Stretch marks

[mrsb71]

My 13 yo DD has stretch marks on her hips and top of her thighs. She's getting very self conscious about them and refuses to go swimming because they'll be on show. Will they fade as she gets older? Is there any thing I can do to help her?

[JinkxMonsoon]

I doubt she's the only one, it's a very common thing during puberty.

You can't prevent them or fade them with creams/oils (don't bother with Bio Oil, it's just glorified mineral oil) but they will fade from pink to silver with time.

[DramaAlpaca]

They are very common in teenagers, and yes they will fade.

Two of my DSs had bad ones across their backs caused by a very fast growth spurt during puberty. I'd never heard of stretchmarks in teenagers at the time, and had to google.

DS1 is 23 and his have faded to silver now, DS3 is 19 & his are improving. He says he tells people he's been mauled by a bear

Sadly I don't think there's anything you can do to prevent them or fade them.

[bigTillyMint]

Very common in all sorts of places on the body, especially if they grow quickly very suddenly. They fade over time, especially with sun-exposure.

Would a pair of boy leg bottoms/cozzie give her a bit of confidence?

[mrsb71]

Thank you for replies. I can vaguely remember having them myself around that age, although that was a very long time ago! I've tried reassuring her that she won't be the only one but I just get that look that teenagers are so good at giving! I'll show her your replies so she can see I wasn't just trying to make her feel better!

[Farfromtheusual]

I got them in exactly the same place at her age, and you can barely see them now until I got pregnant and loads more appeared

I used to wear shorts over my swimming costume to go swimming, I don't think other kids would of even noticed to be honest but it made me feel less self conscious.

Just reassure her that they will fade and that nearly everyone has them!!

[TheLongRains]

I had them exactly where your daughter does when I was a teen. By my late teens, early 20s they'd faded so much they were barely visible, even to me (and I was scrutinising my skin for flaws!). It's completely normal. They'll fade :)

[TheLongRains]

Oh, and yes to shorts over swimwear. I just adopted a "surfer" look for a few years during the summer. You can get nice swim shorts :)