Stretch Marks!!

[Guest]

hi J
thanks for replying. Just wondering how long have you actually been using the TCA method ? and also what is the filling method you mentioned before?

Been using it for about 2 months, filing method is not as good as tca, so just use a lowish strength tca instead.

To the other person baby oil should be fine, use it as many times per day on the area that is waiting to peel as you can, the idea is to keep the skin from peeling for as long as possible as you get better results that way.

J

[RK]

I'll probably be slammed for this - I know as I'm writing it, as he seems to be hailed as a god on various web forums - but to be honest I don't see any point asking Dr. Pickart what his opinion is. He'd just say 'it should happen eventually stick at it'.... After 2 odd years of hanging on around the skinbiology site & this one I've come to the conclusion he's a bit of a con artist. The research is sound, yes... BUT I do not believe that he's received thousands of letters claiming his products work and can completely eradicate stretch marks.. I just don't. Reason? Yes, I could understand 90% of people not returning to the board to say the creams have worked & completely erased the marks, but having carried out a survey on there about a year ago, where no one said they'd erased their marks & having read through all the forum posts etc/seen the improvement pictures, I'm just not convinced - I've not seen one person claim that through using his products that they've achieved even a 90% improvement. I was roped in to start with & I thought for a while that a user called Catfish was going to prove his products did work - she posted loads of pictures that did - at one point - seem to show improvements - and then the next set she posted just looked like her initial pictures (goes to show that lighting/angles can change what they look like a lot). She also started to post less about improvements & stop posting pictures, yet she's still hanging about hoping for answers. On his stretchmark skinbio site he just shows someone improving their TCA burns. I just feel like if his products had received the thousands of commendations he says they have that there would be a bit more of a fuss made about them.

But that's just my opinion & I'm not trying to be a downer about things/say nothing will work because, believe me, I do want something to work desperately. I just don't think his products hold the answer.

But you know, if someone has actual proof to the contrary I'm willing to pay attention.

It could be worse I suppose, he could have 'fake' posts from people that do say his products work. but...

I'm just hoping they make a laser or find an adequate easier solution that really does work, cos i'm relatively fed up.

[Mai]

Agreed.
He has no pictures to prove it. The only one there is that woman with TCA peel burns. Her burn scars went away but her sm were worse than ever.
And J, while I do appreciate all that you post...
For a while you were going on about how fabulous foot filing was working. You even posted pictures (pictures which personally I fail to see a difference in). You said that you expected foot filing to resolve your sm in 3 or 4 months, and that was over a year ago. Now you saying how fabulously TCA is working and while I do believe you are seeing improvements, I am taking it with a grain of salt - because you have posted about incredible results before. I'm not saying you are lying at all. But seeing as how I personally have looked at my sm with a glimmer of hope after certain treatments...
I may order TCA, I may not. Right now, I am doing glycolic acid with cps. But I've been here and done this before....
It's important to stay positive but as someone whose has spent a lot of time and a lot of money on treatments that really do not work I think its also important to be honest with ourselves.

[Guest]

Agreed.
He has no pictures to prove it. The only one there is that woman with TCA peel burns. Her burn scars went away but her sm were worse than ever.
And J, while I do appreciate all that you post...
For a while you were going on about how fabulous foot filing was working. You even posted pictures (pictures which personally I fail to see a difference in). You said that you expected foot filing to resolve your sm in 3 or 4 months, and that was over a year ago. Now you saying how fabulously TCA is working and while I do believe you are seeing improvements, I am taking it with a grain of salt - because you have posted about incredible results before. I'm not saying you are lying at all. But seeing as how I personally have looked at my sm with a glimmer of hope after certain treatments...
I may order TCA, I may not. Right now, I am doing glycolic acid with cps. But I've been here and done this before....
It's important to stay positive but as someone whose has spent a lot of time and a lot of money on treatments that really do not work I think its also important to be honest with ourselves.

Yep I admit it I am ever the optimist. I think with the foot file because at the beginning it seemed to get rid of some marks quite quickly I thought I was on to a winner, but in hindsight I think that they must have been new marks because it only made the others more shallow.

