Stretch Marks!!

[Guest]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting but have been keeping up with this board for a few years now. I have stretch marks on most of my lower half - some are quite fine and others long and white, although luckily not too angry looking. The worst marks are on my hips, inner thighs, back of calves and bum. The oldest marks, on the backs of my calves, are over 12 years old - I'm not sure what caused them as I'm very slim but think it's probably a combination of the pill, being veggie and not getting enough protein and ill health for a number of years. I used glycolic acid for a while and tried the silkymitt sanding method before that but had no luck improving my marks - I still have a bit of hyperpigmentation from the sanding.

I started using TCA about a month ago, after following the glycolic method mentioned on page 410. I also bought my tca from nova peels on ebay - 50% which I've been diluting down to about 20% (I'm Indian so don't want to risk more hyperpigmentation). I've peeled the worst areas twice now and am planning my third peel for the weekend. It hasn't removed any marks yet, but after only two peels I can see a definite difference. My marks seem less deep and some seem to have broken up in places. When I run my fingers over them they feel much smoother, although this could be simply because the dead skin has been sloughed off. They generally seem diminished. I think it will take me at least ten more peels to eradicate them but I'm quite happy with that!

To the guest who also bought their tca from nova peels you will see peeling - my skin has been peeling around 7-8 days after applying just one layer of tca and that's just with 20% so I'm sure you'll get a better and more obvious peeling with 50% - it's not the most attractive sight but I believe the end result will be worth it. I don't know if you've visited it but nova peels have a website with a page about stretch marks with some photos of treatment (not the best photos but they still helped to motivate me). The website is:

http://novapeels.com/stretch.html

PJ

[shaznay00]

I am 19 years old and i have stretch marks all over my body.....literally all over my body. i found that when i done alot of excersize (football) and drank plenty of water my stretch marks faded to a point where you couldnt see them. now i stopped and its been a year they have all came back so it looks like i got to start excersising again. try excersing for 1year and see the results.

[Guest]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting but have been keeping up with this board for a few years now. I have stretch marks on most of my lower half - some are quite fine and others long and white, although luckily not too angry looking. The worst marks are on my hips, inner thighs, back of calves and bum. The oldest marks, on the backs of my calves, are over 12 years old - I'm not sure what caused them as I'm very slim but think it's probably a combination of the pill, being veggie and not getting enough protein and ill health for a number of years. I used glycolic acid for a while and tried the silkymitt sanding method before that but had no luck improving my marks - I still have a bit of hyperpigmentation from the sanding.

I started using TCA about a month ago, after following the glycolic method mentioned on page 410. I also bought my tca from nova peels on ebay - 50% which I've been diluting down to about 20% (I'm Indian so don't want to risk more hyperpigmentation). I've peeled the worst areas twice now and am planning my third peel for the weekend. It hasn't removed any marks yet, but after only two peels I can see a definite difference. My marks seem less deep and some seem to have broken up in places. When I run my fingers over them they feel much smoother, although this could be simply because the dead skin has been sloughed off. They generally seem diminished. I think it will take me at least ten more peels to eradicate them but I'm quite happy with that!

To the guest who also bought their tca from nova peels you will see peeling - my skin has been peeling around 7-8 days after applying just one layer of tca and that's just with 20% so I'm sure you'll get a better and more obvious peeling with 50% - it's not the most attractive sight but I believe the end result will be worth it. I don't know if you've visited it but nova peels have a website with a page about stretch marks with some photos of treatment (not the best photos but they still helped to motivate me). The website is:

http://novapeels.com/stretch.html

PJ

hi there, im the guy who bought the tca from nova peels, i think im going to start signing my posts with a G now so you know who i am.

im still completely confused, 50% didnt hurt one bit, no different to applying water, and so far its had the same effect as water. now i did apply a very thin layer, and only one layer at that, so im going to do 2 layers this time and apply it thicker.

its great to hear from you especially since you bought your tca from the same place as me so i know its not the tca that isnt working.

thanks

G

[Guest]

hey guys,

just did the another peel on another area about 2 hours ago. 50% again, this time mucher thicker application. i treated a larger area this time and the application was a bit uneven, so the centre of the area had a very thick application, whereas the outer area not so thick. once i had treated the area with one q-tip, i did it again straight away afterwards with another. i waited around 2-3 minutes this time, not including application time which was probably over a minute.

this time i felt it much much more. the first time i must of simply applied it too thin. this time the burning was prety intense, which i liked much more as i felt like it was working. the centre of the area which i applied more thickly frosted over quite nicely, though i musnt of treated the outer area thickly enough as no frosting occured there.

now all there is to do is wait and see, hopefully ill see good improvement.

got a couple of questions though, are people using some form of antibacterial after application and throughout peeling process? my instructions tell me to do so but i havent heard of anyone else doing this.

also what are people applying after there peel? i used baby oil simply because its the only thing ive got

thanks

G

[Guest]

im sooo scared of hyperpigmentation.....anyway to avoid this when doing the peels????

