“There’s nothing else quite like it,” says Wang. In between the spaces separating the bundles were disorganized, thin collagen strands, or “fibrils,” that were unable to bundle together.
#DEEP STRETCH MARKS SKIN#
The research showed that collagen bundles within the stretch marks appeared more spaced out or separated than collagen bundles from skin on other parts of the body. For further comparison, some participants also had samples taken of stretch marks after delivery of their babies. Each sample was 4 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a pencil eraser. Skin samples were taken of the stretch mark area and, for comparison, a normal region on the abdomen and the thigh. The study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, included 28 participants, predominately Caucasian, who had recently developed reddish abdominal stretch marks during pregnancy. SEE ALSO: Largest Psoriasis Meta-Analysis to Date Yields New Genetic CluesĬonventional techniques of staining skin samples and examining gene expression also were used. To learn more, Wang’s team studied the formation of early stage stretch marks in pregnant women, called striae gravidarum, by using advanced, three-dimensional microscopic imaging to look at the organization of collagen - the protein that helps give skin its strength and support. The collagen bundles become disorganized and then fail to re-bundle, resulting in the visible grooves that patients often want to eradicate. With the occurrence of stretch marks, the skin’s normally tight and densely packed collagen bundles separate. , associate professor of dermatology at Michigan Medicine. “We’re trying to find what causes stretch marks so that we can effectively treat them,” says Frank Wang, M.D. MORE FROM THE LAB: Sign up for our weekly newsletterīut one Michigan Medicine researcher is working to solve the stretch mark dilemma: What’s happening below the surface of the skin? Stretch marks are a vestige of pregnancy, weight gain, growth spurts and steroid use.Ĭonsidered more of a cosmetic issue and not medically dangerous, the condition hasn’t received much scientific attention.
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