Stretch Marks!!

[Guest]

awfully quiet on here guys, any updates on the tca peels?

i did mine last thursday, just about to start peeling i think so ill keep you all updated

G

[Guest]

I'm gonna do a peel soon, so nervous yet so excited.

kelly

[Guest]

ok all, time to be brutally honest with me ...

during my last visit to the skin doctor, instead of zapping me with the v-beam (for what would have been the 6th or 7th time)...he decided to try something new...

he recommended a cream, but not just any cream...a super expensive BLEACHING cream called tri-luma...not sure if any of you have ever heard of it ...

anyway, ive been posting here for a while but i never really made a post about that cream...its been a little over a month and i havent seen much improvement at all...i noticed that it makes my skin peel a little bit and makes the areas itch a bit. but other than that it doesnt really seem to be helping...the reason i never asked earlier about it, is because i was scared of being let down...

i was so excited to try this new cream that i thought was going to work, so instead of asking you guys to see if it worked or not, i decided to just try it for myself and not do any research on it...i was just in fear of being let down (since im always let down in my life ) and instead of that happening i wanted to try it for myself...

well now that over a month has passed and i havent really seen a result, im begining to think the worst...im thinking that its just another useless cream ...have you guys ever heard of it? be brutally honest with me, does it work or not? the tube is about 1/4 the size of your average toothpaste tube and costs nearly $200...im almost empty and i dont know if ill even bother buyying a new tube of it...

im very sad ....this is a very well respected and experienced doctor too. he acutally knows all the latest procedures and stays up to date with me and this is what he recommended i try. he claims that chemical peels dont work and he doesnt want to try that on me...im starting to get realy discouraged...the only thing left for me that i havent tried is fraxel and tca peels...

dont know what to do

[Guest]

Hi guys! I came across this product on the internet...has anyone tried it? It's kind of expensive, but it claims that it reduces the visual texture of stretchmarks by 47% in 8 weeks, and firms the skin up to 78% in 8 weeks. Apparently its been clinically tested. What do u think..should i give it a try?

[Guest]

oopss..srry i forgot to attache the link to my post. This is the link to the product i was referring to.
http://www.murad.com/cellulite/firm-and-tone-dietary-supplement-pack.html

[Guest]

tri-luma is basically hydroquinone (a bleaching agent) and retin a (which has been shown to mildy reduce stretch marks after very LONG term use).

was he just trying to make the white stretch marks blend in more with the skin?

[marta]

ok all, time to be brutally honest with me ...

ok all, time to be brutally honest with me ...

your doctor prescribed you something what should be ABSOLUTELY and I mean ABSOLUTELY never ever used. That cream contains a CORTICOSTEROID!!!!!!!!!

it contains fluocinolone - that is a corticosteroid.

every idiot knows that corticosteroids , even topical ones CAUSE stretch marks!!! SEVERE stretch marks. the most horrendous I have ever seen.

your "doctor" must be a sadist who wants to make your marks worse and cause you tons of new ones. its incredible what some "doctors" are able to do to make money.

TRI-Luma contains Fluocinolone / Hydroquinone / Tretinoin

Fluocinolone is a steroid. It reduces inflammation or swelling.
Hydroquinone topical is a skin bleaching agent.
Tretinoin topical is a form of vitamin A. It helps the skin to renew itself more quickly.

It is even written on Tri-Luma website that it contains a corticosteroid!

"Tri-Luma® Cream contains the corticosteroid fluocinolone acetonide. "
http://www.triluma.com/TrilumaCream/default.aspx


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluocinolone_acetonide

there are plenty of bleaching creams that do not contain corticosteroids so why the fu.k did he do that to you. and you paid 200 bucks to get more stretch marks..

I dont know what to say.

[marta]

this medical abstract is from 1965. It mentiones that fluocinolone caused stretch marks in their patient. So it has been known for at least 43 years that corticosteroids such as fluocinolone cause stretch marks and make them worse


Striae and Their Relation to Topical Steroid Therapy
Can Med Assoc J. 1965 February 6; 92(6): 289–291.
J. E. Adam and Gibson Craig
Abstract
"Atrophic striae have been reported to occur normally in 35% of adolescents and abnormally in a variety of medical conditions. Recently, the occurrence of striae has been observed in adults after the use of potent topical steroids with occlusion. Pre-existing striae have been found to enlarge after topical steroid therapy, even without occlusion. The mechanism of striae formation appears to be due to the action of the steroids on the dermal connective tissue and/or dermal matrix rather than to mechanical tension
CONCLUSIONS
...Topical steroids may promote
the enlargement of pre-existing striae.' Striae
formation seems to be related to use of the newer
steroid preparations, which would appear to imply
that they 'have a more potent effect than the older
preparations on dermal connective tissue elements.
Adolescents and young adults seem to be particularly
prone to this form of striae formation."

