Lynda Valdez, RNC, MSN, FNP Nurse Practitioner, The Med Spa at Daireds.
 
Stretch marks or “striae distensae” are those linear areas of scaring that occur with rapid changes in weight or in pregnancy. They occur more in women than men, and are always located on that part of your body that you would most like to expose in the summer months!

 
Whenever the skin is rapidly stretched, the connective (or supporting) tissue is weakened and a stretch mark can occur. Stretch marks normally have 3 stages. There is the acute stage when the area is raised and red, the sub-acute stage when the area is more of a purple color, and the mature stage when the area tends to be pale or white. Unfortunately, until recently there has been no long-term effective treatment for stretch marks, although surgery, topical tretinoin, intense pulsed light, and carbon dioxide lasers have all been tried. Some of these treatments gave minimal improvement, but the improvement did not last.

 
Recently, the Starlux 1540 fractionated laser was given FDA approval as the only effective treatment for stretch marks. The Starlux 1540 sends energy through the epidermis (top layer of the skin) down into the dermis (lower level of the skin) in micro-columns resulting in microscopic columns of coagulated tissue. The body’s own healing cascade replaces this damaged skin with healthy, normal tissue, resulting in significant and permanent improvement of the stretch marks. Because Starlux 1540’s target is water in the skin rather than melanin, all skin types from light to dark, can be safely treated with this laser.

 
This treatment is done in a series of 3-6 sessions, each about 4 weeks apart. Improvement begins to be evident at about a month after the first treatment with full results at three months. The Starlux 1540 has minimal side effects, minimal pain, and little to no downtime. For best results for this upcoming summer, you should consider starting your treatments in January.