I have a kind if embarassing question....

Do the stretch marks on your belly and arms go away after you lose weight??  Cause I know with pregnant women they dont so do they with over weight women?  Please help.

Also I heard the creams dont ever work.  (stretch mark cream).

I'd say a stretch mark is a stretch mark is a stretch mark.  I've got them on my stomach from pregnancy and I don't see how any other stretch mark would be any different.  Sorry!  :o(

no ,they don't but tanning helps.

Eventually they will fade some, but IPL(implulse light teatments) or laser treatment will help a great deal.  They do cost,  but I think that the results can be worth the price.

Do they look as bad once your skinny?

They will eventually fade from a more noticeable pink to light silver...so they do start to at least blend in a little better over time.

Yuck!!! How do women who have had kids wear bikini's and have no stretch marks!!!??!!  Their magical....lol....Im only 17 and I have to live w/ stretch marks 4 ever....thats SO depressing....:o(

Well, I am sure you don't have as many stretch marks as me.  I should put up a pic of mine.  When I first had them I looked like a tiger all striped.  They were two inches wide some of them and all red.  They took like a year to fade. But I did gain 92 lbs in the last three months of pregnancy.  It was a rough pregnancy with steroids, that's why. 

So, they do not go away.  I have them from my breast all the way down to the back of my knees. Most of my tummy area and rib area was spared.  I got a tiny bit on my upper arms (hardly noticeable).  Boobs, they look totally blown out from the stretch marks on the under side.  Think of a sock full of quarters:-( 

I will say that they get thinner as you get thinner.  They do fade over time.  I notice as I tan that they are lighter than the rest of the skin.  But mine are severe.  Mine run together.  I probably will have something done to remove at least some of mine b/c they are huge and the skin is destroyed in some areas it reminds me of old people skin all loose and thin. 

Sorry to be gross.  But I have the worst stretch marks.  They don't bother me as much as the fat on my body and they do look better now that I am loosing some weight. 

I am going to have a little work done down the road, I think.  So long as something else doesn' t require my money.  I think it will be a nice reward for all my hard work. 

I used to be so totally against plastic surgery, but I just want to look how I feel, especially now that I have energy again.

hello :) I know someone who had them bad, but they usually fade and turn white, hardly even noticeable after that.

They are scars. They will get lighter but never disappear.

Its funny how some people get stretch marks easily, and others don't.  I've been overweight my whole life, and gradually gained weight up to about 270 lbs, and have had stretch marks as long as I can remember, even when I was grade school age.  They're not terrible, but in the worst places that I can't hide like on the top of my shoulders!  What's that about?  Its the one thing I absolutely hate - I cannot wear a tank top without people noticing them.

I have a friend who is much larger and she hardly has any at all.  I just don't get it.

since your only 17 they will fade a great deal more than if you were to wait until you were, say, 45-50 years old to lose weight. Your skin is still young and "magical". lol. Mine have faded a great deal now that Ive lost most the weight. Accept them and learn to love em.

sleepdeprivedmom, I'm sure mine are worse than yours! My youngest is 13 and my stretch marks are still red and even a bit purply in places. So I have a red, white and blue streaked belly. As you say, the stripes are thick, not so thin, and the skin definetly looks damaged. I did gain a lot of weight with both pregnancies, but not as much as you did. I think in my case the issue is that I'm only 5'0" so there was just no place for the babies to go.  

Yes they did fade somewhat, but not as much as I've seen with other women. The ones on my breasts faded nicely - hardly noticeable and more silvery. I also have some on the back of my thighs, from when I was a teen and growing fast, and these are white and very fine - nearly unnoticeable unless you look for them. The ones on my belly, nope! They are quite obvious, even after 13 years. They stretch up past my belly button.

To the original poster, you're still young and skin does renew every 7 years. So do give it time. Avoid yo-yo'ing weight, because I do think that is a factor.

Otherwise, it's primarily a genetic thing - you either have good skin, or you don't. I don't - I have very pale skin, burn easily, and it's also prone to dryness, which I think doesn't help.  

I wouldn't overdo the tanning however, because while it might look good temporarily, it will create more damage down the road. Sunless tanning is fine though.

If you have any they are there to stay.  Fortunately, over time they will lighten up quite a bit but they dont ever go away :(

Stretch marks never completely go away.  I got mine from developing too fast.  My hips and breasts seemed to develop overnight when I was going through puberty, and I have the stretch marks to show it.  Creams and such do no more good than any good moisturizer.  The good news is that with proper care, they do get much less noticable.  Eat healthy, get your vitamins, and use a good moisturizer and they will become fine lines that are barely noticable.

at least you aren't guys.

i got them because i sat on my ass and got fat so fast that I got stretch marks all over.

I'm probably never going to be able to take my shirt off at the beach again, even though with a shirt on i look pretty fit.

No.  I have some deep ones on my stomach that are exacerbated by the loose skin.  However, the ones on my legs and hips and barely noticeably and all are close to the color of my skin.  I got mine during puberty and even more from a 60lb+ weight gain in less than a year.

Well, mine are already REALLY light but I got them from weight gain...It's weird, their not deep like some stretch marks your see....it looks like their under the skin getting ready to POP out.  But they are not yet.....you cannot feel them, you can only see them.  :o)

I have a ton of them on my hips, as well as my legs and arms. I accept that there's really nothing I can do about them, except use them as a reminder of what I used to look like.

The most encouraging thing I've ever seen about stretch marks is that even my super-skinny guy friends have them (not always in the same places though, but like arms and lower back, and no I've never seen their thighs so don't ask XD).

Haha, that makes me feel so much better about having them myself, I'm 17 as well, and I've never been severely overweight (I was technically overweight at one point in my life, but only by a couple pounds).

I blame it on fast growth as a teenager, especially fast chest-development, sooo many stretch marks on my breasts, oh yeah, puberty hit me like a sack of bricks.
Plus I had super-calves when I was young because of soccer, so that might have contributed.

So it's not always weight gain and I don't look at stretch marks as being a sign of once-fatness, just a lot of factors including growth, skin elasticity, genetic disposition, so on.