"The types of steroids
that have been associated with striae formation
are the newer topical steroids, including fluocinolone
acetonide (our patient), triamcinolone acetonide
and fiurandrenolone acetonide.4' 11,12 No
cases of striae formation have been reported with
the older steroids, such as hydrocortisone, which
suggests that the newer steroids 'have a more
potent effect on dermal connective tissue elements."

[Guest]

omg are you F****** serious!!!!!!

MY DOCTOR PRESCRIBED ME SOMETHING THAT MAKES THEM WORSE?

what a b***** i cant believe this...is this true? no wonder theyve been getting more red each day...

for the record they were purplish to begin with, not white....someone had asked me if he prescribed it to me to make the white marks blend in with the red ones...well no, because they arent white, they were red to begin with

he probably wanted to bang his secretary that morning which is why he didnt want to zap me in the first place...he was probably too lazy to bother with me and just prescribed me a cream and doesnt actually give a S*** about me...

should i stop using the product immediately?

[Guest]

just thought id update you all on my tca peel,

started to peel now, can see a few small cracks in the skin where its started to peel and although i can only see a tiny tiny portion of the stretch marks they look exactly the same as before.

im confident that when the whole thing has peeled they will look better but from the tiny portion i can see they look exactly the same if not a bit redder.

G

[marta]

z
should i stop using the product immediately?

what do you think?...


or do you want to end up like this:
http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/derm/IndexDisplay.cfm?ImageID=1957624159
"This 30 year old woman developed extensive striae on her hips, thighs, breasts, shoulders and back while taking chronic oral steroids for systemic lupus erythematosus. "

she was taking it orally but topically is also VERY bad regarding stretch marks

[Guest]

oh my goodness


kelly

[Guest]

just thought id update you all on my tca peel,

started to peel now, can see a few small cracks in the skin where its started to peel and although i can only see a tiny tiny portion of the stretch marks they look exactly the same as before.

im confident that when the whole thing has peeled they will look better but from the tiny portion i can see they look exactly the same if not a bit redder.

G

Hi G

If its your first peel you might not see that much difference. I don't know what strength acid you are using but if you apply it very sparingly then the results will be modest. I probably shouldn't say this on here but I use a fan brush to apply my acid, if that gives an idea of how much I put on for a peel..

After you peel its worth waiting 4 or 5 weeks then doing the same area again, perhaps doing a 2 layer (if you feel your skin can take that) next time before you decide if you have any improvements or not.

TCA is not a miracle cure, it still take time and patience to get rid of the marks using it, but I am happy that its improved my marks a lot, so far and keeping my fingers crossed for complete resolution.

As to doctors, well, I think sometimes blindly following the advice of one is dangerous. I remember seeing a dermatologist years ago regarding the newly formed stretch marks on my arms, she gave me retin a and told me to use it on my bum.. Retin a is supposed to help new marks not ones you have had since puberty (like the ones on my bum), she also said laser did not work on stretch marks. I think I gave up on them from that point forward and decided to find my own solution to my problem.


J

[Tracy212]

I used Tri-Luma on an area of skin (not stretch marked skin) that I wanted to bleach out a bit due to a brown scar. It did not do anything at all for me and it was WAY too expensive. When I went to get the prescription filled, I remember the pharmacist asking me if I was sure I wanted to buy the cream because it was so expensive. This was many years ago, so I don't remember how long I used it. I just remember I knew I wouldn't buy it again.

It's interesting you mentioned this because I was just today asking my medical esthetician if she had ever heard of Tri-Luma. Strange.....

Tracy

[Guest]

thats such a shame....i believe more of you than i believe any "qualified doctor"....qualified in what? they dont have stretch marks, WE DO, so how can they possibly care about it more than us??

cant believe what a joke he is, i dont think ill ever be going back to him again. this is 2008, not the 90's ...the internet is a powerful tool and fortunately there are places like this where we can learn how to deal with our problem rather than just blindly taking the advice of a doctor because he has some plaque hung up on his wall that says hes "qualified"

so now that tri-luma, tri-lastin, and v-beams have all failed me...the only thing left to try i guess is fraxel and tca...i guess ill start my first treatment of tca soon...

for the record, that picture of those really bad sm's that someone posted arent too different from mine...mine are just as bad, only they are on my back instead of hips