Stretch marks, known in the medical world as striae, are long, reddish colored lines that appear on the skin. These marks form in the middle layer of the skin, called the dermis. They are caused from the skin stretching past its normal capacity. For men, stretch marks often occur as a result of weight lifting when muscle is gained too quickly. The methods to get rid of them are the same as women. The problem with stretch marks is they are hard to eliminate altogether. But there are ways to make them less noticeable.
Step 1
Change your workout routines. Lift lighter weights and do more reps in your exercises to promote lean muscle mass instead of size. Keep your diet under control as well. Gaining muscle and fat together can exacerbate stretch marks.
Step 2
Talk to your doctor about getting tretinoin cream. Apply this treatment as directed to the areas where you have stretch marks. This formula helps to rebuild collagen and elastin which are substances that give skin its elasticity. Tretinion only works on stretch marks less than six weeks old.
Step 3
Get your skin zapped with an excimer laser for older stretch marks. Talk to your doctor about this procedure where the melanin gets stimulated when the laser beam hits the area of your stretch marks. The skin tone of the stretch marks then matches the pigmentation of the unaffected areas.
Step 4
Get collagen and elastin stimulated through a pulsed dye laser treatment. With this procedure, the dermis gets remodeled when the laser hits your skin, and the stretch marks fade away.
Step 5
Get your skin blasted with microdermabrasion. This is a treatment where tiny fragments of silicon dioxide get blown onto your skin to remove the topical surface. The skin cells and fragments are then suctioned off. The end result of this treatment is your skin becomes more elastic and new skin cell growth is promoted.
