Stretch marks...will they ever go away?

Stretch marks often appear on bodies that have recently gone through a great deal of growth or change: pregnancy, sudden weight gain or loss, and, yes, puberty. (Think about the lines like those you see in taffy when it's stretched: the same thing happens to the skin when it gets pulled in a new direction.) On teenagers, stretch marks usually show up on parts of the body like the hips and breasts because those are places that experience the most change and rapid expansion during puberty.

Stretch marks usually start off as violet or pink lines, but eventually fade to spiderweb-thin, silvery lines. Sometimes they can be more noticeable when you're tan, because they can either burn or stay pale while the rest of your skin darkens.

Some people use cocoa butter or vitamin E oil to reduce the appearance of stretch marks, but there's no proof that these remedies work as a way to get rid of stretch marks. Retin-A, the medicine that is often used for treating acne, has shown some promise of reducing early stretch marks. The only hitch is that you have to get a prescription from your doctor.

It may be comforting to know that many women have stretch marks—and even some men have them too. However pronounced and noticeable they may seem to you now, they do fade over time and there are some ways to get rid of stretch marks.