Texasblind

This is embarassing as all get out, and Carol you can move this if you think it belongs somewhere else. Again, embarassing, but I need to take care of this. I figure some other alcoholics might have gone through this too.

During my drinking time, I put on about 100 pounds in a year. Now that I've been sober for a bit, the weight is starting to come off. Yes, I have stretch marks everywhere on my stomach and "area." Do any of you have a miracle cure for them? I can't go to the beach like this! I've heard vitamin E cream. I'm still taking the multi and the B complex and I drink nothing but water and coffee.

Sorry to ask,
Tex

TryingSoHard

I've got stretch marks from my two pregnancies and I've never gotten them to go away. I've heard that cocoa butter helps, and retin-a (I think??). I tried all the skin-firming types of lotion out there and they didn't do me a bit of good. :P I did NOT try the more expensive retin-A creams and shea butters.

If you find something that works, pass it on!

yeahgr8

Save the money you would have spent on drinking and find a Laser Stretch Mark Removal
clinic. Tattoos may cover them up too, i don't know how big an area it is for you and you would have to find out, I thought it was a good idea to cut my arms when i was younger and i had my arms sleeved to cover the embarassing scars...worked like a charm and i luv my tattoos.

So there you go that answers your question!

ps forget cream hehehe

Future22

I used to have stretch marks on my biceps I acquired from a summer of binge drinking and eating like hell. I found out through another site a technique you could try, it helped me, the stretch marks are basically gone.

What you need to do is get some vitamin e with cocoa butter cream...When in the shower get a loofa and scrub the stretch marks pretty hard until they are red and almost to the point of bleeding (it does not hurt), just make sure they are really red. This helps form new skin cells. Once out of the shower put on the cream. Do this a few times a week or more and I found that they get less and less noticable until now I do not even see them. They are still there and do not think they really ever go away but they just are blended in with my natural skin now.

Taking5

Wow, I have the opposite problem. Since I got sober I have put on 80 pounds, probably because when I was on a roll I could go for 5-7 days at a time without eating (my "breakfast" was bourbon and water).

I can't help you, but it sounds like there is some experience on it here already.

endzoner

hey sweetie .. nuttin to be ashamed bout , its happened to most of us. Male or female .. Vitie E does work wonders for scars I know this from my own experiences , I simply took the capule poked a small hole in it , now the thing was I sat in the sun . something bout the sun and the E , worked really well .. can always chill out in the back yard where you cant be seen if its a problem for you .. My BFF had very bad scars for red ant attacks and i passed it on to her and to this day only has a very few of them ( that were very bad ) . maybe it will work for you .. hugs of love your fav ND gal

CarolD

Check to see what new laser treatments
are being used by a dermatologist.

Mine never went away tho I used all sorts of stuff.
I did not go the medical route.

DeepBlue

Bio Oil is popular here in the UK!

TryingSoHard

I have a friend who had laser treatments for spider veins in her legs... not the same exact thing, I know, but I'd imagine the process itself is very similar. It worked, but she said she would NOT do it again. It was apparently pretty painful and it was VERY expensive. I'd sure try the oils/creams before going directly to the laser clinic.

Texasblind

Thanks y'all, I'll try the vitamin route first. I'd hate to do any surgery to correct something I did to myself. If I have to pay for some corrective surgery it's gonna be LASIK (maybe some lipo). I'm just embarassed as a man to have to explain stretch marks. Just so you know, the women kind of laugh at you. It's not fun. Yeah, I put the liquor equivalent of a baby in my tummy in the same amount of time. 9 months of Jack Daniels. Really three years, but you get the idea.

I'm just so ashamed of myself. I feel great mentally, but now that I'm trying to get the physical Tex back, I'm running into some obstacles. Women are allowed to have the marks. You earned it, kids, it doesn't bother me. For the fellas, kinda weird to explain. "Yeah, honey, I have stretch marks too...look!"

Maybe that was a chauvanistic thing to say, and I apologize in advance.

Sara9009

I gained around 60 pounds (lost 25 so far) in about 2 years. Most of it was in the first year from my drinking. I bought all of the really expensive creams. I am talking $200 for a 4 ounce bottle and tried everything in the book plus some.

