The causes of body stretch marks include weight gain, pregnancy and other things.
The hormonal changes that occur during puberty and the accompanying growth spurts can be the cause.
There are solutions to stretch marks but first let's understand the causes.
You might also be interested in the actual cause; the biological processes that make the marks appear on your skin.
That has to do with tearing in the dermis layer.
A Little about the Dermis Layer of Skin In order to understand the causes of stretch marks, it helps to understand a little about the skin's dermis layer.
Here's a brief overview of the subject.
The dermis layer is composed of elastic fibers.
The fibers are made up of structural proteins called collagen and elastin.
Your body creates or synthesizes the structural proteins from amino acids found in the foods you eat.
Although the fibers are elastic, they can tear.
Just like a rubber band can break if it stretches beyond a certain point.
When the fibers tear, the body must repair them.
Sometimes, the repair work leaves scars.
You might think of stretch marks as scarring that occurs in the dermis layer of skin.
They are very similar to scars on the skin's surface, appearing as a variation in the skin's color, either lighter or darker.
What Causes the Tearing? As mentioned above, weight gain, pregnancy and the rapid growth that occurs during puberty are the most common causes of the tearing.
During pregnancy, the tearing may occur on the stomach or the breasts.
Although many products have been recommended for the prevention of stretch marks during pregnancy, their effectiveness has never been proven.
Body building may cause stretch marks to appear on the upper arms or upper legs.
Muscle gain is typically slow enough to prevent tearing in other locations.
As long as the changes are not sudden, the body has the ability to keep up by creating new elastic fibers.
Body builders who take steroids are more likely to have stretch marks, because the muscle gain is sudden.
Contributing Factors Although we think of weight gain and rapid growth as the causes of the tearing and the subsequent scarring, there are contributing factors.
For example, some people are more likely to have the problem, because of genetics.
If your mother had stretch marks after pregnancy, you may be more likely to have them, too.
Another contributing factor is the body's immune system.
The immune system can be over or under active.
An over-active immune system can increase the risk of tearing and scarring through the inflammatory process.
For example, inflammation and swelling could be triggered by sudden increases in muscle mass.
The swelling could contribute to tearing in the dermis.
The immune system could also contribute to the problem by producing anti-inflammatory hormones called glucocorticoids.
GCs, as they are called, can interfere with the production of new elastic fibers.
It is important to understand the causes of stretch marks in order to understand the solutions.
You will learn about the solutions to stretch marks in my next article.
The hormonal changes that occur during puberty and the accompanying growth spurts can be the cause.
There are solutions to stretch marks but first let's understand the causes.
You might also be interested in the actual cause; the biological processes that make the marks appear on your skin.
That has to do with tearing in the dermis layer.
A Little about the Dermis Layer of Skin In order to understand the causes of stretch marks, it helps to understand a little about the skin's dermis layer.
Here's a brief overview of the subject.
The dermis layer is composed of elastic fibers.
The fibers are made up of structural proteins called collagen and elastin.
Your body creates or synthesizes the structural proteins from amino acids found in the foods you eat.
Although the fibers are elastic, they can tear.
Just like a rubber band can break if it stretches beyond a certain point.
When the fibers tear, the body must repair them.
Sometimes, the repair work leaves scars.
You might think of stretch marks as scarring that occurs in the dermis layer of skin.
They are very similar to scars on the skin's surface, appearing as a variation in the skin's color, either lighter or darker.
What Causes the Tearing? As mentioned above, weight gain, pregnancy and the rapid growth that occurs during puberty are the most common causes of the tearing.
During pregnancy, the tearing may occur on the stomach or the breasts.
Although many products have been recommended for the prevention of stretch marks during pregnancy, their effectiveness has never been proven.
Body building may cause stretch marks to appear on the upper arms or upper legs.
Muscle gain is typically slow enough to prevent tearing in other locations.
As long as the changes are not sudden, the body has the ability to keep up by creating new elastic fibers.
Body builders who take steroids are more likely to have stretch marks, because the muscle gain is sudden.
Contributing Factors Although we think of weight gain and rapid growth as the causes of the tearing and the subsequent scarring, there are contributing factors.
For example, some people are more likely to have the problem, because of genetics.
If your mother had stretch marks after pregnancy, you may be more likely to have them, too.
Another contributing factor is the body's immune system.
The immune system can be over or under active.
An over-active immune system can increase the risk of tearing and scarring through the inflammatory process.
For example, inflammation and swelling could be triggered by sudden increases in muscle mass.
The swelling could contribute to tearing in the dermis.
The immune system could also contribute to the problem by producing anti-inflammatory hormones called glucocorticoids.
GCs, as they are called, can interfere with the production of new elastic fibers.
It is important to understand the causes of stretch marks in order to understand the solutions.
You will learn about the solutions to stretch marks in my next article.