Stretch marks resulted when someone grows quickly, or puts on weight quickly; the tissue under the skin becomes overstretched and leaves fine scars under the top layer of the skin.
These scars start off being pink, purple, red or brown, but they fade over time leaving a thin silvery line. In the early stages you can feel a dent in the skin when you run your finger over a stretch mark. These marks often show up on breasts, thighs, (especially the top part), hips, abdomen and bottom.
Stretch marks can appear when:
- Girls, or boys, are having sudden growth spurts, like during puberty
- Women are pregnant
- Athletes are training hard, especially if they do body building exercises
- Someone is obese (say oh-bees), which means they have too much body fat
- People have to use steroids for medical reasons for several weeks – maybe they have really bad asthma.
Over time the red or purple color usually disappears until they become faint silvery lines, which are not so noticeable.
Stretch marks will never fully go away again but if they worry you, you can make them less noticeable by wearing the right dress.
