How to Treat Old, White and Pearlescent Stretch Marks

White and pearlescent stretch marks, technically defined as “striae albae”, have always been considered incurable, but is it still so?

Stretch marks become white, depressed and emptied out, and pearlescent as the years pass; at the time of their formation, they appear red, inflamed and detected for a period of about a couple of years, called inflammatory phase, then progressively begin to empty and to lose substance and consistency.

Doctor Hague from the University of Manchester01 teaches us that when they become white and atrophic within the tissue, substantial changes have occurred. Bioptic analysis shows us a progressive loss of collagen and elastic fibres, the total destruction of the basal membrane which separates the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin) from the dermis (the central layer) and a reduction of capillary reticulum.

The loss of collagen and elastin depletes the skin, which loses volume, emptying out, and elasticity; the destruction of the basal membrane is the cause of the lack of tanning of stretch marks, because exactly in the healthy and intact basal membrane there are melanocytes that activate the production of melanin with exposure to ultraviolet rays. But probably the most serious aspect is the reduction in blood microcirculation; in fact, we should remember that the nourishment to our cells passes from extracellular matrix but arrives directly from blood system.

Reduced functionality of the capillary network therefore prevents the cells from being nourished, thus altering the regenerative balance: our cells do not receive enough energy and nutriment to compensate the ones we lose through apoptosis (i.e. the normal cell death at the end of its life cycle) with the new ones, and this is why the stretch mark gradually empties and becomes more profound and more visible in time.

Up to now, many treatments have been tried for this real skin pathology, most of the time without ensuring significant improvements, practically consolidating the belief that white stretch mark is incurable.

Besides the unexciting results, many times lower than patients’ expectations, these therapies are also characterised by some negative aspects, such as pain, the significant risk of non-serious side effects and the limitation of lifestyles and sun exposure, sometimes up to six months. This is probably also due to the fact that the various treatments offered for stretch marks are not exactly designed and developed for such pathologies but for others, except adapting them to this specific application as well.

But now we know that treating white and old stretch marks is possible and even with excellent results thanks to a medical method called Biodermogenesi® or VEMFtherapy®.

Biodermogenesi® is a therapy based on a medical device called Bi-one® LifeTouchTherapy, which allows to act on several levels in the regeneration of loose skin thanks to many forms of energy delivered in combination with each other.

Biodermogenesi® combines the action of vacuum with that of electromagnetic fields and electroporation, supporting a skin repairing action.

The vacuum allows to reactivate the microcirculation02, therefore our capillaries will be able to forward nutrients and oxygen to the skin again, while the lymphatic system will be able to recover waste toxins of the cellular metabolism. At the same time, electromagnetic field will allow oxygen and nutritional elements to move inside the cells, supporting the formation of new collagen and elastic fibres03,04, allowing also the riorganisation of the basal membrane03, 04, 05 and the production of new melanocytes03, 04 which will allow the stretch marks to get back to tanning03, 04, 05, 06 like the surrounding healthy skin. While all this happens, the electroporation will support the absorption of moisturizing cosmetics and nutrients for stretch marks through the stratum corneum (corneal layer).

So, today Biodermogenesi® is the unique method that can prove its efficacy thanks to several clinical published studies on prestigious scientific journals with more than 1300 documented therapeutic processes.

In these studies, it was noted that all of the patients noticed the improvement of their stretch marks and that more than 85% declared themselves very or extremely satisfied with the results obtained, that the therapy was extremely pleasant and that no side effects have been observed, not even a minor one.

The reorganisation of the basal membrane and the production of the new melanocytes allow the patients to expose themselves to the sun without any limitation.

So today, it is possible to cure, fill, regenerate and tan old white stretch marks.

References:

1. Adam Hague, Ardeshir Bayat. Therapeutic targets in the management of striae distensae: A systematic review. J Am Acad Dermatol Vol 77, number 3, September 2017:559-568
   http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2017.02.048
2. Peter Moortgat, Mieke Anthonissen, Jill Meirte, Ulrike Van Daele, Koen Maertens. The physical and physiological effects of vacuum massage on the different skin layers: a current status of the literature. Burns & Trauma (2016) 4:34 DOI 10.1186/s41038-016-0053-9
3.  Antonio Scarano, Andrea Sbarbati, Roberto Amore, Eugenio L. Iorio, Giuseppe Ferraro, Felice Lorusso, Domenico Amuso. A New Treatment for Stretch Marks and Skin Ptosis with
   Electromagnetic Fields and Negative Pressure: A Clinical and Histological Study. J Cutan Aesthet Surg. 2021 Apr-Jun; 14(2): 222–228. doi: 10.4103/JCAS.JCAS_122_20: 10.4103/JCAS.JCAS_122_20
4.  Bacci PA, Alberti G, Amuso D, Artigiani A, Benitez Roig V, Di Nardo V, Garcia-Gimenez V, Greco D, Laura S, Pagano M, Reale A, Sarracco I, Saracoglu S, Urbani C, Venditti E, Wade M, Zunica R. The synergy between vacuum and electromagnetic fields in the treatment of striae distensae: retrospective study on 917 patients with clinical and histological case records A possible treatment for striae distensae. Journal of Applied Cosmetology, Vol. 39 iss. 1 (January-June, 2021): 43-54. ISSN 0392-8543
5.  Alberti G, Laura S. Treatment of stretch marks aged more than twenty years with the synergy of electromagnetic field and vacuum. Clinical case studies and subsequent follow up. Aesthetic Medicine 2019; 5(1)14-21.
6.  Veronese S, Bacci PA, Garcia Gimenez V, Canel Micheloud CC, Haro García NL, Sbarbati. A. V-EMF therapy: A new painless and completely noninvasive treatment for striae gravidarum. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2024;00:1-8. doi:10.1111/jocd.16220