[Mai]

J has been having great success using olive oil...

She says keeping the skin moist and preventing peeling for as long as possible is the key.

I have not yet taken the TCA route, but I do have eczema and I use olive for moisturizer. What works even better than olive oil, however is crisco, this is because its thicker and takes longer to absorb into the skin. I don't know if thats an option for post TCA skin but if the idea is to keep the skin moisturized for as long as possible it might be a possibility.

[Ginobili]

My dermatologist told me a huge factor on the outcome of the tca peel is "the amount of tca you actually use".

Which make sense, since for my first peel(I used alot of tca acid), peel start a few days later and finished very soon. It also left pigmentation.

For my second peel, progress have been very slow. For my second peel, I tested on an abdormanal stretch mark which is 7cm long. It have been over 23 days and only 20% of my test area have peel. Good thing is there is only little pigmentation.

[Ginobili]

im sooo scared of hyperpigmentation.....anyway to avoid this when doing the peels????

My dermatologist says no. But there's cream you can use which helps fade hyperpigmentation faster.

What I suggest is do peel on a "very very very small" test area. I'm not even talking about a single stretch mark. Try test it on small segment of your test mark so even if there's hyperpigmentation you won't care much.

That is probably what I'm going to do now. I'm only going to apply tca on small test area. And if result are good after several peel, I'll use it all over my body.

[Guest]

hi there! could anyone plz tell me how to dilute 50% glycolic to 30%. what would be the ratio? i am new to this. should i use plain tap water??

[marta]

to make 30% from 50% , the ration should be:

1,6 unit acid : 1 unit water

thus 8 units of acid : 5 units of water- that is the ratio you need

-----------------------------------------------------------

0,5=0,3*(1+x)
x=0,666

so if you have 100ml of 50% acid you should add approx. 67ml of water to get 30%solution


i hope that someone will recheck my calculation...

but as I said some pages ago , the effectiveness of acid peels highly depends on its pH

[nyc2008]

Hey guys,

I read a while back that some of you have tried Carboxy. I did two treatments and saw pretty good results on some of the sm's and nothing on others....Two weeks later, it seems as any of the progress I had was worthless because it went right back to where it started. They recommended I do five treatments, but they also said that I'll see the biggest results in my first two treatments. I don't know if I want to go ahead with the third treatment....After my first treatment, one of the sms in my shoulders faded a lot, however, I don't know if it was my fault, but I started exfoliating a week later (after the injections healed a bit), and it looks like day one before the treatment Should I stop exfoliating? I've been doing a Jean Wu kind of method for over a year now...no results...in fact I've gotten more sm's. I'm really wondering if exfoliating is doing harm...What are your thoughts?

I'm thinking of doing the tca peels, however I'm not sure how that'll play out considering the holes from the injections. It's been two weeks since I did the carboxy, I hope the million holes in my skin don't irritate if I do the acid.

The marks are on my arms/shoulders/belly/sides/everywhere lol..ehhh...I'm wary about it because I'm going away in January to Brazil....It's going to be the middle of summer over there and the sun is going to hit very hard. Should I try the TCA peeling considering I have less than 3 months? If I do one peeling do you think it'll be worth it? I don't want to do hardcore damage to my skin by the sun. (By the way, my skin is not sensitive, I do tan)

I hate the sms and I'm not going to give up ever. Until then, screw it!! I'm going to wear a tank tops in the summer whether people like it or not. I'm not even fat, just got this all through high school when I grew. I'm 20 and sick of feeling bad about not being able to wear things...no more hiding in long sleeves in the summer!

We will find a way guys!!!!

[Guest]

thanx a lot marta. i got it!

[Guest]

you girls might want to try trilastin cream for prevention and intensive treatment of stretch marks.

[Guest]

question. I dumped 50% TCA acid on my stretch marks around a month ago. I did it for a few days straight in fact. There is still plenty hyper pigmentation. But anyway, I see it fading away on my marks and I still see the same purplish color my marks had before. I'm wondering if the new skin grows over this purplish color, or if the marks are still there. I can't believe it cause i saw the marks literally peel off...

[Guest]

question. I dumped 50% TCA acid on my stretch marks around a month ago. I did it for a few days straight in fact. There is still plenty hyper pigmentation. But anyway, I see it fading away on my marks and I still see the same purplish color my marks had before. I'm wondering if the new skin grows over this purplish color, or if the marks are still there. I can't believe it cause i saw the marks literally peel off...

As far as I am aware tca can reach the upper dermis, basically meaning it should be able to destroy the faulty skin and hopefully the body replaces it with healthier skin each time.

Obviously though, as has already been often stated on this site, this is not the case for everyone. So either it is not reaching the dermis on some people, or they simply replace damaged tissue with the same, meaning no improvement after a peel.

J