Chemical Peels for Old, White Stretch Marks

I wouldn't recommend a peel for white stretch marks. It doesn't work. If it is the white discoloration of the old stretch marks that you object to, there is a strong suggestion that the excimer laser (similar to narrow-band uvb phototherapy) can be beneficial. This therapy has minimal risk so it might be worth a try. Good luck.

Julie Presently there is nothing that is effective on those stretch marks. In fact because the skin that usually has the marks does not heal as well as the face, chemical peels can actually cause harm. There are a number of people who claim that Isolagen treatment helps stretch marks. However, I am always skeptical of treatments where there are not before and after pictures. Even when there are before and after pictures you need to look how the lighting was done as it is easy to get a... more

Stretch marks are due to the breakdown in the elasin and collagen fibers of the dermis. A chemical peel will not reach down to effect this layer. Therefore this is not an effective treatment at all. Save your money. My feeling is that the best treatment may be that developed by the Isolagen company. In their process, a biopsy is taken and the patients fibroblasts are grown. The filbroblasts are injected back into the skin and they reproduce and form collagen and elastin. This might... more

A stretch mark is essentially a full thickness skin injury. The collagen and elastin fibers of the dermis have been irreversible stretched. The shiny surface of a stretch mark is just thinned out epidermis. In order to correct a stretch mark a treatment would have be be developed that could mend this dermal layer. There is some evidence that isologen may be an answer but as of yet it is still questionable.

Hello, Stretch marks are hard to improve short from cutting them off. This is one of the reasons patients consider tummy tuck surgery--a large number of strertch marks on the tummy. Chemical peels will be unlikely to make anything better and a deep peel might actually cause skin loss.  Best Regards.

I am not sure what type of peel that you are referring to but I am not aware that any type of chemical peel is really effective for stretch marks.  In fact I have not really seen anything that provides a long term fix for stretch marks other than direct excision as is the case with a tummy tuck.