How to Compare Stretch Mark Creams

Video Transcript

"Some women consider stretch marks the badges of motherhood and pregnancy. Hi I'm Michelle Collins, Nurse Midwife and Professor of Nursing, at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Stretch marks are one of those things that appear in pregnancy that give all mother's pause. Stretch marks are caused by a couple of things. One is the weight that we gain in pregnancy and the other has a hereditary component to it. Many times you will see if a mother in the family had severe stretch marks her daughters may follow suit as well but really the amount of weight a pregnant woman gains has a lot to do with the stretch marks she will develop. During pregnancy the stretch marks are bright red in color and after pregnancy they fade to a white silverish color and become less prominent. It is important after pregnancy to guard them from the sun because the sun can accentuate stretch marks just like the sun can aggravate any type of scar. In thinking about which stretch mark creams are the best some of them make claims that are pretty hard to live up to. Some of the finer points of selecting a cream to use for your stretch marks include looking at the active ingredients of the stretch mark cream itself and then going to your internet and doing some research. Do the active ingredients really live up to the claim they make according to the research? If they are sold at a very high end baby boutique or fine department store you may be paying a lot more for the packaging than you really need to. One good option is to look at scar reducing creams. Some of them actually do work at reducing scars and after all that's what a stretch mark is. The stretch mark comes from deep in the layers of the skin so looking for active ingredients that work to repair scars that are deep in the skin can actually be beneficial in helping fade your stretch marks."