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Stretch Marks
Before
laser treatment was invented Doctors used TCA (trichloroacetic acid) to
remove tattoos, give amazing face peels and provide beauty therapy
options such as stretch mark removal.
A
Laser treatment could cost between $500 and $5,000 to remove stretch
marks and is accompanied by many, often painful, clinic visits.
Treating Stretch Marks with TCA
Stretch
marks after birth, or weight loss/gain, anywhere on the body can be
safely and successfully removed/faded with our own medical grade, TCA
peel.
Before and After Photos - TCA Treatment for Stretch Marks
Medium Depth Peels
ANAIS TCA peel is made of Medical grade Trichloroacetic Acid, it
is a chemical peel. Compared to other peels it can provide a more
reliable result. On the down side, it can be quite uncomfortable for a
few minutes while the TCA peel is being applied. Once the acid is
applied to the skin it is difficult to reverse it. Trichloroacetic acid
is an aqueous solution and for that reason cannot be neutralized but,
rather, only diluted. So if you read on the net that you can naturalize
the burning-sensation with soda for a TCA peel that is incorrect. That
is only valid for a Glycolic acid one of the alpha-hydroxy acids, which
are naturally occurring organic acids derived from various fruits. The
TCA peel is chemical and is generally left on the skin for 2-4 minutes
before being washed off (or rather water is splashed on the skin to
cool it). It is then covered with an ice pack or cooled with iced
water. The heat from the treatment then leaves the skin very quickly.
The few minutes discomfort is well worth as the end results are
fantastic.
 Note TCA Strength:
25% is a mild peel. 50% is a medium peel. 80%-100% is a deep peel. A
deep 80% peel is not recommended for stretch marks as they are
generally in sensitive areas and not weathered by the sun. The result
you get, the healing duration and the burning-sensation on application
all depend on which strength peel you buy. A mild peel only tingles on
application and may be a little irritating. This may be sufficient to
remove/fade stretch marks on very sensitive skin areas. Whereas a
medium 50% peel heats for a few minutes upon application, especially on
sensitive areas that don't usually see the sun. Obviously the higher
the strength of peel, the more dramatic the result will be. You need to
look at your skin's sensitivity before deciding to use either a 25% or
50% strength.
Identifying Your Skin Type:
Always check your skin type and be well informed before you order a TCA peel.
Which skin type below best describes you?
Type 1: Never tans, always burns, (extremely fair skin, blonde hair, blue/green eyes)
Type 2: Occasionally tans, usually burns (fair skin, sandy brown hair, green/brown eyes)
Type 3: Tans on average, some times burns (medium skin, brown hair, brown eyes)
Type 4: usually tans, rarely burns (olive skin, brown/black hair, dark brown/black eyes)
Type 5: Mostly tans, almost never burns (dark brown skin, black hair, black eyes)
Type 6: Never burns (black hair, skin and eyes)
Skin
types 5 & 6 are not suitable candidates for deep 80% chemical
peels, due to probable pigment irregularities and scaring.
Skin types 1-2 use 15% or 25%.
Skin types 3-4 use 50% or 80%.
Skin types 5-6 use 25% or 50%.
Tattoo
or scar removal is sold as 100% strength. This is for non sensitive
skin and not suitable for sensitive skin (e.g. you burn easily in the
sun or you are treating sensitive areas).
Be responsible for your
own skin. Dilute the first peel to see how your skin copes with it.
Best to be safe than sorry later. Dilution instructions come with the
tattoo removal peel and are shown below.
 
Before and After Photos - TCA Treatment for Stretch Marks
Afterwards,
the peeling process is quite noticeable taking 7- 10 days with a medium
peel. On a positive note people will generally require only 6 peels to
achieve the desired results. Laser treatments, besides costing
thousands of dollars, sometimes require 20+ treatments if they even
work for stretch marks at all. TCA peels produce improvement in
collagen and elastin in the skin, and the removal/fading of the stretch
marks. Peel treatment, healing, then your new look, takes approximately
two weeks from start to finish depending on the strength peel you use.
The treated areas will tan as usual.No matter how dark, deep, old or faded,
they can still be removed or faded (if instructions are followed correctly).
What would help your body prevent or get rid of stretch marks?
