark is on my shoulder area here so when i go for a shower i'd probably say maximum
two times a week no more than two times a week because then you you're potentially damaging the
skin so what we're trying to do with the scrub is we're trying to get rid of those dead skin cells
to promote the new skin cells to grow and help reduce the appearance kind of similar
to the retinoid process but this is more of a physical process that we're doing now okay
so you're going to mix that with your coconut oil or your olive oil the sugar
and place it on there preferably when you go for a shower and give it a bit of a scrub
do not scrub really hard okay please remember it's your skin identity it's sensitive and all
you're gonna do is you're gonna damage the area okay it's just a gentle scrub to exfoliate the
area don't really go in deep it's not gonna make a massive difference by doing that okay
remember these sort of creams these processes we're looking at the long game okay it's not
a quick cure you're looking at the long game so just do it gently two times a week maximum and
then have a nice shower afterwards to get rid of all those skin cells that we've exfoliated
easy as that okay so i hope you're finding this information helpful so far please don't forget
if you found any of this information new or helpful at all don't forget to click that
like button moving on to the next tip aloe vera gels and creams and stuff like that aloe vera has
been used for thousands of years for patients who suffer from burns and it's really good at locking
in that moisture and hydrating the skin and helping with the scars associated with burners now
as stretch marks are a type of scarring as well there could be potentially evidence that it could
help with it as well so i guess it's another one that we can discuss and make you aware of okay so
moving on to tip number five tip number five is all about a healthy balanced diet and as well as
having a healthy gut biome look if you haven't heard about gut biome it's probably going to be
one of the biggest things that we're going to be talking about in the next five to ten years
i imagine there is a lot of evidence coming all about gut biome and gut bio basically means you've
got bacteria okay because the fancy word for it so why is this relevant because it's in your gut well
the bacteria in the gut has been shown now to be linked to many different conditions such as stress
and anxiety cardiovascular problems and even skin conditions as well okay so certain skin conditions
have also been linked to having bad bacteria in the gut so what does this mean well it turns out
that the bacteria in our gut works with us okay so it's working with us and it's been keeping us
healthy for a long time and the bacteria i've got for example is also responsible for breaking down
certain foods and also it helps to absorb certain vitamins and minerals as well that we need so
this is why it's super important that we're keeping our biome healthy because it's very
easy for us to have a poor bad gut biome which is basically in dysbiosis and dysbiosis means when
it's the bacteria is all over the place basically we've got a lot of bad bacteria compared to good
bacteria so i know what you're thinking you're probably thinking well how do i increase my gut
i am how do i make my bio better because if it could potentially help with how my skin appears
then i want to do it it's going to be very long and complicated for me to explain how to improve
your gut biome but i would really advise you all to have a quick google on what you can do some
of the most basic things you can do for example is not smoking one because that has an effect on your
gut biome also having a healthy balanced diet and what i mean by that is having a lot of whole foods
and not having processed foods because processed foods have got a bit of everything in them and
we don't want that and diets that are high in sugar are also really not good for your bio and
basically all these processed foods that we have that you can get all have lots of sugar in them
they have lots of complex carbohydrates in them all of which can potentially make your gut and
go worse so basically what you need to have is a diet that's full of fruits and vegetables and just
the vegetable part for example you can go as much as you want really we're talking about
whole vegetables okay we're not talking about stuff that's been pre-prepared that's got a bit
of vegetables in it but everything else in it i'm on about whole foods here okay and also making
sure that you're not having lots of sugary stuff and takeaways and eating out all the time all of
these are potentially going to affect you good biome so if you want a healthy gut bio basically
you need to have a healthy whole food diet okay so google it find out more of what you can do to help
invite you goodbye and this could potentially help with the appearance of your stretch marks because
a healthy gut biome has been linked to good better looking skin okay and reducing the conditions of
skin conditions for example you know like eczema patients have had improvements in their eczema
when they've got biomass more healthy there's even some acne patients that have been helped
with having healthier biomes so what i'm trying to say here is you need to do some searching
because otherwise i'm going to be talking for ages if i want to do a video all about
goodbye and what to do but this could potentially really help with the appearance of stretch marks
as well because it's going to give us healthier looking skin all over not just on one area now
moving on to tip number six tip number six is all about vitamin d and sun protection in
terms of vitamin d here in the uk we recommend everyone to take a thousand units of vitamin d
throughout winter there's no harm in taking it throughout the year and especially if you have
darker skin as well it's highly recommended that you take vitamin d every day just to keep your
vitamin d levels up okay and vitamin d has been linked to skin conditions again as well such as