I suppose it is a case now of wait and see, either the tca will completely remove them or it won't and if it doesn't I will be here trying something else next year. All I can say is that I wish I had started with the tca as it is the most improvement I have seen, but its like anything to do with scarring, you can't know if it is going to completely remove them until it has completely removed them.

The bottom of my left leg has finished peeling. I will wait a week or so then post pics of it. No doubt that will lead to a round of arguments but hey what the hell.

I am not trying to hoodwink anyone, I just believe you have to be optimistic to stand a chance of getting rid of them, otherwise you will just give up before the improvements start.

J

[rae ann]

J,

i am glad you are posting about all the things you have tried and if they worked or not. its better that someone outthere is trying this stuff out so the rest of us at least know if it worked or not. i am very thankful that you post alot of the updates. personaly i cant wait to see the picture you post of you using TCA!! ANY improvement even if minimal that i can do on my horrible stretch marks is better then no improvement at all.

[cr]

Well said, J. It is important to remain optimistic and J has done such a great job keeping the tone of this forum as high-spirited as possible. I do understand the frustration coming from some of the other posters, especially when a lot of money and hope is involved. Unfortunately, most dermatologists have accepted that nothing can be done, so we really only have each other to rely on to post our experiences with different methods. Only time will tell. J, thank you for all of the time, heart, and effort you have put into this forum! Best, CR

[Guest]

I saw this on another site and thought id post it....

You can't peel away stretch marks! Why would anyone have a tummy tuck when they can just buy a bottle of miracle acid that removes stretch marks? BECAUSE you can't burn off a stretchmark, thats why. Stretch marks are comprised of skin that is deficient. It has sustained an injury that did not cause a wound but it left the skin void of glands that secrete dna. So why would anyone want to burn this skin if it is in disrepair? The secret to getting rid of stretchmarks is to work on getting the skin back to good health by forcing it to secrete dna again. You can smother a stretch mark with silicone pads or even tape (not recommended because you can get silicone in scar kits). By cutting the air supply off to the stretch mark you are forcing it to hydrate itself through sweating. There are glands and folicles but they are very weak from being pulled apart but they can be repaired! The more you commit to doing your own treatment on these marks using silicone scar patches,.wearing them to bed and under clothes, the faster you will see promising results. Some stretch marks however are very deep and cannot be smoothed over due to atrophy. When we speak about skin miracles we are always addressing skin that has not suffered huge atrophy (loss of firmness from weight gain/loss/regain). If the skin is taut and has elasticity and the marks are not measurably deep, you can get a good result by using the silicone (suffocation) method. If your skin can produce sweat and oil and grow a folicle, it is capable of 100% recovery.

Koijro, what do you make of this? Can it truly be this simple?

Shoo

[Guest]

I had the Active FX done on my abdomen back in November. There is definite marked improvement, but the stretch marks are still there. It's hard to say exactly how much improvement, but somewhere around 50% is my guess. Some of the very, very small stretch marks went away and the larger ones decreased in width. It did not do much for the color. They are still white, but they do seem to blend better with the surrounding skin. I did see the most improvement months after the procedure versus right after the procedure, but no miracle around 6 months. This doctor is now doing Deep FX on stretch marks, but has only done a few people and does not know how well it works yet, though she believes it will be somewhat better than Active FX. She offerred to give me a discount on the Deep FX. Not sure if I'm going to do it or not.

I asked the doctor about the article I found which appeared to combine fraxel and radio frequency (though the article never specifically said which lasers were used). Her experience was that she has never seen good results with radio frequency. The results she has seen were only temporary. I still may go see the doctor mentioned in the article. I haven't decided yet.

While I was there, I went ahead and asked about peels since she has an esthetician on staff that specializes in skin care which includes peels. She absolutely does not believe peels work. She actually sort of laughed when I asked about them (almost like she sensed my desperation for something to cure these freakin' things!). She went into the medical explanation as to why peels don't work, but I sort of tuned it out and figured it wasn't worth posting here since everyone has their own beliefs on the effectiveness of peels which is drastically different than all the experts.

