Men and Stretch Marks

Written for Scars1 by Michelle Alford

Though stretch marks are often seen as something that only affect women, almost half of men will develop stretch marks in their lifetime—yet men are far more embarrassed to admit that they have stretch marks and more prone to hide the scarring from friends or potential partners.

Causes

Stretch marks form when the skin stretches faster than it can grow, causing lower skin layers to tear. For men, this usually happens during adolescent growth spurts, body building, or rapid weight gain. Hormone imbalances from steroid use or medical problems are also a major cause of stretch marks.  The inexplicable formation of stretch marks may be an indication of diabetes, Cushing’s disease, or nutritional deficits.

The most common locations of stretch marks on men are their shoulders, underarms, and chest from body building or their stomach and back from rapid weight gain.

Prevention

Skin is more likely to tear if it is dehydrated or has poor circulation. Make sure to drink plenty of water. If you lift weights regularly, massage lotion or Shea butter into your expanding muscles twice a day.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet and don’t skip meals, even if you’re trying to lose weight. Healthy skin depends on nutritious food full of essential vitamins, and unhealthy skin is more likely to crack or tear. Fruits, vegetables, and protein-rich foods such as meat, nuts, and seeds can help to both maintain skin health and heal injured skin.

Treatment

The techniques used to prevent stretch marks can also help reduce their prevalence. Keeping your skin healthy, hydrated, and well circulated will help it heal.

There are many stretch mark creams on the market that advertise that they can reduce the appearance of stretch marks, but studies haven’t shown them to be more effective than basic lotion or shea butter—and even those are more effective at preventing than treating stretch marks.   

Bleaching the skin can lighten the appearance of stretch marks and help them blend in with the surrounding skin, particularly when the stretch marks first begin appearing.

Fractional laser resurfacing, developed in recent years, has been shown to be the most effective treatment of stretch marks, though also the most expensive. Studies show that, within one week of the final treatment, patients show 51 to 75 percent improvement in the appearance of their stretch marks.