Stretch marks, while quite harmless from a medical point of view, can be extremely disfiguring; making them justifiably distressing from a cosmetic point of view. They are formed when skin is subjected to 'internal pressure' that is beyond its elasticity limits. Many factors, all manifesting as 'rapid growth' can cause this internal pressure that ultimately leads to the formation of stretch-marks. Pregnancy is one such factor, for in most expectant mothers, pregnancy leads to very rapid growth that pushes the skin beyond its elasticity limits. Weight gain, and the growth that comes with it is another such factor, as is the 'ordinary growth' that takes place during puberty, as one transitions from being a child to attaining their full human adult size.

Now once the skin marks are formed, they tend to fade with time; though in most cases, they never quite disappear completely. This is not ideal for most people, as they consider the stretch-marks -or just their vestiges - to be unbearably disfiguring. Hence the much interest discussion around stretch mark treatments arouses.

A number of treatments for stretch marks have been developed. Some involve the use of substances (mainly creams and ointments), whereas others - which are our focus here, involve the use of procedures.

1) One procedure that has been seen to work well in the treatment of stretch-marks is demabrasion. The term demabrasion is created from two words: derma (skin) and abrasion. So dermabrasion is the abrasion of the skin, typically using an instrument known as the dermabrader. Ultimately, the layer of the skin known as the epidermis is gotten rid of, and with it, the stretch marks. Eventually, new epidermis grows to take place of what is sanded ('dermabrased') away, this time without the stretch-marks. While extremely effective in getting rid of skin marks once and for all, dermabrasion has some serious drawbacks. The main one is pain: for this is one of the most painful medical procedures ever invented. Use of anesthesia helps ease the pain. Of course, since this procedure involves removal of the epidermis only, it is only effective for stretch-marks that not very deep. Deeper stretch marks cannot be effectively gotten rid of this way. For this reason, it becomes necessary to understand how deep the stretch marks are, to work out whether dermabrasion would be effective in getting rid of them.

2) The second procedure that can be used in getting rid of stretch-marks is laser treatment. This involves making use of the energy inherent in light to combat the stretch marks. The type of laser treatment known as pulsed dye treatment works particularly well in the treatment of stretch-marks. Unlike dermabrasion, whose efficacy is limited to cases of skin marks that are not very deep, laser treatment can go deeper. Besides pulsed dye laser treatment, another novel type of laser treatment known as fractional resurfacing can also help in the treatment of skin marks. The only possible drawback with laser treatment of stretch marks is that it can be expensive, and a number of treatments (sessions) may be necessary before the skin marks can be completely gotten rid of.