Has anyone tried the recommendations and procedures for reducing stretch marks? How is it working for you before I buy it.

I don't know the answer to this but I'd be interested to hear people's responses too!

Hi there,

I've been working on some stretchmarks on my breasts for a while now. The reason why I can't precisley say for how long is that I've been working on them very gradually and I am doing some really intense stuff only lately.

So basically I've been using CPs and Exfol on them for about 3 months, then I progressed to using Super Cop and Exfol cream for another 3 months, them graduated to Super Cop 2X and Exfol Cream for the last month ( all the while it was the same application AM and PM) and finally a week ago I started doing 10% LA 4 times a week for 30 min, and I plan to add 40% LA once a week in a wee or two.

The results - the marks are more pronounced I can almost feel them under my figners, but the skin on my breasts is generally much firmer and thicker... so I think the marks are coming to surface due to the use of LAs and hopefully soon will start to regenerate... will keep you posted.

I've been using Exfol Cream & TriRed w/retinol for about a month now on a couple of stretch marks on my stomach. I spot treat with either Super Cop or 2X. They were very faint & you couldn't feel them if you ran your fingers over them, but now they are more pronounced - I can feel ridges. So like Dalila, I feel that they are "coming to the surface". Last week I started using glycolic acid 30% on them, too.

This is happening to me too. I’ve been using super cop, exfol, emu, and glycolic acid (50%) for about two and a half months now and my hubby says my stretch marks are more noticeable now than ever before. I can only hope that they are coming to the surface.

Dr. Pickart said that someone actually removed her stretch marks in just weeks using 70% acid (I don’t remember the type). Could you share her routine????? I remember she was a professional but I was thinking an option for us is to have a professional administer the acid and then we could apply the super cop and emu ourselves at home. Just a thought…

Good skin often partially grows over scar tissue and makes things look better than they are. Deep cystic acne scars often become buried.

As the damaged area of skin is cleared, the scars often become more noticeable and the upper skin is cleared away. But is allows the removal of the actual scar tissue.

The person who used 70% glycolic acid and CP Serum was an esthetician. But these were relatively new scars from a pregnancy.

One woman cleared stretch marks that were 30 years old but it took about eight months.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dr. Pickart,

Dr. Pickart, thank you for the quick reply--I appreciate it.

So can anyone update on this, as sometimes I look at my marks (esp. on the top of my breasts) and feel that they, like other people on here, may actually be getting worse....

I've always exfoliating/oils or creams & a whole myriad of supplements... it's only the CPs that are new for me (I actually worked it out this time: I've been using the CPs for 3 weeks, give a day)

x

Glass_Butterfl,

According to Dr. Pickart this is a good sign. It means that we are bringing the damage to the surface. Once it’s at the surface then we can “really” work on the remolding process. I think it might take a while to see results at this stage because we are now working on the scare tissue…but once we manage to break down the damaged tissue and new, healthy tissue (skin) starts to take its place things should start to improve (remember this could take months to do).

Good Luck!

I’ll be posting before and after pictures in a week or so.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Pickart:
Good skin often partially grows over scar tissue and makes things look better than they are. Deep cystic acne scars often become buried.

As the damaged area of skin is cleared, the scars often become more noticeable and the upper skin is cleared away. But is allows the removal of the actual scar tissue.

The person who used 70% glycolic acid and CP Serum was an esthetician. But these were relatively new scars from a pregnancy.

One woman cleared stretch marks that were 30 years old but it took about eight months.

If one removes the top "good" layers of skin so that the stretch marks become worse looking but fails to remove the damaged tissue will the good skin regrow overtop again if usage of exfoliating products stops? Or is it kind of a point of no return? Because if someone finds out their stretch marks are resistant that would be very bad...

quote:

Originally posted by Kojiro:

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Pickart:
Good skin often partially grows over scar tissue and makes things look better than they are. Deep cystic acne scars often become buried.

As the damaged area of skin is cleared, the scars often become more noticeable and the upper skin is cleared away. But is allows the removal of the actual scar tissue.

The person who used 70% glycolic acid and CP Serum was an esthetician. But these were relatively new scars from a pregnancy.

One woman cleared stretch marks that were 30 years old but it took about eight months.

If one removes the top "good" layers of skin so that the stretch marks become worse looking but fails to remove the damaged tissue will the good skin regrow overtop again if usage of exfoliating products stops? Or is it kind of a point of no return? Because if someone finds out their stretch marks are resistant that would be very bad...

Bump, any ansers to this?

Not an answer but questions for you. How would the exposed damaged tissue fail to exfoliate or good skin regrow overtop if you exfoliate the old damaged tissue and rebuild and protect the skin barrier synergistically and effectively? There are many different strengths of acids to choose from in addition to different tools for physical dermabrasion.

quote:

Originally posted by JW:
Not an answer but questions for you. How would the exposed damaged tissue fail to exfoliate or good skin regrow overtop if you exfoliate the old damaged tissue and rebuild and protect the skin barrier synergistically and effectively? There are many different strengths of acids to choose from in addition to different tools for physical dermabrasion.

Many doctors and dermatologists claim that damage seen as deeply in the dermis as stretch marks will never be correctly repaired by the body.

How would these dermatologists treat patients who come to them with stretch marks? Are these expert opinions with respect to the the finality and certainty of stretch marks, "will never be correctly repaired," substantiated by clinical reviews or controlled studies?

quote:

Originally posted by JW:
How would these dermatologists treat patients who come to them with stretch marks? Are these expert opinions with respect to the the finality and certainty of stretch marks, "will never be correctly repaired," substantiated by clinical reviews or controlled studies?

