13 Year Old with Terrible Stretch Marks

If she's self concious about the stretch marks use a cream to treat them. Jafra makes Stretch Mark Corrector cream that works quite well. I have a couple of clients who purchased it for use on their pre-teen daughters to get rid of stretch marks that appeared after vigorous growth spurts. The product worked like a charm. Let me know if it's something you want to try.
L.

I have 2 girls and yes, they both have stretch marks worse than I do and I carried and delivered 4 babies! I am a small woman too, never weighing more than 100 lbs. in those years. I am convinced that it was their growing process. They actually grew too fast.

Hi, I had the same problem when I was young and they stuck around for some time but it never really bothered me. However, I just finished my first pregnancy and given my past experience with stretch marks I was fully expecting to be covered in them. Then my cousin recommended the L'Occtaine Mom and Baby stretch mark cream and it worked wonders! I only have a few stretch marks on the sides where I did not apply the cream religiously as on the stomach.

The cream is about $40 but it is totally worth it, and there is a smaller size that is $20 if you just want to try it out. If your neice has self concious feelings about it you could gift it to her and/or buy it with her and see how it works.

I am sure it will work out regardless. Good luck!

Hi, our daughter got her first stretch marks last year when her hips filled out. It really surprised me because she was so underweight to begin with. I bought her some palmers coco butter cream/lotion to help with any further damage. She has gotten no more major marks since, and has continued on her journey to womanhood. Our oldest did the same thing, its like they all of a sudden get hips and everything all at once, and the skin can't take it. I hope this works for your neice too.
W. M.

My brother & I had this problem too at a young age. The skin just doesn't have as much elasticity as others. U can try vitamin e or some other good creams/oils, but there's really not a whole u can do for it. I know it sucks, but just encourage healthy skin practices

When I was 13, I had my last real big growth spurt. It happened over summer, and I came back to school taller than many of the boys. This growth spurt caused me to have stretch marks on my rear end. Yikes! Of course at that age who needs another thing to be self critical about. The good news--they went away without any treatment. You could try the creams, etc. that pregnant women use, but my guess is they will be gone by the time your daughter is 18. Mine were.

Around that age I got them too. I grew so fast (tall) that they just came. I never put anything on them and they started to fad over time. Now that I have had two babies, my tummy is full of them.

Hi. The only two reasons i know of this is:

First - My sister had gotten stretch marks during P.E. class and she was also very slim. Is was due to the fact she had very dry skin and the elacticity in her skin was unable to handle all the stretching and moving.

Second - As for myself, I have Exema which means i have very dry skin. With that I scratch myself like crasy. Which have lead to many scars and stretch marks.

I would tell your niece to start using lotion everyday, all the time. Keep her nails short and see her doctor. I hope this helps.

I had that problem for a while when I was about a year older than her. They went away, but one thing that I did find out was that I wasn't getting enough vitamins and minerals and that was part of why I had the stretch marks (before that I had always thought stretch marks were just from being pregnant so I had no idea why I had them). Make sure she is eatting a well-balanced diet and if she has health insurance you might have her ask her doctor to do blood work to check her vitamin and mineral levels. It may be that she is deficient in a certain one (there are many girls who are iron deficient). If no doctor than just maybe have her take a teen vitamin along with a healthy diet (not meaning for her to diet, just for her to make sure that she knows all the ways she can eat healthy). As well, even when stretch marks aren't caused by fat building up it can still help to exercise because exercising tightens up the skin.

My best advice is to make sure she doesn't feel "different" because women in your family haven't had this problem. It is so normal and overtime they will fade to nearly nothing. Just moisturize with body butters or oil. Also, it may indicate a deficiency in Omega Oils 3-6-9. If she isn't getting it in her diet (as many don't), she make need to take some internally. You can find good ones at any health food store. Get the liquid (not capsules) and add to salad, shakes (or juice), mix with butter. Just don't cook with it.
She probably won't even notice them once she's past her growth spurt in a couple years or less.

She must've grown real fast. My friend's son grew like a foot in months and he got them on his trunk. They do fade, better than the mommy kind haha.
Look at Walmart, there are creams.
In our fam we use cocoa butter to prevent them.
Be sure to tell her they will fade away. AND that she aint the only teen out there with them.

They will fade to white eventually. Yes, it happens. I don't know for sure if anything helps. It happened to both myself and my sister when we started to get hips and breasts. It's from growing, some people's skin is just more prone to it. C.

Try Miracell oil you can find it on line is not very cheap, but it works wonders. You can use it for any skin problems... I love it I have old streach marks that had been less noticitable since I used the oil.

My daughter is also 13 and has stretch marks on her sides. I keep trying to convince her she is not overweight but she wants to know why she has them then and can you get rid of them. Please let me know what you find out!
Thanks!
M.

My medical book says ZINC. a deficiency in zinc can cause stretch marks. It will also cause white marks on nails, growing pains, weak muscles, cracks behind the ears, psoriasis, irregular menses, and more.

Vitamin C is responsible for collagen- Maybe she could increase her intake of oranges, lemons, etc. Also I read that someone had used liquid vit c in a showerhead and their skin looked great ( I dunno , sounds weird, I wouldn't even know how to do this but I did hear about it)

I like to use virgin raw coconut oil on my skin. I like it because I know there are NO chemicals added to it. It sinks in fast and doesnt feel greasy at all. And it seems like its fading some of my age spots. They say if you ingest it, it is WONDERFUL for your skin, it suppose to keep it soft and pliable and less wrinkled. Fats hydrate the skin, so if she is on a realatively lowfat diet, she should increase her fats (try coconut oil) to hydrate the skin.

Another thing that I just read yesterday is that children need Animal fat to get a certain kind of vitamin,(can't remember which one, i think it was a certain form of vitamin A ) because children cant convert the vitamin like adults can.

Here's a website about fats for kids:
http://www/westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/diet_children.html

When I was about 13 I was rail thin and tall, and then I grew even taller and I got stretch marks all over my hips, bum and sides. They went away on their own. Then I got them again when I was 15 with another growth spurt. I remember being soooo embarrased by them - It was during the summer and I didn't want to wear a bathing suit for anything! So the good news is that they will go away, the bad news is that she may get them again. Good Luck!

Are you sure they're stretch marks? How can she have stretch marks if her skin has not been stretched?

I suggest she have a complete physical. There are some illnesses that can cause extreme stretch marks even in the absence of the usual cause: quick weight gain and stretching of the skin. Cushing's disease is one of them. Certainly some stretch marks are normal and I am not a medical professional but it does seem unusual for a slim 13 year old to have "terrible purple stretch marks" and would definitely look into a health issue.
L.

I got stretch marks when I was about that age from growth spurts. I am tall and thin (always have been) and got them on my butt, thighs and breasts. They fade out over time, I still notice mine (I'm 27 now), but they are the same color as my skin now, they just look like marks in my skin. I thought because I got them so bad when I was growing that I would get them really bad when I was pregnant. I only got 2 little ones on the back of my right thigh. I think it's because I kept my skin very moisturized when I was pregnant. Cocoa butter lotion is good for moisturizing. There is nothing she can use to get rid of them once she has them (cream MAY help fade them, but they will fade in time on their own), but you can try to prevent them in the future. Good luck to your niece!

It is just because she is growing fast and her skin is stretching to keep up. They will turn white and fade with time. Creams don't work well but if you rub the area it might help slightly it is the motion of moving the skin rather than the cream that helps. Coco butter and vitamin E will help to reduce more forming. Most women have them, let her know it is normal and they will fade with time.