Being confident is the most undervalued secret to natural beauty, but it can be hard to feel comfortable in your own skin when it is lined with unsightly stretch marks.

Stretch marks are almost impossible to avoid if you are a woman, as our natural skin structure is weaker than men’s and is easily overstretched.

Caused by incidences when skin is overstretched so much so that it literally tears; stretch marks can appear almost anywhere on the body.

Commonly caused by growth spurts, weight gain, pregnancy and sometimes a side effect of certain medications; stretch marks can be impossible to disguise without targeted treatment of the site of the skin tear.

Treating Stretch Marks with Micro-needling

Micro-needling is one of the better known treatments that can be used to treat stretch marked skin.

At Cosmetic Doctor in Stillorgan, Dr. Fay can administer a series of micro-needling treatments to effectively reduce the appearance of stretch marks.

Micro-needling involves puncturing the area affected by stretch marks multiple times with micro-sized needles which create microscopic channels in the dermis or middle layer skin where the skin tear exists.

The epidermis (skin’s surface) is unaffected by the micro-needles, as they are specifically targeting the dermis layer where collagen is produced.

When the micro needles enter the dermis layer, the body responds as if it is a wound site, therefore new collagen is generated by fibroblast cells.

Collagen, which is the body’s natural healing protein and when produced at the site of a stretch mark in the dermis, it is used to fill the tear.

This results in the stretch mark being healed so its appearance on the skin is significantly reduced or eliminated entirely.

Reducing the Appearance of Stretch Marks on the Skin

When skin is unable to cope with increased tension and is overstretched, layers of connective tissue will eventually break, causing a tear to appear in the dermis.

On the surface of the skin, this tear becomes a stretch mark which at first can appear as a jagged red line.

Eventually the colour will fade until it is a translucent shade of white on the skin’s surface.

Stretch marks can be manifest quite quickly, especially during pregnancy when skin is severely overstretched.

In order to treat them effectively, it is best to explore procedures like micro-needling when they are newly formed on the skin’s surface.

To discuss stretch mark treatment with Dr. Lisa Fay, schedule a skin consultation at Cosmetic Doctor on 01 685 3100.