Stretchmark changes after losing weight/giving birth?

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pilatemom
pilatemom Posts: 111
in Success Stories
I'm about to have my baby and I want to know. Do they get smaller? Deeper? More visible? Less visible?

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  • bufger
    bufger Posts: 763 Member
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    generally they dont become more or less visable they just change in how they look. Whilst heavily pregnant they are wider and red. After giving birth the skin between them will go a bit wrinkly as its lost some of its elasticity and the stretchmarks wont be stretched out but they'll still be there. They fade over time but they may be more noticeable again when you tan
  • cmacphee3
    cmacphee3 Posts: 278 Member
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    I haven't had a baby, but I have plenty of stretch marks as I got to 260lbs and I have a pretty big belly. When I lost weight the first time, they faded to white, got closer together as my belly shrank and less noticeable. They didn't get deeper, but they didn't totally go away either.
  • brittni127
    brittni127 Posts: 38
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    They go from red to light and def not as noticeable.... I tried to find a good example with my pictures.


    The top picture was taken about 6 months after the birth of my 1st daughter (which is the first time I got stretch marks on my belly, and I got them ALLLL over). The bottom picture was taken about a year after the birth of my 2nd daughter (so the pictures were about 2 years apart) and I got a few more stretch marks from my 2nd pregnancy.

    103_0924a-2.jpg


    ahhh drats for some reason the pictures isn't working. I will try to fix later

    see if you can see the direct link
    http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/blondeswimmer127/weight loss/103_0924a-2.jpg
  • blushingmama
    blushingmama Posts: 111 Member
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    A lot depends on your skin complexion.

    I've had three kids and put on 50lbs with each pregnancy. I have an olive complexion and it seems like there's not much elasticity with my skin.

    For the most part, my battle wounds are silvery. I do have a few that have remained red tho. Some are deep others are hardly noticeable. None of those creams helped after the fact. The only thing that helps is a tummy tuck - cause they're cut off.
  • jdawn120191
    jdawn120191 Posts: 29
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    After 3 years, mine have completely faded and are the same color as my skin.. but, if you run your hands over my stomach you can still feel them..

    Probably right after birth (at least it was this way with me) they'll be dark red/ purpleish, then after 6 months or so, you'll notice them fading.
  • blushingmama
    blushingmama Posts: 111 Member
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    After 3 years, mine have completely faded and are the same color as my skin.. but, if you run your hands over my stomach you can still feel them..

    Probably right after birth (at least it was this way with me) they'll be dark red/ purpleish, then after 6 months or so, you'll notice them fading.

    so fortunate!!!!
  • r0se125
    r0se125 Posts: 228 Member
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    I have had two babies on top of getting up to 210+ pounds...mine took about 6 or so months, most have pretty much faded to either "silvery" or back to my skin color. however you can still tell i had them cause my kids stretched me pretty bad. The coco butter helped me some especially the ones on my sides but i apply it a lot during the day.
  • orangefour
    orangefour Posts: 55 Member
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    I'm about to have my baby and I want to know. Do they get smaller? Deeper? More visible? Less visible?

    Most of them will turn white.. but not all. I had a baby 4 years ago and most of my stretch marks are white now and not as noticable as they were while pregnant
    They won't ever go away, but they will get a bit better.
  • AlbaAngel25
    AlbaAngel25 Posts: 484 Member
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    I had a baby a year ago and with losing weight and over time, you can barely see them. I got them on my lower belly.

    I don't know if its the weight loss that has altered them or just my skin/complexion. Im happy about it thats for sure!
  • SiempreBella
    SiempreBella Posts: 125 Member
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    My stretch marks faded and pretty much went away. No one can see them, not even me.
  • SocWkrBee
    SocWkrBee Posts: 374
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    There is an ad for stretch mark removal cream under this post. I need The Man to stop looking at what we're doing! LOL! But I would like to know this as well. I grew very rapidly as a child and have them as a result of that and just having a big bottom.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    It completely depends on how elastic your skin is. For some people, only a few months of stretch marks will cause them to scar over. It's the silvery-white scar that remains visible. For many others, their skin never really repairs itself by scarring over, so once they give birth their skin just goes back to normal.

    I have horizontal stretch marks on my thighs from a growth spurt when I was 10. Not thrilled with the idea of how my body might look after a pregnancy. :\

    Edit: If you're going to use vitamin E oil or lotions designed for skin repair, the time to use it is before and during, don't wait until after. Because once the stretch marks are silver there's very little you can do to minimize their appearance.
  • ellehcimyelhsa
    ellehcimyelhsa Posts: 110
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    Mine were red/purple for about 2 months after giving birth. They started to fade after that. They're mostly white/silvery now and my daughter will be 9 months old on the 24th. The ones on my hips are not as deep as the ones on my belly, and they're all still noticeable. I have noticed a big difference in using lotions though. Palmer's has helped me. I very rarely put it on my thighs, which have stretch marks from my pregnancy as well, and they haven't faded nearly as much as the ones on my belly and hips.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Remember what they are - they are wounds from skin that is torn in the inside because it literally stretched. So first they're red, then they heal and scar, then they fade.

    The bigger the wound, the bigger the long term scarring.

    Some people's skin scars worse than others.
  • cmacphee3
    cmacphee3 Posts: 278 Member
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    There is an ad for stretch mark removal cream under this post. I need The Man to stop looking at what we're doing! LOL!

    ... Well it is showing me an ad for HOTDOG stuffed crust pizza. I'm not sure what that means.. hahaha.
  • 05saleengirl
    05saleengirl Posts: 549
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    I have them from weighing over 250 at one time. I did have a baby, but really didn't get any from pregnancy. That being said...you really can not see mine and I have fair skin. For me, they have faded. And if I am out in the sun/ get a tan, they are not very noticable.

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