Stretch Marks in Teenagers

Video Transcript

"This is Dr. Loretta Ciraldo, Board Certified Dermatologist and author of "Six Weeks to Sensational Skin". Stretch marks in teenagers are not all that uncommon. We especially see them in teenage girls and they come out most commonly to begin with on the buttock area. Many times these are totally hereditary and in nature and honestly the teenage girl does need some psychological support if these stretch marks tend to be red which often times they do. Most of the time really what is happening is that the person is noticing the discoloration more than the stretch marks themselves so that either the stretch marks can look very red or in the case that I saw just this morning over at the university the person was an African American woman and her stretch marks came out as much darker pigmented spots. Now the very important things to remember are that if the stretch marks are for instance not in the buttocks but maybe they are in this area they may be coming from the back if the person is doing a lot of weight training. This is not uncommonly seen when men start to go to the gym and do a little more weight training they get the stretch marks so if it's in an area and a lot of teenage boys can get this too. If it's in an area where maybe we can attribute it to some physical activity like stretch marks coming from working out at the gym then there is kind of an easy way to manage that. If you cut back on the physical activity and exertion that are contributing to the stretch marks you may in fact find that new stretch marks stop coming out and that some of the existing ones may resolve."