The answer may very well appear from understanding that the skin matrix is in charge of the skin’s mechanical properties, including firmness, strength, suppleness, and elasticity. Stretch marks are tears in a skin matrix altered by atrophy, a condition characterized by exactly the contrary of those just mentioned. Yes, skin injured by pregnancy stretch marks is characterized by weakness, thinning, sagging, stiffness, roughness and decrease in the size of tissues, impaired cellular proliferation, and loss of functions, also called atrophia.
The skin matrix is a valued resource which is produced and consumed quite frequently during our lives. On one side, skin matrix is regularly synthesized by fibroblasts. On the other hand, whenever it is damaged, malformed or worn out, skin matrix - especially the structural proteins collagen and elastin- is broken down into particles by collagenase and gelatinase enzymes, also called matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and then recycled. By digesting key matrix proteins, such as collagen and elastin, MMP enzymes play an underappreciated yet critical function in skin physiology.
In healthy or youthful skin, the synthesis and degradation of the matrix are in order: damaged or redundant matrix is degraded while the deficit is replenished by the continuous synthesis. Unfortunately, this difficult balance gets disrupted because of hormonal imbalances, malnutrition, or as we age, too much of the matrix is degraded and too little is synthesized. As with any supply-demand imbalance, it can be improved by either augmenting supply (boosting synthesis of the matrix) or reducing demand (inhibiting the breakdown).
In particular, the synthesis of elastin is physiologically essential, although elastin is only 2% of the total protein in the dermis. These skin fibers supply the flexibility of skin. Elastin synthesis and the regulation of the quantity of cross-linked insoluble collagen and elastin fibers depends on the interdependence between three factors. The first is the existence of active fibroblasts, which secrete the soluble precursor of elastin, tropoelastin. The second is the relative amount of several skin matrix components within the skin also exuded by fibroblasts. The third are enzymes that are in charge of both the cell degradation progressions that allows the breakdown of dead cells into their component amino acids and their re-use for the synthesis of new proteins (amino-acid chains).
So be careful of pregnancy stretch mark creams that contain soluble collagen and/or elastin, they will NOT have any effect.
What is necessary is the biosynthesis and appropriate self-assembly of complex skin structures from within your body. The first step in elastic fiber formation is the appearance of small cell surface-associated elastin globules (soluble tropoelastin) that increase in size with time (microassembly). The elastin globules are eventually transferred to pre-existing elastic fibers in the skin matrix where, through an intricate and coordinated biological process, they integrate into bigger structures (macroassembly) and become crosslinked funtional fiber-like polymers with changeable deformation and high resilience.
Collagen and Elastin Synthesis Boosters May Fail or Fall Short in People Affected by Atrophic Skin.
The most recent pregnancy stretch mark treatments and prevention products are aimed at restoring skin matrix by stimulating the synthesis of collagen or elastin (e.g. ascorbic acid, copper peptides, palmitoyl pentapeptide, oligopeptides and other|synthetic copper peptides, ascorbic acid, oligopeptides, palmitoyl pentapeptide, and other). Unfortunately, this method fails or falls short in most people affected by atrophic skin, probably due to the specific chemistry of skin affected by such condition and an inability to answer to matrix synthesis boosters.
Their failure to treat existing pregnancy stretch marks is most likely due to something crucial ingredient absent in those products; an element that can help your skin to get rid of scar tissues and stretch marks. In fact, your body needs two things to perform this.
One, your body needs to be able to differentiate or identify scar tissue from the neighboring functional tissues in the skin matrix. Second, it must be able to degrade the proteins that those scars are made off and divide their component amino-acids to then afterward use them to generate new skin matrix components.
This can only be completed by the action of two types of ingredients that act in concert. One is carrier molecules that are able to link communication between cells and allow them to distinguish scar tissues from functional and/ or healthy tissues and trigger fibroblast development. The other crucial ingredient is enzymes that dissolve the non functional, worn out, or damaged tissues that were recognized by the messenger molecules.
Combined methods that introduce some form of abrading to physically break down some of the more superficial scarring, and a topical stretch mark lotion that includes not just moist enhancers or collagen biosynthesis boosters, but also cell communicating ingredients, enzymes that ‘dissolve’ damaged cells and scar proteins and skin regenerating activators can provide significant improvements.
Such stretch mark lotion can also effectively prevent stretch marks.