It is normal for teenagers to get some stretch marks. The marks occur when a person experiences a significant amount of growth or weight gain in a short period of time, such as during puberty. Getting stretch marks does not necessarily mean a person is overweight.
Striae distensae during adolescence are a common physiological change associated with rapid pubertal growth spurts. These pink-silver thin streaks are seen in up to 35% of girls and 15% of boys between 9–16 years of age. In females, the marks commonly occur on the breasts, thighs, shoulders, and buttocks.
Stretch marks usually fade over time but may not disappear completely.
Stretch marks are fine lines in the skin that happen when quick growth or weight gain stretches the skin (like during puberty). Skin is usually fairly stretchy, but when it's overstretched, the normal production of collagen (the major protein that makes up the tissue in skin) is disrupted.
Make sure kids know this is normal and that childhood marks may fade as they get older. Pregnancy as a result of stretched skin and a surge in hormones that weakens skin fibers. They might fade as you shed pounds after the baby is born.
Medically, stretch marks don't require treatment because they aren't harmful or painful. They usually fade over time, with or without treatment, but may never go away completely.
Through puberty, the skin of children progressively darkens with no differences between sexes prior to adolescence.
In general, stretch marks from weight loss fade or disappear completely on their own. Sometimes rapid weight loss can actually cause stretch marks because of excess skin weighing down on the healthy skin.
Some young people may continue to experience growing pains into their early adolescence or teenage years. Pain may be experienced in the legs – often the calf, front of thigh or behind the knees – and is often worse in the afternoon or evening. Sometimes, the pain can wake a child from their sleep.
The skin is stretched as a consequence of underlying tissue expansion. There is an inflammatory reaction in the skin that is responsible for the characteristic red or purple colour. The inflammation eventually fades and is replaced by scar tissue.
Can Vaseline remove stretch marks? While Vaseline can help to moisturise the skin and improve its overall appearance, it is unlikely to completely remove stretch marks. Using Vaseline in combination with other treatments can help to reduce the appearance of stretch marks over time.
Ideally, if you want to care for older stretch marks the place to start is with topical creams. But if that doesn't have the desired impact, Chemical Peeling, Microdermabrasion, FMR and Laser are options.
Causes of Stretch Marks
Stretch marks can occur as a result of rapid weight gain when your skin stretches, causing tears in the inner layer of the skin. However, even though you may have already had them before the weight gain, the stretch marks may actually not be visible until you lose weight.
Children at this age need to pay particular attention to stretching when participating in activity. Stretching needs to be done consistently in order to be effective. Generally, stretching once a day after a warm-up should be enough to help keep muscles loose.
Stretch marks form at a 90 degree angle to the direction in which the skin stretches. On the thighs, stretch marks often first appear as raised pink or purple linear streaks on the skin. Over the next few months or years, these marks change to white or silver scars.
As a child goes through puberty, their stores of body fat may change. For example, girls tend to gain more fatty tissue in the hips, thighs and buttocks, while boys may have an increase in fat on their stomachs.
Growing pains are often described as an ache or throb in the legs — often in the front of the thighs, the calves or behind the knees. Growing pains tend to affect both legs and occur at night, and may even wake a child from sleep. Although these pains are called growing pains, there's no evidence that growth hurts.
There are three main categories to consider. The first, a red flag, is recurrent limb pains waking the child every night, with pain in the same limb and the same part of the limb. This is often the first sign of a bone tumour; some are benign, but some, such as Ewing's sarcoma, are malignant.
Like any scar, stretch marks are permanent, but treatment may make them less noticeable. Treatment can also help alleviate the itch. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, check with your doctor before treating stretch marks. Some products contain ingredients, such as retinol, that can harm your baby.
Stretchmarks: Tiger Balm's ability to increase blood flow is thought by some to help improve the appearance of stretch marks, but this is not supported by research.
According to a study called “Shades of beauty,” light brown skin tones are often the most physically attractive skin color (Frisby et al., 2006). They used four models for that study. They did not change the skin tone, but they imaged each model to three different skin tones: light, medium, and dark.
For girls, puberty typically ends around age 15 to 17 years. For boys, it tends to end around age 16 to 17 years. Again, every child is different, so these ages can vary.
Your baby's skin colour is a polygenic trait
Genetics determine melanin, which in turn decides your baby's natural complexion. The more melanin, the darker the complexion. Your baby's skin color is not determined solely by the genes of either parent, but instead by a mix of both.