What to do if you have stretch marks at eight months

You will get stretch marks in the eighth month of pregnancy because your belly will get bigger. The fibrous tissue of the skin will be stretched, and some purple or white wavy stripes will appear. These stripes will not disappear after giving birth, and you need to prevent them through slow massage and the application of essential oils. During pregnancy, the hormones in the body will undergo tremendous changes, so you must pay attention to prevention this time.

1. What are stretch marks?

As the name suggests, stretch marks are stripes on the body caused by pregnancy. They appear as purple or white, wavy stripes of varying widths on the abdomen, buttocks or other parts of the body during pregnancy. Medically speaking, stretch marks are caused by excessive tension on the abdominal skin during pregnancy, which breaks the main components of the skin: collagen fibers and elastic fibers, resulting in breakage marks, i.e. stretch marks.

Early stretch marks are accompanied by dilation of small blood vessels, so they are purple-red. The reason for vasodilation is that the rupture of skin fibers activates the body's self-repair mechanism, which aims to increase nutrition in the stretch mark area and repair the broken tissue. However, the body's self-repair function is limited. Although some fibers can be repaired in the end, it cannot return to normal skin. White stretch marks will remain after the repair is completed. Wang Lianzhao, Department of Plastic Surgery, Plastic Surgery Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

2. Why do stretch marks appear?

When a woman is pregnant, there are huge changes in hormones in her body, including estrogen, progesterone, oxytocin, prolactin and corticosteroids. Corticosteroids are secreted by the adrenal glands, and their increase can cause pigmentation in the abdominal skin and increase the fragility of the skin's elastic and collagen fibers. As the fetus grows, the abdomen gradually enlarges. When the abdominal bulge exceeds the tolerance of the abdominal skin, the elastic and collagen fibers of the skin break, resulting in stretch marks.

High-risk factors for stretch marks include: higher basic weight, weight gain during pregnancy, weight of the newborn, younger pregnant women, and pregnant women with a family history of stretch marks. Among them, weight is an important factor related to the formation of stretch marks. Therefore, if you are overweight before pregnancy, or gain too much weight during pregnancy, or your baby is large, it will increase your chances of developing stretch marks.

3. How to treat stretch marks?

The root cause of stretch marks is the breakage and reduction of collagen fibers and elastic fibers in the skin. Any treatment that can increase the collagen fibers and elastic fibers in the skin is effective. The treatments currently in use include:

1) Postpartum repair products + local massage: Massage can increase local blood circulation, which is beneficial to the repair of stretch marks. Advantages: Comfortable and painless. Disadvantages: Some people are allergic to repair products, multiple treatments are required, the time is long, and the effect is minimal. Most of the postpartum repair products are cosmetics, with weak penetration, superficial action and limited repair capabilities.

2) Laser therapy: The treatment device emits light of a specific wavelength, which acts directly on the dermis to promote the production of collagen fibers and elastic fibers. Advantages: definite efficacy and few side effects. Disadvantages: Mild pain, weak effect.