A lot of these opinions come from plastic surgeons who turn down people with stretch marks because they feel that current SM treatments are ineffective. There are some other sources that sound promising, for example..

http://www.skinpulse.ch/rtf_pdf_docs/Striae%20J%20Cosm%20Derm.pdf

This study used sand paper abrasion to remove the epidermis than applied TCA than a patent cream with a bunch of growth promoting chemicals, etc. The results were 70-80% after 2-3 treatments.

As promising as this sounds I still really really really hope that exfoliation and chemical peptides can remove them completely, even if it takes another 1-2 years (prolly been going 8 months so far with very limited results if any)

Would "significant improvement" from existing clinical findings from various treatment modalities qualify as repair or correct repair?

quote:

Originally posted by JW:
Would "significant improvement" from existing clinical findings from various treatment modalities qualify as repair or correct repair?

I have spent countless hours researching stretch mark remedies, most of it reading forums and every scientific article I could find on the subject. The opinions that everything offers completely vary. However, this site claims to be the only one (aside from the miracle creams) that claims that it can completely remove stretch marks with time. Do I believe that stretch marks can be completely removed with copper peptides and exfol? Short answer, not really. I do believe that these products can lead to a significant improvement, that's why I use them.

But I also have to question why there aren't many success stories with stretch marks on these forums. If you do a search on stretch marks those who are starting treatments just seem to dissapear after about 10 posts. Even the pictures on the stretch marks page of skinbiology aren't convincing to me, the marks don't look like they have showed a great deal of improvement.

I believe that laser surgery can help but only with the texture and depth. From what I understand current laser can't permently repigment stretch marks.

Chemical peels, I feel are the same way. Will help with depth and texture but not colour.

Dermabrasion/microdermabrasion, these remove skin that is above the stretch marks. It will help smooth out the skin but alone will probably not make the SMs less deep and probably won't help the color.

So, all in all I believe that the best thing to do is work at them daily.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Skin Biology,

quote:

Originally posted by Kojiro:
However, this site claims to be the only one (aside from the bullshit miracle creams) that claims that it can completely remove stretch marks with time. Do I believe that stretch marks can be completely removed with copper peptides and exfol? Short answer, not really.

I don't remember reading any comments or references that SRCPs are either the miracle creams or that they can completely remove stretch marks (or any scars). The remodeling of my one sunspot came closely cosmetically complete but not with Exfol as the only peel and still no complete claim was made on my part, but this topic is on remodeling stretch marks or related testimonies which I am not qualified to comment.

I'm not an expert on striae nor do I have any personal experience about the efficacy of different therapies other than the limited studies or finer points of different treatments for different types of straie that I read. However, I know there are documented topical treatments using various combination actives of hydroxy acids or tretinoin other than lasers or dermabrasions.

There are "successes" with lasers, but laser treatment of stretch marks is not effective or advised for people with dark skintone based on clinical studies.

quote:

Originally posted by Kojiro:
But I also have to question why there aren't many success stories with stretch marks on these forums.

I personally don't think the number of responses or the types of responses in a thread or to any questions posed in the forum are good determinants of either the efficacy of treatment plans or a topical active because people for reasons or no reason can choose to participate or not participate in this forum and may not even know the question you posed existed. And as I commented in other threads, I didn't read or participate in skincare forums or this forum until I had some successes or experience using SRCPs because I didn't want my experience to be influenced by the opinions of others. Therefore, both the response rate (%) and a KNOWN sample size (or a survey) has to be predetermined to be relevant or have a significance.

Moreover, an interviewed subject's interpretation or observation of SRCPs use or treatment plan may or may not be uniform, suitable, objective, correct, or informed to draw any conclusion; this is why clinical studies with controls and quantifying or imaging tools are more reliable testimonies because the scientific methods are designed to reduce or adjust for these variables and biases.

Just as one clinical study doesn't and cannot substantiate a complete truth about stretch marks, one informal discussion and conducted without controls cannot offer the quality or complete information you are seeking.

There are also testimonies and pictures posted on the the main SB sites in addition to this forum about stretch marks that may be of interest to you or others.

You commented that the pictures don't look convincing to you, but even for a skeptic who doesn't trust testimonies and pictures, I found them somewhat suggestive given the gentle strengths of the topicals and approach.

No one told me how to remodel my age spot or pitted chickenpox scars or which is the best way, but untested or unknown accounts doesn't mean a positive scar remodeling outcome doesn't exist or that the objective can't be achieved or found on one's own. I applied the proposed biochemical mechanism of SRCPs in the wound healing theories explained by Dr. Pickart and tested them and my understanding of them and found ways to remodel these two totally different types of scars with significant improvements without causing adverse consequences associated with expensive post-surgical or cosmetic procedures.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JW,

Now that I re-read the stretch mark section on this website I see that skinbiology does not make any claims to remove stretch marks, they claim to make a comsetic improvement on them. I guess I took the comments from the few people that did say they removed stretch marks (testimonies and a few forum posts) and put a little blind faith behind those. As for the opinion on forums, I did not claim that these posts are in any way backed by science but for the most part posts made on public forums are free of the bias behind people that are trying to see you a miracle cure. Trust me, I do not need to be lectured on the difference between something with and without primary scientific literature and what these mean. I am only a year away from medical school and currently thinking I will follow through for dermatology.

As far as the pictures that are non-stretch mark related being of interest to me... they really are not. Once you understand what stretch marks are you will see that they are possibly the hardest cosmetic problem to deal with. Acne scars are also known to be very hard to deal with, even with SRCPs. But stretch marks are deeper than most acne scars and are also covered by layers of "healthy" skin.