After the appearance of the long-awaited baby, the young mother tries to devote time not only to the child, but also to restore her beauty and figure. Most women are confused by the appearance of excess weight and stretch marks (striae). And if many proven methods will help to remove the gained kilograms, then how can you get rid of stretch marks on your stomach after giving birth? Here, traditional medicine and cosmetic procedures will come to the rescue.
To solve a problem, you need to know what you are dealing with. So what are stretch marks? Stretch marks (striae) - a skin defect that is formed due to ruptures of the skin layer during its overstretching. They look like burgundy ("fresh") or pale ("old") stripes of different widths. After pregnancy and childbirth, they can appear not only on the abdomen, but also on the thighs, buttocks and chest.
Reasons for the appearance
- Increased production of the hormone cortisol during pregnancy
One of the effects of this hormone is to soften the pubic symphysis (the joints of the pubic bones) to facilitate childbirth. But this same hormone negatively affects the skin, reducing the production of collagen and elastin. This makes the skin less elastic and prone to stretch marks.
- Natural hyperextension of the skin with an increase in the abdomen
Rapid stretching of the skin leads to the fact that, with a lack of elasticity, tears occur in the deep layer of the skin. This leads to the appearance of stretch marks, which at first have a burgundy color, and after the stretch marks are overgrown with connective tissue - a faded pink (lighter than the surrounding skin) color.
Prevention
As you know, stretch marks are easier to prevent than to treat them later. Therefore, the expectant mother needs to think about her skin at the beginning of pregnancy.
Several ways to prevent stretch marks:
- Proper nutrition
To maintain the condition of the skin, it is important to eat foods that contain components useful for it: nuts, cereals, whole grain bread, fatty fish, citrus fruits, cottage cheese.
- Sports activities
Sport tones not only muscles, but also the skin. For the prevention of stretch marks, it is recommended to go in for swimming, work out the press, and do morning exercises. Until what period of pregnancy you can perform exercises, you need to check with your doctor.
Those who are not recommended to do physical exercises can use simple breathing exercises to strengthen the skin: inhale with the abdominal retraction for 3 - 5 seconds, exhale with the protrusion of the abdominal wall for 3 - 5 seconds.
- Massage
It is best to do oil massage - this will provide not only an increase in skin tone, but also its nutrition. During pregnancy, it is better to use baby oil, after childbirth - any oil. Massage should be carried out with light circular movements so as not to cause premature contraction of the uterus.
- Wearing a bandage and special bra
Underwear specially created for pregnancy will not only support the fetus in the correct position, reducing the load on the spine, but also strengthen the abdominal wall. The bandage is worn from the 20th week of pregnancy. After childbirth, a panty belt and a postpartum bandage are usually used (worn up to 6 weeks after childbirth. Reading about postpartum bandages: how to choose and how to tie the belly correctly).
- Using a Nutrient Cream
Anti-stretch mark cream is specially designed to maintain skin elasticity and contains components necessary for its tone: vitamin E, collagen, elastin, amino acids (Cream for stretch marks: "Nine months", "Pregnacare", "Mustela", "Vichy", "Lierac", "Mama Comfort", "Mangosteen". See top 10 creams for stretch marks).
See how Anastasia got rid of stretch marks after pregnancy:
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- Contrast compresses
Skin tone can be improved by changing temperatures. To do this, moisten a terry towel in hot water, wring it out and put it on your stomach for half a minute. Then repeat the procedure, but dip the towel in cold water. You need to change the compress 5-6 times.
In order to prevent the appearance of stretch marks, it is recommended to use all methods of prevention. Wearing a bandage is rightfully considered the most effective, as the support of the tummy prevents mechanical stretching of the skin.
What to do if stretch marks still appear
If preventive methods did not help, and stretch marks on the stomach still appeared, there is no need to despair, there are proven ways to eliminate them. First you need to try to remove striae yourself using various cosmetics and "grandmother's recipes". And only if these methods do not help, you can resort to hardware medicine.
