Some people with scars on their face, for example, may feel they’re being stared at, and may become socially isolated in an attempt to avoid any negative attention. When this happens, your stretch marks turn pale and silvery white in colour.īoth scars and stretch marks can cause embarrassment and distress, especially if they’re very noticeable. After a while the blood vessels become smaller, which reveals the fat underneath your skin.
Pock marks on legs skin#
These tears in the fibres let the blood vessels in the skin below show through, making the stretch marks red or purple in colour. But during periods of rapid growth, the fibres become overstretched and can break. This layer contains fibres that let your skin stretch naturally as you grow, usually without leaving any marks. Stretch marks are the result of stretching and tearing in the middle layer of the skin (the dermis).
![pock marks on legs pock marks on legs](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/515ej80RMbS._SL500_.jpg)
You may also be more likely to develop stretch marks if others in your family have been affected by them. Other things that can cause stretch marks include certain health conditions such as Marfan syndrome or Cushing’s syndrome, as well as using steroid medicines inappropriately or for a long time. They are also common during pregnancy (see Stretch marks and pregnancy, below). Teenagers may develop stretch marks as they go through puberty – teenage boys can develop them on their back, where they cause horizontal marks over the spine area. Stretch marks often develop after a period of rapid weight gain. They start off red or purple in colour, but gradually fade to silvery white. These long, thin marks can develop wherever skin has been stretched, particularly in areas such as the stomach, breasts, upper arms, thighs and buttocks. Stretch marks – or striae – also affect the surface of the skin. However, most scars become paler and smoother in time – though it can take a year or two for them to fade. Collagen continues to build up at the site of the wound to fill in the injured area, making the affected skin red, raised and often bumpy. When the skin or tissue is broken as the result of a cut or other wound, it starts to heal itself within a couple of days by producing collagen where the damage has occurred.
![pock marks on legs pock marks on legs](http://cdn.mothering.com/b/b5/b5dab204_IMG_4737.jpeg)
Part of the natural healing process, scars not only appear on the skin but can also affect internal parts of the body.
![pock marks on legs pock marks on legs](http://s3.amazonaws.com/f01.justanswer.com/JACUSTOMER4drktq6q/2014-04-06_160127_photo3.jpg)
Most people have at least one scar on their body, and no two scars are the same, partly because the way scars heal varies widely from one person to another (according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, people with black skin or with fair freckled skin and red hair tend to produce poorer scars than others (i)). But the two are very different in the way they’re formed. Stretch marks can often look like long, thin scars. Scars and stretch marks are both types of marks affecting the surface of the skin.