The
stretch mark treatment and prevention products you find nowadays are
aimed at replenishing skin matrix by stimulating the synthesis of
collagen or elastin (e.g. those containing ingredients such as ascorbic
acid, copper peptides, palmitoyl pentapeptide or oligopeptides).
Unfortunately, this approach fails or falls short in most people affected by atrophic
skin, whereby skin is too thin and not strong enough to support
stretching beyond what it has been used too, presumably due to the
particular chemistry of skin affected by such condition and an
inability to respond to matrix synthesis boosters.
The
failure is because something crucial missing in those products: that
which would help your own body get rid of scar tissues and would help
to prevent stretch marks by strengthening your skin and supporting it
to become more resilient.
What needs to be there to treat stretch marks?
Two
things acting in concert. First, your body needs to be able to
differentiate or identify scar tissue from the surrounding functional
tissues in the skin matrix. Second, it must be able to degrade the
proteins that those scar tissues are made off and separate their
component amino-acids and use them to create new skin matrix elements.
This can only be achieved by the concerted action of two types of ingredients.
One
are messenger molecules that are able to bridge communication between
cells and allow them to differentiate scar tissues from functional
healthy skin tissues.
The other crucial ingredient are enzymes that both
dissolve or “digest” non functional cells, worn out or damaged skin
cells AND trigger proliferation of new collagen and elastin fibers from
within the skin matrix.
Stretch marks are visible linear scars. These form
in areas of dermal damage produced when skin is not capable of
withstanding over-stretching and the elastin and collagen fibers reach
tensile capacity. They weaken and ultimately fail resulting in tears in
the dermal skin layer.
They show up on a thinned skin
surface as visibly curled stripes and are actually bands of elastin
broken beneath the skin. Essentially, stretch marks are scars that have
formed from the inside out, rather than scarring from external wounds.
Scanning electron microscopy shows extensive tangles
of fine, curled elastic fibers with a random arrangement. This
arrangement is in contrast to normal skin, which has thick, elastic,
fibers with a regular distribution.
Elastin is a protein that coils and recoils like a
spring within the elastic fibers of connective tissue and accounts for
the elasticity of structures such as the skin, blood vessels, heart,
lungs, intestines, tendons, and ligaments. Elastin functions in
connective tissue together with collagen. Whereas elastin provides
elasticity, collagen provides rigidity to connective tissue.
Stretch marks occur frequently during pregnancy,
growth spurts, bodybuilding while on steroids, or when other hormonal
imbalances may be at work. It may surprise you to know that in the
United States it is estimated that 90% of pregnant women, 70% of
adolescent females, and 40% of adolescent males have stretch marks.
There does not seem to be an ethnic tendency toward
stretch marks, as people of all skin colors can be affected. People who
have fair to light skin typically have pink-tinged stretch marks, while
the same marks on darker skin tones tend to take on a deeper
pigmentation than the skin surrounding them. Discoloration from stretch
marks does fade over time, but regrettably, their striated appearance
rarely returns to its original smooth appearance.
It is
speculated that the way each person's skin heals is a good indicator of
the depth and severity of stretch marks they may eventually see. A
person whose skin heals well with minimal scarring can expect less
obvious stretch marks, while skin that heals poorly (or slowly) or
tends to develop raised or thickened scars can generally expect stretch
marks that are more pronounced.
Stretch marks are caused by
TEARS in a thinned or technically atrophic skin, with fine dermal
collagen bundles arranged in straight lines parallel to the surface,
created by your own body to heal those tears. Let me repeat that:
stretch marks are scar tissue created by your own body to heal damage
caused by overly stretching skin that is too thin. Your body creates
them to heal itself as quickly as it can possible do with its own
resources. Once those scars are formed and prominent because of their
depth, length, discoloration, and texture it is very difficult to get
rid of them.
Atrophic definition:
a wasting or decrease in the size of an organ or tissue, as from death
and re-absorption of cells, diminished cellular proliferation,
pressure, ischemia, malnutrition, decreased function, or hormonal
changes, also called atrophia.
Many
different treatment creams have tried to prevent or improve the
appearance of stretch marks. Most of them, as well as most of the
abrading methods used to treat existing marks, do not have the
slightest possibility of being effective.
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