The skin is the largest organ of the human body, accounting for about 16% of the total body weight, with an area of about two square metres. The thickness varies from 0.05mm on the eyelids to 1.5mm or more on the soles of the feet. It performs many vital roles in protecting and regulating the influence of the outside environment on the internal organs and systems.
Temperature control is one of these, governed by varying blood flow, the activity of the sweat glands, and the density of the subcutaneous fat layer. Others include the transmission of information to the brain through the nervous system, manufacture of vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin, and perhaps most obviously, providing a barrier against possible damage from alien organisms.
Alongside all of this, our skin is, as it were, our public face, reflecting our lifestyle and history, leading to assumptions about our personalities by others, and therefore having an enormous emotional impact on ourselves. Every society makes these judgements, but contemporary western society has the time, money, and communication resources to do it to an unusual degree.
Gaining a perfect year round tan, getting rid of stretch marks, saying goodbye to dandruff or spots; all of these issues are answered with a deluge of advertising, magazine articles, and in their more extreme forms, television programmes. Though the concerns may not seem life-threatening, the degree of unhappiness caused by these perceived physical failings can be very real.
The effect of pregnancy on the skin is a common cause for concern, with three main areas affected. Increased oestrogen affects the veins; melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) causes an increase in pigmentation on the nipples and existing moles, and the growth of the breasts and abdomen cause stretch marks on the skin in these areas.
This last problem is one which remains after pregnancy. As hormone levels return to pre-pregnancy levels, the associated hair growth, fluid retention and darkening of the skin all disappear too. But the damaged epidermis is a less reversible condition, and getting rid of stretch marks or striae gravidarum is not so simple.
Amongst the recommendations for helping the healing process are creams commonly containing aloe vera, vitamins including A and E, collagen and cocoa butter, with constant research leading to new products appearing regularly on the market. Similarly, new treatments are being added at the more extreme end of the market, with laser treatment, surgery, and the less invasive but comparatively untested ozone bath.
Being able to remove stretch marks completely is a claim made by few products, though acting whilst the damage is still fresh in the red or purple stage is important in having a dramatic effect. A lifestyle of healthy diet and exercise, however, is likely to improve general skin texture, including the noticeability of stretch marks.