Video Transcript

Hi I'm Dr. Raphael Darvish with Skinpeccable Dermatology and Cosmetic Laser Center here in Los Angeles, California. And I am here today to discuss with you how to remove stretch marks from the abdomen. So stretch marks on the stomach are a commonly found problem after pregnancy. And it's because the abdomen or the stomach expands very rapidly during the nine months. And the skin reaches it's elasticity limit and thus a stretch mark is created. Now what can you do if you have stretch marks on the abdomen? There's a few different very good options. First there are some creams, Mederma cream is a good one. There are other commercially available scar creams available to you. Shea butter, cocoa butter are also good for that. Secondly, exfoliation. Microdermabrasion and chemical peels have been shown to be helpful as are some scrubs. Thirdly lasers, if the stretch mark is red consider an IPL or a Vbeam laser. Vbeam is a pulse style laser. Those help to suck the red out of the stretch mark. If the stretch mark is pale white you can opt for a fractionated laser such as this one. This is a fractionated heparin laser made by Palomar. This is the only FDA approved laser for the treatment of stretch marks and it does very well. This is my treatment of choice when it comes to stretch marks. And lastly, there's a surgical option that one could do at a plastic surgeon's office. You go there and they can do a tummy tuck and kind of cut out the skin that has the stretch mark but you'll be left with a line or surgical scar right at your waistline that will be there for life. So you are trading the stretch marks on the abdomen for a line but a lot of people opt for that too. So I'm Dr. Raphael Darvish and that's a brief overview of how to remove stretch marks from your abdomen.