I had a really, really easy pregnancy. No morning sickness, no pigmentation and I didn’t balloon up quite as much as I thought I would. But, alas, pregnancy did leave me with one parting gift – stretch marks.

Make no mistake, I smothered myself in creams, lotions and potions and I know that they definitely minimised the extent of the stretch marks but some sneaky little buggers still made a new home on my stomach.

Before I chat to you about the exciting treatments I am having with Skin Renewal, I think it’s important for me to explain exactly what a stretch mark is, and how it is formed. Stretch marks crop up when the skin is stretched to the extent that your dermis tears, allowing the deeper layers of the skin to show through. This is what gives the stretch mark the initial red or purple look, which is also the best time to start treatment.

These are my before pictures (clearly my pants were a little bit too toit haha!):As you can see, I have quite a lot of stretch marks on my stomach, below my belly button; two above my belly button and then two on my right hand side. I also have the typical c-section paunch.

The first step of my Skin Renewal journey was to meet with one of their doctors to discuss my concerns and to map out a treatment plan going forward. Dr Chrisna Keyser and I decided on fortnightly treatments consisting of Carboxytherapy, Laser Genesis^TM Rejuvenation and Titan^TM Skin Tightening. I also received the Skin Renewal Brightening Cream. Packed full of exfoliating enzymes, I applied this cream once a day to my stomach to prepare the area to receive laser treatment.

Now, onto the treatments…

Carboxytherapy has been dubbed the biggest beauty breakthrough since injectable fillers. It is a skin rejuvenation therapy that is safe, minimally invasive and is proved to effectively treat wrinkles, cellulite and stretch marks. The procedure entails small bursts of carbon dioxide being injected just below the skin on the area of concern. This breaks down fatty deposits and increases collagen production. Collagen are the building blocks in our skin, increasing it’s production will result in stretch marks being reduced as well as scarring becoming less visible. I’ll be honest, I was a little bit nervous for this treatment, I had been told that it was quite uncomfortable but my therapist, Carien was just incredible and so professional. She explained the entire procedure to me and how everything worked before hand so that I knew exactly what would be happening. She explained to me that she would be using a needle to inject the carbon dioxide into my stretch marks. Each stretch mark would be pierced a few times and she would be changing the needle often as it gets blunt quite quickly. And so we began… Look, I wasn’t dying of pain, but it certainly wasn’t a relaxing treatment. The uncomfortable part isn’t the needle at all, it’s the gas that you can feel expanding underneath your skin. It’s almost like a burning sensation. Luckily Carien covered all of my stretch marks in 10 minutes flat and so it was completely bearable. Directly after the treatment, my stretch marks were very red, raised and there were a few spots of blood. This is very normal and it had completely calmed down by the end of my appointment.

Carien explained that my skin might feel itchy but I didn’t experience that at all, I carried on with my day as if nothing had happened. The next morning I could see a few tiny, little puncture holes in my stretchmarks and they were ever so slightly bruised (all totally normal) but it wasn’t painful to touch.

The next treatment that I received was Laser Genesis^TM Rejuvination, a procedure that has been scientifically proven to produce new collagen, improving signs of premature ageing, scarring, stretch marks and uneven texture. What surprised me most about this treatment is the fact that the laser head doesn’t actually touch your skin, a light is emitted from it and that’s what does all the work. Carien held it about 10cm away from my skin and moved it in circular movements to cover my entire abdomen and sides. She also used it over my c-section scar. Laser Genesis^TM heats up the papillary dermis which causes increased production of collagen, which in turn helps to repair the stretch mark or scar. I only felt a very slight sensation of pins and needles with this treatment.

Last but definitely not least, Carien used the Titan^TM Skin Tightening machine. Again, we worked on stimulating more collagen on both my stretch marks and c-section scar. The Titan^TM Skin Tightening machine emits infrared light (heat) deep into the dermal level of the skin, stimulating firbroblasts to produce and synthesise collagen at a faster rate, this over time not only heals the skin but also tightens the skin. Fingers crossed it shrinks my c-section paunch a little bit! Carien told me that this would feel more like a massage than anything else, “yeah, right…” I thought. But lo and behold, it really did feel like one! My stomach did heat up quite a bit, but not to the point of it being uncomfortable. This was the longest treatment – 20min in total.

All 3 of my treatments were done within an hour which is great because I really don’t have time to waste. I am so excited to document this process and to show you the progress and improvement on my stomach. I will be posting images and updates every 2 weeks right here on the blog so make sure that you are subscribed and follow me on social media so that you are notified as soon as a new post goes up!

Have any of you had treatments done on your stretch marks?

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