Stretch marks are generally associated with pregnancy, although they are often caused by rapid weight gain.  

They are the result of the skin stretching rapidly which causes the dermis to tear. They first appear as reddish or purple lines but with time will generally fade to empty silvery lines.  

Do creams or oils help? 

Other effective moisturisers containing delicious smelling ingredients could not be proven to prevent stretch marks or improve the appearance of them but did improve skin texture. Not good news really but a study did find that pregnant ladies who used creams containing centella asiatica extract, vitamin E  and collagen-elastin hydrolysates had fewer stretch marks than those who used no creams at all. 

So ladies plaster on that cream every morning and evening and just hope for the best. 

Should you find that you really can’t cope with your stretch marks there are plenty of treatments such as carboxy therapy, this involves injecting CO2 gas into your stretch marks. It’s said to have great results but can be more expensive than a pot of cream. 

If you do get a few, don’t worry, your body has just done an amazing job and has some marks to prove it!