My opinion after trying every method possible over the last 15 years (lasers, creams, peels, vitamins) is that the most improvement I have experienced has been with lasers. I believe that is where the cure will someday be found. Someone's just got to get the right combination to make it work. I also believe there is a lot of substance to the "eating raw" method. I have found a Naturopath in my area and plan to pursue that at some point (when I think I will have the discipline to actually change my eating habits!).

Good luck to all in whatever method you pursue!
Tracy

[Tracy212]

Sorry.....I forgot to put my user name on the above post from me.

Tracy

[Guest]

Tracy thanks for your update! That's amazing you had 50% improvement! I would suggest you repeat it either alone or with DeepFX. It may take a few months each time but after a couple of procedures you could see them all gone at this rate!! Good luck!
Personally, DeepFX will be my first choice of laser when I gather the money in a few months. I also want to wait a bit as it's still new for stretch mark treatment but it does look the most promising.

S

[Guest]

I saw this on another site and thought id post it....

You can't peel away stretch marks! Why would anyone have a tummy tuck when they can just buy a bottle of miracle acid that removes stretch marks? BECAUSE you can't burn off a stretchmark, thats why. Stretch marks are comprised of skin that is deficient. It has sustained an injury that did not cause a wound but it left the skin void of glands that secrete dna. So why would anyone want to burn this skin if it is in disrepair? The secret to getting rid of stretchmarks is to work on getting the skin back to good health by forcing it to secrete dna again. You can smother a stretch mark with silicone pads or even tape (not recommended because you can get silicone in scar kits). By cutting the air supply off to the stretch mark you are forcing it to hydrate itself through sweating. There are glands and folicles but they are very weak from being pulled apart but they can be repaired! The more you commit to doing your own treatment on these marks using silicone scar patches,.wearing them to bed and under clothes, the faster you will see promising results. Some stretch marks however are very deep and cannot be smoothed over due to atrophy. When we speak about skin miracles we are always addressing skin that has not suffered huge atrophy (loss of firmness from weight gain/loss/regain). If the skin is taut and has elasticity and the marks are not measurably deep, you can get a good result by using the silicone (suffocation) method. If your skin can produce sweat and oil and grow a folicle, it is capable of 100% recovery.

Ages ago when I tried the Castor Oil Method (too fussy/messy), liberally coating my marks in the stuff and wrapping the area in cling-film then parking a heating pad on top, my skin was sweating cobbs (much like everyone else who tried it, I imagine. I Googled the passage above, and the only place I found it apart from here was an eBay salespage, so I'm not endowing it with any great credibility. It does make me wonder though if the 'success' reported by some of those who used the Castor Oil Method might have been as much down to the sweating as to the oil, maybe more.

[Guest]

what did the deepfx cost?

[Guest]

The failure of some people on this board to realize the difference between optimism and stupidity is astounding. I had 8 professional peels done. Nada.

[Guest]

christ guys this is depressing,

seems like we've exhausted every single method there is possible and still no results

i was really holding out for TCA but now im not sure

everyones so depressed round here at the moment and its damn contagious im so fed up

[americangirl]

I for one am not giving up on these things. I still believe that by working out, eating right (not necessarily raw), taking supplements, and doing peels I will be able to improve the marks that I have. I feel like there as a "negative" undertone on the board now because so many people make unnecessary comments that criticize certain techniques people are using. I just feel like if you do not agree with various methods of removal--just move along.

As for the person who go 8 professional peels and saw no results--do you happen to know what acid you had peels with? Also, what percentage? How far apart were your treatments? Were your marks old, new, red, white? These are all things can have an effect on your results. And there is also the possibility that peels just don't work for you. Some people have had very nice results with TCA peels--maybe not complete removal but definitely improvement, which to me is still a great achievement.

Also, less and less people are ADDING to the boards, its more of people coming here asking what can they do and leaving it to the other board members to experiment.

ON another note:
Has anyone ordered peels from "MakeupArtistsChoice.com"? I have and received my shipment today (30% Glycolic) ....the "peel" takes a long time to dry into my skin even though I washed it beforehand and used the pH prep solution to take away the oils from my skin. This makes it difficult to apply the CPs and Emu Oil right after as outlined on page 410 because its just a mess of blue goop. Is this normal? Also, I experienced no stinging, irritation or anything && its my first time dealing with peels. Was I sold an unsatisfactory product?