Examine the skin of your stomach, upper arms, breasts, underarms, buttocks and thighs for a while. Can you see thin parallel lines that look like scars with white or silver streaks in any of these areas? Do these scar-like lines hang loosely and look lifeless? Are they soft to touch? They are stretch marks. And if you are so bothered with how ugly they make your skin look, here are your stretch mark removal options.

Massage. This is an effective stretch mark removal solution for new marks. Similar with any other health problems, these are easier to treat immediately after inception or at early stage. If your stretch marks are newly developed, massaging them four to five times a day could be the easiest, most effective and most inexpensive way to treat them. For best results, use moisturizers with shea butter or cocoa butter or oils particularly, olive oil, cod liver oil, flaxseed oil or Vitamin E oil in massaging affected areas.

Stretch mark cream. These creams can bring about stretch mark removal for both new and old stretch marks through topical application. This solution can be very cheap or very expensive depending on the brand that you are going to use. However, in choosing what stretch cream to use, do not just consider the price. More importantly, consider their ingredients. Make sure that the cream that you are going to use have collagen or collagen production stimulating components that can penetrate deep into the skin like aloe vera, cocoa butter, DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol), grapefruit seed extract, palmitoyl oligopeptide, palmitoyl pentapeptide-3, retinyl palmitate, shea butter, and siegesbeckia orientalis, among others.

Chemical Peel and Dermabrasion. Peels are common treatments for most skin problems because they stimulate skin cell renewal. Hence, you can also consider this for stretch mark removal. Peel tightens the skin and thickens the dermis layer so stretch marks become less visible. However, redness, scaling, scarring and dark spots have been observed as side effects of this treatment.

Laser Treatment. This treatment for stretch mark removal is your most expensive option. But with this treatment, you will not be spending money for nothing because laser treatments give painless and permanent solutions. By this treatment, stretch marks are eliminated by stimulating the production and growth of collagen in the skin. Collagen helps rejuvenate the skin and repair damaged blood vessels, both of which are important in getting rid of stretch marks. Other laser treatments stimulate the production of melanin so that stretch marks get to have the same color with surrounding skin. However, satisfactory results can only be achieved after several stretch mark laser treatment sessions.

So stop worrying about your stretch marks because you can start weighing your options now! For best and safest results, do not forget to consult your dermatologist.