28 Dec 09 My Revitol Stretch Mark Cream Experience

When I became pregnant with my first child (my son Ethan) I was worried about getting ugly stretch marks.  This happened to my sister – no more bikinis for her!  Just in case you don’t know stretch marks occur when the skin stretches too much (duh) like when somebody gains weight or becomes pregnant.  I did some research and discovered that the skin actually tears and since these tears occur in a deep skin layer they can be very difficult to heal.

I was pretty happy with my figure – I liked the way I looked in a bikini (and so did my husband).  My mother suggested using cocoa butter.  But my hubby (the online research nut) read a New York Times article that reported on a large medical study that showed cocoa butter does not prevent stretch marks at all.

The largest study on the subject was published in 2008 by a team of dermatologists and obstetricians. It followed 175 women in their first pregnancies, some randomly assigned to apply a cocoa butter lotion each day and others assigned to use a placebo. Neither the subjects nor the researchers knew who was using which treatment. After many months, the researchers found no difference in the development or severity of marks, known medically as striae, over the abdomen, breasts or thighs.

But that same study did show that a special form of vitamin E, called tocopheral, was highly effective in preventing stretch marks.

For those looking for an alternative, scientists have found that vitamin E creams are more effective.

A bit more research led me to Revitol Stretch Mark Cream.  The main ingredient is vitamin E and the cream claims it can prevent stretch marks altogether.  I was a bit skeptical, but the online reviews were generally very positive so I decided to give it a try.