Diagnosis and prevention of stretch marks (atrophy lines, obesity lines, fracture lines)

  Atrophic lines are red, white or purple streaks of broken skin fibers that occur in the body during pregnancy, fitness and sudden weight gain. It also includes obesity lines, exercise cracks, and movement in areas of the body where there is a lot of movement, such as the inner and outer femur, knees, hips, and lumbosacral areas, in addition to the abdomen.  Atrophic lines can be caused by weight loss. When obese, fat deposits make the skin expand, and when weight loss occurs, the expanded skin shrinks, thus some patterns appear; expansion lines are formed because the bones and muscles grow too fast, exceeding the speed of skin lengthening, and the elastic fibers of the dermis are pulled off. It is a physiological phenomenon that occurs during the development of healthy male and female adolescents. The appearance of atrophy lines during puberty is usually after the growth of pubic hair, and most of them appear at the same time as “acne”. In males, they appear mostly on the inner and outer thighs and waist, while in females, they occur mainly on the lower abdomen, legs and breasts. The atrophy lines are initially slightly higher than the skin surface, and then gradually turn into irregular stripes or band-like skin depressions arranged in parallel, with thinning skin at the depressions, shiny surface, up to several centimeters long and about 1 cm wide, and mostly light red or purple in color. Atrophic lines are not painful or itchy, nor do they cause any other discomfort, and have little effect on health.  Stretch marks are purple or pink stripes that appear on the lower abdomen, thighs, buttocks or breasts during pregnancy.  The treatment of stretch marks (atrophy lines, obesity lines, fracture lines): especially mild ones can try to supplement collagen (topical hyaluronic acid), wear body-shaping underwear, limit the intake of sugar, eat more fiber and protein, or use some good quality repair factor, epidermal growth factor or essential oil massage can play a certain role in relieving. For those who have moderate to severe scars and are concerned about the appearance of their image, they should consider going to a regular hospital for proper treatment.  The treatment method is basically the same as the minimally invasive treatment for scars. The traditional one is usually treated with fractional laser (exfoliative, non-exfoliative), and now the new technology is fractional radio frequency, but my personal experience is that I prefer a variety of technologies combined treatment, choosing different devices according to the actual situation, or combining two or three different devices for simultaneous treatment.  Unlike traditional fractional lasers, fractional RF uses an electrode to deliver electrical energy (non-laser light wave energy) and produce an electrical field through the skin’s surface into the subcutaneous tissues. At high frequencies, the natural electrical resistance of the subcutaneous tissue moves to produce heat energy, and this energy causes the collagen in the dermis to deform and contract to achieve the treatment effect. Fractional RF was first used for the purpose of skin tightening and wrinkle removal, and then as the number of hospitals using it increased, many new functions were gradually developed by everyone, and now everyone gradually agrees that it has better efficacy for scars, acne pits, enlarged pores, stretch marks, atrophy lines and these.  Fractional RF is a non-invasive treatment method, and is now ing a safer and more effective method than the traditional laser. Unlike the light wave of laser, the RF wave is not absorbed by melanin when penetrating the barrier of epidermal basal melanocytes, so it can heat the collagen fibers of dermis to 55℃-65℃, and the collagen fibers contract and stimulate the dermis to repair again more powerfully than the traditional laser. Moreover, compared with laser, the duration of the effect is longer after RF treatment. Even 2-6 months after the treatment, after the stimulated collagen tissue gradually completes the regeneration process, most of the treated patients can still see that the skin is tighter and more delicate than a few months ago, while the effect of laser is generally maintained for only 2 months.