eczema patients you know usually have have been found to have a link with low vitamin d you know
it's been linked with a lot of skin conditions low vitamin d so just by supplementing with vitamin d
isn't really going to do you any harm so speak to your healthcare professional about recommending
you just a daily vitamin d to take okay so have a word of them and make sure that you're safe and
suitable to take it the other thing i want to talk about is some protection make sure that if your
area of stretch mark that you have your stretch mark is visible to the sun for example let's say
it's on your shoulder and you always wear a vest when you go out you need to make sure that you're
wearing the correct spf okay to protect the skin because if we don't protect it potentially that
stretch mark is just going to get worse it's going to be a lot harder to get better okay so we need
to protect the skin as well especially if it's visible to the sun if you want more information on
vitamin d and spf i'm gonna leave links to up here and in the description below for you and moving on
to tip number seven we're looking at oils now that you can use there hasn't been really much evidence
to use olive oil or coconut oil or these kinds of oils on the area that the stretch marks after that
they're going to help really there has been some evidence that bio oil can help with the appearance
of stretch marks there's not loads of evidence on it but potentially this can also be used but
the only thing about oils the downside about them is they're messy aren't they they get everywhere
they leave a sticky residue everywhere but if you really want to do it that is also another option
okay so now that we spoke about all the lifestyle tips that you can do one last thing that i want
to say is if you do spot a new stretch mark on a new area you need to be on it with these lifestyle
tips that we spoke about because the sooner you do these tips the more it's going to help with
the area the longer you take before you start doing these things the less likely it's going
to be to have much of an effect but if you do it straight away when you've noticed one it's going
to be a much better at fading the appearance of the stretch mark so i hope that helps so now that
we spoke about the lifestyle tips the next thing we're going to talk about quickly is the different
medical treatments that are available these are all cosmetic treatments that are available so
first of all you've got laser therapy and laser therapy is where you use a laser to punch little
holes into the skin very very tiny and this is going to promote collagen production which then
helps the skin blend with the surrounding skin and making that appearance of the stretch marks
go away the second option is something called microdermal abrasion this is where a tool is used
similar to how the sugar scrub works but much deeper and the tool is used to brush away the
dead skin cells from the top to help promote the regeneration the skin cells to help fade the
appearance of stretch marks the next thing that we've got is something known as micro needling
and this is going to puncture little tiny holes in the skin and it's going to promote collagen and
elastin and this is going to help it sort of blend in with the surrounding area and also it's going
to help make the skin a bit tighter so it's going to pull it which again is going to help with the
appearance of the stretch marks and lastly another medical treatment is chemical peels chemical peels
where to use a chemical to make the top layer of the skin peel away this can improve the appearance
of stretch marks as well now obviously all of these treatments you need to speak to a healthcare
professional about them but they do also exist if you are interested in trying them but obviously
make sure you find a reputable dermatologist and healthcare professional to speak to so they can
recommend the best treatment for you this is just a rough outline of what you can expect and how it
works okay so i feel like we're starting to get somewhere now we spoke about the lifestyle tips
on how to get rid of stretch marks and we spoke about medical treatments available to
get rid of stretch marks as well i just want to say again please remember we now know the
science behind stretch marks we now know the evidence evidence-based stuff that's going to
help so please don't fall for a lot of the ads that you see on social media promoting magical
cures for stretch marks and how they put this one cream on for a second and then they wipe it away
and it's all gone because believe me this sort of stuff really doesn't exist at the moment okay so
we can do the stuff that we spoke about to help improve the appearance but none of it is really
going to get rid of it 100 is to in terms of lifestyle stuff however if you do speak
and want cosmetic treatment if you speak to your healthcare professional cosmetic treatments these
can generally reduce the appearance of stretch marks far far more than the lifestyle stuff that
we spoke about but just please remember don't fall for a lot of the ads that you see on social media
i really hope that you found this information helpful i'm gonna have a little box here as well
that appears in terms of when you should speak to a healthcare professional so make sure you
give that a read as well and like i say at the end of every single video thank you for watching
as always sending your awesome vibes and i'll see you next week okay okay okay so the next thing i
want to talk to you about is about hyaluronic i can't i can't pronounce this it's difficult
hyaluronic i always pronounce that yeah neuronic acid okay terrible hyaluronic hyaluronic
hyaluronic okay okay okey-dokey the aloe vera cactus i think so this is really going to help
your microbiome and the growth of the i can't speak anymore for some strange reason i've just
lost the ability to speak in this week's video hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make
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