Stretch Marks Getting Under Your Skin?

How to Get Rid of Stretch Marks continued...

For red and purple marks, Franks uses a vascular laser called a V-Beam, which targets swollen and inflamed blood vessels and helps with skin cell production and increased collagen production. Treatments usually require three to six sessions at an average rate of $450 per session.

"Vascular lasers won't take away the superficial skin but will take away the redness," she says. "The redness is caused by blood flow. V-Beam treats those blood vessels.

One laser that may help minimize older, more entrenched stretch marks is the fractionated laser, which hits tiny "fractions" of the skin, often in a grid-like pattern. Franks describes the process as "smudging" the lines of stretch marks, which makes them less distinct.

Like most Floridians, Franshely Calero, 25, loves to go to the beach near her home in Miami. But after giving birth to her son one year ago, she was plagued with stretch marks and became too embarrassed to take off her shirt.

Pink at first, the stretch marks turned white after three or four months and deepened significantly. So Calero decided to try Fraxel, a, fractionated laser that has been approved by the FDA for use with age spots, acne scars, and "mask of pregnancy" also known as melasma. Like other fractionated lasers, it is also being used to treat stretch marks. She received three laser treatments.

"They're still there but they're a lot less noticeable. I mean, a lot," she says. "I had big, deep wide ones on my stomach. You could run your finger over them and it was like falling into a pit. They were super wrinkly and saggy. Now, the skin is more even and smooth. It doesn't look like my body has been taken over by stretch marks."

Expect to pay up to $1,000 per session for these treatments, and be prepared to pay for at least three sessions.

Even in the best cases, however, Franks warns not to expect perfection. She estimates that patients will see about 30% improvement but is quick to add that almost everyone who does the treatments is usually quite pleased.

"People are resigned to the fact that stretch marks are permanent and can't be fixed, but there are ways to treat them," Franks says. "There will always be some left, though, whether you're treating the red ones or the white ones."