Stretch Mark Removal: How Does It Work And Is It Safe?

Stretch marks are totally harmless, can develop at any age, and appear when the skin stretches or shrinks suddenly, and collagen and elastin fibers are broken.

The marks are extremely common and can affect all skin types. In fact, up to 90 percent of the general population are estimated to have them.

However, as summer has arrived, social media has become awash with videos promoting stretch mark removal, with 129.9million views of the tag #stretchmarkremoval and 48.7million of the category #stretchmarkcamouflage.

So, how does stretch mark removal work, and is it safe?

Bianca Festejo, founder of Nue Conceal, whose TikTok account has racked up over 24,000 followers sharing the results of their exclusive treatment, created a skin tone reading device to tattoo skin-colored pigments onto the marks.

Milena Naydenov, Lead Medical Aesthetician at 111 Harley St. offers Potenza treatments, using a device that combines micro-needling and radiofrequency to help reduce the appearance of stretch marks.

Meanwhile, skin repair expert, Lorena Öberg offers an inkless tattoo-gun style treatment combined with blasts of intensely bright light aiming to puncture the skin and cause cells to reproduce more collagen to repair the skin.

Here, the experts tell Newsweek everything you need to know about stretch mark removal, from how expensive the treatment is, to how many sessions it will take to see a difference.

What Is Stretch Mark Removal And How Does It Work?

There are various non-surgical treatments that help reduce the appearance of stretch marks available on the market, from laser treatments, skin micro-needling , carboxytherapy, and many more. Experts shared with Newsweek their preferred methods for practically, safely, and cost-effectively removing stretch marks.

Microneedling With Radiofrequency

While removing stretch marks completely is not possible, Naydenov claimed to have had the most success in reducing their appearance using micro needling and radiofrequency.

The practitioner uses Potenza, a device that uses fine microneedles to penetrate the epidermis and deliver radiofrequency to the deep dermis of the skin, producing collagen fibers that aid the appearance of stretch marks.

She explained: "The device can accurately target where the stretch marks are on the body, avoiding unnecessary trauma to the top epidermis layer of the skin. Fibroblasts in the deep dermis are stimulated by the radiofrequency, producing collagen fibers. This gives an enhanced response to resurfaced stretch marks."

Microneedling With LED Light Therapy

Meanwhile, Öberg opts for scar and stretch mark reduction treatment DermaEraze, which she says offers an alternative to more invasive "hit and miss" laser treatments.

The tattoo gun-style treatment is inkless and uses blasts of intensely bright light to puncture cells and promote collagen production to repair skin, with Öberg claiming the treatment: "calls on your body's own natural healing mechanism to repair the skin."

She explained: "Puncturing causes cells called fibroblasts to produce more collagen to repair the skin, which in turn gives a rejuvenating and tightening effect. The stretch mark treatment is a solution for people with stretch marks, scars, and sagging skin. It works on all skin types, stretch marks, and scars, including African and Asian skin."

Camouflage Tattoo Treatment

One popular form of stretch mark removal is skin-tone camouflage, which involves tattooing skin tone colored inks or pigments onto the stretch marks, addressing the color of the scar rather than the texture.

The challenge, according to Festejo, is ensuring the pigment matches the skin tone perfectly, with the clinician creating and patenting her own device to read the client's skin tones to give the most accurate pigment suggestion.

Festejo explained: "The most common reason why a stretch mark is noticeable is due to the difference in color between healthy skin and stretched skin. In most cases, a stretch mark is lighter than the skin.

"Meanwhile, most of the treatments available on the market address the texture of the stretch marks. Hence, it may improve the texture, but the stretch marks will still be visible because of the difference in color. This is why skin tone tattooing is becoming popular as it addresses the color making the stretch marks almost impossible to see."

Is Stretch Mark Removal Safe?

While Festejo insisted Nue Conceal is "absolutely safe" as it is simply a tattoo procedure, the safety of any stretch marks treatment depends heavily on the clinic performing it.

She explained: It should be a safe procedure because it is simply tattooing the skin. However, just like any beauty treatment, safety relies heavily on the clinic's hygiene and safety protocol.

"This is where the clients should do their due diligence in choosing the right clinic to go to. Ask yourself, does the clinic follow proper hygiene and safety standards?

"Checking their credentials, where did the practitioner get trained? If it is a tattoo procedure, are they using disposable needles? In our clinics, we always make sure to show the needles to our clients before unsealing them and we teach all our trainees to do the same."

Naydenov agreed that research is essential in ensuring safety while undertaking any cosmetic procedure, adding that clinics should provide post and pre-procedure protocol and recommend using SPF daily on exposed skin that is being treated.

"Do your homework and research", she said. "Your expert prescriber should be able to ask you the right questions to assess how good of a result you'll achieve and to manage expectations as the appearance of stretch marks can only be improved, they cannot be completely removed."

Öberg added that performing the treatment in a safe clinic environment means the procedure is "very low risk" and her patients can carry on with their daily activities straight away.

She explained: "The patient may experience mild discomfort for 24 to 48 hours after the treatment. No pigments are used and we do not inject anything into the skin. As we are calling on the body's own natural healing mechanisms to repair the stretch marks, the complication risk is extremely low."

How Much Does It Cost And How Long Does It Take?

According to the experts, treatments for stretch mark removals can start at around £250 for the first treatment and reach up to $3,000 depending on the treatment and area.

For micro-needling and radiofrequency, Naydenov says a bundle of five treatments at her London clinic will cost £2300 and be staggered 4-6 weeks apart. The number of treatments will depend on various factors including cause, age, and skin tone.

Treatment at Öberg's Harley Street clinic will set you back around £250 for the first treatment, with the clinician claiming a success rate of 40-70% improvement with just the one treatment alone.

She said the overall success rate of clients who had a full course of treatment was 95 percent, with fully healed results seen in 6-8 weeks after the treatment. Treatments can be repeated six months apart.

Camouflage treatment is one of the pricier options, with costs ranging anywhere from $500 to $3,000 per treatment and per area. Once again, the number of sessions required varies per person. However, on average, it takes around one to three sessions.