Puberty striae are skin stretch marks (striae distensae; ICD-10 L57.0: Striae distensae).
Stretch marks often form during puberty, largely due to rapid weight gain on the chest, abdomen, buttocks, or thighs.
Symptoms – Complaints
Stretch marks occur in two versions:
- Striae rubra (= erythematous, i.e. reddish stripes).
- Striae alba (= hypopigmented and thus whitish lesions).
Endresponding pubertal striae are initially bluish-reddish in color, but later fade and remain as whitish-yellowish sunken striae on the skin. Localization: preferentially abdomen, hips, gluteal region (buttock region) and chest.
Pathogenesis (disease development) – etiology (causes)
The cause of striations is damage to the elastic fibers of the skin, caused by obesity (overweight) and rapid size growth during puberty. Therefore, these stripes are sometimes called stretch marks or growth marks.
Another role in their formation is played by hormones called glucocorticoids. These hormones are produced in the adrenal cortex and are present in increased amounts during puberty.estrogens are also thought to have an influence on the development of skin stretch marks. Also, in the course of treatment of diseases with corticoids (cortisone) can also lead to the formation of skin stretch marks.
Therapy
Depending on the age and appearance of the puberty stripes, three goals are pursued: Collagen formation, fading and repigmentation.
Collagen formation
- Collagen production can be improved using hyaluronic acid supplements, if necessary. Other options to stimulate collagen synthesis include chemical peeling and microdermabrasion (controlled, mechanical removal of the upper layers of the skin with small crystals).
- Another option for collagen activation is treatment using fractional lasers. Non-ablative lasers (minimally invasive lasers; fractional erbium glass laser) are said to provide the best results.
Fading
- Pulsed dye lasers (PDL), known as vascular lasers, are used for redness. These can reduce the redness in fresher pubescent streaks, i.e. contribute to the fading of the same.
Repigmentation
- For repigmentation of striae albae (“white stripes”), melanin synthesis can be stimulated with UV light for a short period of time. Another option for this is the XeCl eximer laser.
Note: As far as relatively fresh striae are concerned, a therapy trial with topical tretinoin (topical therapy) – also known as vitamin A acid (short: VAS or all-trans-retinoic acid) – can be performed.