What I have learned is basically once the skin is damaged you can't fix it. I had a consult with a Dermatologist for laser treatment. It was going to run me in the thousands and she said it will just make them a little less noticable. On the plus side, in about a year they will be pretty white and difficult to see unless someone is staring at it.

Stretch marks on a man would not bother me. We all have imperfections. I think we tend to notice them more than other people because they are too busy worrying about their imperfections to notice others.

Texasblind

Stretch marks on a man is weird. I didn't even know what they were at first. Then my sister said, "you have stretch marks." How do I explain to a female that, uhhh.....yeah, I have them there too. I drank a ton for a lot of years. It's just embarassing alright?

I'm so self-consious today. I think it's because I'm moving again, I have no non-SR friends and I'm basically losing my mind. Chat, here I come. Meeting too.

VeritasAequitas

Tex,
1. Congrats on being free!

2. You may want to try Mederma - it's a bit pricey but it supposedly has some studies to support its efficacy. I think it's a botanical gel...

vegibean

Hey Tex, missed ya last night!

I hate to tell you this but stretch marks are generally a hereditary thing and they unfortunately don't go away. I've had two kiddos and never got them, my mom also does not have them. From what I have read about them when I WAS thinking I'd get them while pregnant is that if your mom didn't have them (sorry I said "mom") then you probably won't.

I agree with the others about finding about cosmetic/laser surgery. Good luck with all of that. You deserve to feel great, you're KICKING @SS!!!!!!!!

Jomey

Tex, my dad has stretch marks, and has had so, from about the age of 45, from medical conditions that cause rapid weight gain and loss that has nothing to do with being an alcoholic. While I'm sure my dad was never thrilled about it, stretch marks are not a dead give away of an alcoholic lifestyle, and if you are looking for an answer if someone asks you why you have them, perhaps "I have a medical condition that caused them, but I am recovering now" would do. It's a truthful answer, without a complicated, potentially embarrassing explanation.

That said, sure you are self-conscious, don't think we women are not because we have a "legit" reason to have them. Everybody has flaws, Tex. Try not to focus so hard on yours, ok? As Veg said, you are free, you are moving forward, you deserve to feel great...and you will....learning to love yourself, battle scars and all, will come in time. Just keep on keepin on.

Good luck!
Jomey

allport

Oh Tex I feel for you, I am a woman and I also have stretch marks but because I have no children I often feel freaky about it.

As mentioned before they do become thin white lines at some point and using a bio oil can improver the look of them, but Im afraid you are pretty much stuck with them.

I don't think its weird for a man to have them, they are purely a result of weight gain and even though I don't like mine I don't stress about them any more.

Emimily

baby, listen - one of the most bada$$ sonofaguns i know has mad stretch marks, and he is absolutely unapologetic about them. he is covered in tattoos, he rock climbs, he rides motorbikes, he does NOT drink or use... he has poker every friday night and a firepit in the back yard, and he's sarcastic and funny and doesn't give a sh*t about his stretch marks. so neither should you. i bet you're bangin!

Sugah

Just some thoughts on vanity...

My first stretch marks came from lifting weights. I was pretty vain and went nuts for awhile trying to tan them out. Then I got pregnant with my son. I was 93lbs pre-pregnancy and 159lbs the day I gave birth to all 9lbs 3oz of him. Not only did I get them in the usual areas, I had them even on my calves. I used to joke that as fat as my nose became, it was a miracle I didn't have them there, too.

After I got sober, I eventually surrendered my illusions of physical perfection. For one thing, I got sober with disabilities. It used to be, when I was still drinking, if I was talking with you, my focus was likely on how I presented myself to you. I considered physical attractiveness to be part of my "character," and the whole impression I was attempting to engineer in you was based upon that. I really didn't think I had anything else of value to offer, and it took a little while sober to realize not only the shallowness of that thinking but the error of it as well.

I haven't worn a two-piece in many years, and the stretch marks on my thighs are beyond tanning out now. These days, if I'm sitting on the beach reading a book, I'm really reading the book, not arranging myself for display.

Be who you are, Tex, and give what you have to give. My husband has a few more pounds on him than when we first met, and his hair is a lot more gray. He doesn't have a runner's body any more, he walks with a limp, and I still think he's the sexiest man alive!

Peace & Love,
Sugah

Jomey

Well put, Sugah, well put!