Getting rid of folk remedies
Recipes of traditional medicine and cosmetics will help get rid of stretch marks at home:
- Mummy
A mummy-based cream is prepared quickly and simply: 1 gram of mummy must be dissolved in 5 grams (1 teaspoon) of warm boiled water, after which the resulting mixture is mixed with a tube of baby cream (no more than 100 g). For this recipe, it is necessary to choose a baby cream, since it contains a minimum of substances that affect the health of a pregnant woman and her baby. Every day after a shower, rub the product into problem areas, the skin should be well steamed. The resulting cream must be stored in the refrigerator.
- Oil (olive, sea buckthorn, almond)
With the help of oils, you can do home peeling and at the same time saturate the skin with the substances necessary to strengthen it.
Several recipes for oil-based peels:
- add ground coffee or honey to olive oil or any other oil and rub into the skin until slightly reddened for 10 minutes, then rinse; such peeling can be performed 2 - 3 times a week after a shower.
- mix 1 glass of salt, sugar and half a glass of oil (you can take vegetable, olive, coconut); rub while taking a shower with massage circular movements into the skin of problem areas for 5 - 7 minutes, then rinse and apply baby cream.
To increase skin elasticity, it is recommended to apply wheat germ oil (1 teaspoon) mixed with a few drops of mandarin, neroli and lavender oils.
- Avocado peeling mask
To prepare the mixture, you will need 2 tablespoons of oatmeal and the same amount of cosmetic clay, 1 avocado, a tablespoon of any oil. Using a blender or an ordinary fork, all the components are ground into a gruel, which is applied to the skin for half an hour. The mixture does not need to be rubbed, it should be absorbed, after which its remains can be removed with a swab.
- Aloe and Dandelion Mask
For this mask, you need to mix dandelion and aloe leaves crushed in a blender in equal proportions (100 g each), half a glass of olive (or any other) oil and a little oatmeal until gruel is formed. Apply the mixture to the skin of problem areas 2 times a day.
- Wraps
With stretch marks on the stomach after childbirth, cold and hot wraps with cosmetic clay and essential oils help well. They not only eliminate stretch marks, but also promote weight loss.
The mixture is made on the basis of clay, to which warm mineral water is added until a slurry forms. You need to stir only with a wooden object (if there is no special spoon, an ordinary pencil will do). After receiving the mixture, add a few drops of any essential oil to it. The mass is applied in an even layer on the skin prepared by peeling, the body is wrapped in a film (you can take food) for 1 hour. After the procedure, the skin is cleansed with warm water.
To obtain a lasting effect, you need to go through 10 - 12 procedures with a break between wraps of 2 - 3 days.
They also use blue clay and liquid honey, seaweed wraps, pinch massage and aroma bath, use of scrubs: salt, sugar, coffee.
- We advise you to read: Recovery exercises after childbirth - 14 easy exercises
Cosmetology
In the case when traditional medicine has not given the desired effect, it is still worth resorting to traditional therapy.
Ways to remove stretch marks in cosmetology clinics:
- Mesotherapy
Nutrients (collagen, amino acids, enzymes) are injected under the skin. The number of sessions to achieve a visible result is about 10.
- Microdermabrasion
With the help of grinding with the smallest particles, the relief of the skin is leveled, its damaged layer is eliminated.
- Removal of stretch marks with a laser
The laser beam evaporates the surface layers of damaged skin, which removes stretch marks. After the procedure, crusts may form, which after a while fall off on their own.
- Ozone therapy
The technique is the same as in mesotherapy, but in this case ozone is injected under the skin, which increases the production of collagen and elastin, which is missing from the skin.
- Professional peeling
During this peel, chemicals (glycolic acid or fruit acids) are used to remove the top layer of the skin and then regenerate.
- Abdominal plastic
Plastic surgery to remove stretch marks is used only in extreme cases, when other methods are ineffective.
We read further:
Despite the widespread belief that it is impossible to eliminate stretch marks, many people know that striae are not a sentence. You just need to choose the right method of treatment and be patient.
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