When prevention is overlooked pregnancy, body building, rapid weight gain and even rapid growth become a usual problem that generates stretch marks.

Stretch marks are caused by abnormal hormone activity. You don't need to be a pregnant woman or have weight problems to get them. As a matter of fact, it is a very common skin affection, but most people who have them are embarrassed and try to keep them to themselves.

Stretch Mark Associated Causes:

* Pregnancy

* Sudden growth spurts

* Rapid weight loss or weight gain

* Long term deficiency of specific nutrients

* Unexpected variation in physical or environmental conditions

* Some medication may also cause stretch marks, especially steroids analogous medications.

The real problem is that the body processes the wrong information regarding skin development. This causes skin to synthesize insufficient amounts of collagen and elastin, which form the skin's connective tissue. When connective tissues are not resistant enough to withstand over-stretching they break apart and stretch marks are formed.

Although in several cases they seem to simply emerge overnight this isn't necessarily true. They are born from deep skin tissues and gradually develop to the skin's surface.

Stretch marks affect young and old, men and women, fat and thin. In many cases they don't cause harm or irritate the skin so a lot of people don't even notice them until it's too late to do anything about it.

In the first stage of development they are a pinkish or pale red color. The pinkish coloring is because the micro blood vessels break open and bleed. These scars usually evolve to a pale silvery white which is the final step of their developement.

Most people think that stretch marks are not treatable because they are so difficult to erase. As a matter of fact, most doctors will even tell you: just live with them, they are not curable. But why would they say something like that if there is a way to treat them? Maybe they just don't bother enough or maybe in a doctor's eyes stretch marks are not a serious problem because they don't really cause any real physical discomfort

Stretch marks are partial thickness 'tears' within the skin, meaning that they are basically subdural scars. The best stretch mark product isn't one rich in elastin and collagen, but one that triggers the synthesis of collagen, elastin and the water holding capacity of healthy skin. Collagen is the building block of skin, and elastin is the protein which confers skin its elasticity. By increasing the levels of these proteins in your skin, from the inside out , you can strenghten the epidermal layer.