Hi,
Its my 13th week of pregnancy. I am worried about the stretch marks. One of my friend used anti-stretch mark cream throughout her pregnancy, but still she got very bad stretch marks on her abdomen after delivery. what can help me? Aarti replied. Hi Ritu,

This might not be a very cheery message. I wish I had saved the source. I was reading about stretch marks and more than one article suggested that they have a genetic basis. One article said that if your mother has stretch marks, there is a chance you will have them too.

As for home remedies, there are some communities that begin hot oil mssages for the new mother as soon as she delivers. I wonder if they prevent stretch marks.

Good luck, Aarti Cha replied. Hi Ritu,

Same thing happened to me. I used cocoa butter cream during my entire pregnancy, every single day, and I stll got very bad strech marks. I researched afterwards and I found that cream might help but if one is destined to get strech marks they get them no matter what. There is a cream you can put on after delivery: Retin A. I took this excerpt from June 2004 boards (the board that I belonged to when my son was born). The woman who wrote this had a sister who was a dermatologist and always had a lot of helpful info. = )



Date: 2004-12-15
Name: Chetna
Subject: stretch marks - Retin A

\";My sis explained to me that Retin A really only works when stretch marks first come in (usually post partum) when they are still red and itchy...usually the first 6 to 12 weeks...she said she didn't mention it b/c I was breastfeeding and there was really no use.

She said I could try to use it now, but it is not as effective and only has a 10% chance of working as oppossed to 80% chance of working when the marks first appeared!

I'm willing to give it a shot - but thought I'd pass this on before everybody went to their dermatologists begging for Retin A!\";


However, for now maybe someone else can inform you of home rememdies. May work, may not....who knows? = )


Love,
Cha! = )