If you'd like to get rid of stretch marks, surgery and topical applications are the way to go. If you are buying the best cream for stretch marks but don't know what to choose with so many selections in the market, here is a guide for you.

Stretch marks may not be fatal but can be very embarrassing and very unsightly if left unmanaged. Imagine, you can't wear certain clothes just to hide stretch marks that appear on your shoulders, arms, butt and thighs. Sometimes, stretch marks can show on one's chest. Men and women can have stretch marks, although it is more common among women in general, because they get pregnant. Aside from that, stretch marks happen due to sudden weight loss and gain, hormonal changes and genetics.

While there are many ways to treat stretch marks, it is best to prevent them from arising in the first place because they are there once they show up, even if you apply hundreds of creams on the affected area. Stretch mark creams can only reduce the appearance of stretch marks, to make them fade and eventually, blend with the rest of the skin to make them less noticeable. So, it is better not to have them by practicing some easy preventive measures.

But that's not the topic of this article. If you have stretch marks already, how should you choose the "right" cream for stretch marks? Here are some advice.

1. Check the ingredients. A number of stretch mark creams contain common ingredients because they are known to promote collagen production and healthy skin. These include: Vitamin E, vitamin K, butcher's broom, calendula, centella, chickweed, ginseng, green tea, hibiscus, horsetail, ivy, lady's mantle and marshmallow.

Moreover, see if their ingredients are FDA-approved. If they have an ingredient that is not safe to use or which you are allergic to, stay away.

2. Check product reviews. Although results do vary, read users' experiences when they used it to avoid the unexpected and the "surprises" and to separate yourself from the hype which the merchant tries to sell to you. Every one of these merchants claim you will get rid of stretch marks in days or weeks, even your most stubborn stretch marks will be gone, but if you discern carefully by reading actual reviews, then you will help save your money. Reviews can be found on Amazon.com, if it is available there, as well as independent beauty sites and forums. You can also search for reviews on search engines by typing "name of the product + reviews".

It will be a boost if the product has been endorsed by respected magazines and medical professionals.

3. Check the company's credentials. Is the company around for many years? Is it known for its reputable service? Has it been the subject of unscrupulous activities and received the ire of thousands of past customers for its dishonest practices? It is easy to find rip-off reports and complaints from past customers if you will look their record on BBB.org and reading about their history with past customers through the search engines.

Here are some buying tips when buying cream for stretch marks. I hope it had enlightened you somehow. If you bought a product that did not work, then buy again. Not every product you bought the first time will work, just learn from the experience and never give up.

Stretch marks or sometimes people call it as striae are in fact scars that are come into sight when the skin stretch out. It was formed beneath the surface layer of your skin. The formation and color can be varies but normally it can be red, purple and sometimes brown with strip-like pattern. These marks can occur on any of your skin but the most common area shall be your hips, breast and your abdomen. It is well known that 90 percent of pregnant woman will encounter stretch marks formation and definitely they will look for option and method to prevent from the scars to appear.

It is a fact that currently doctors have yet discover formula on how to remove stretch marks because there are in essence scars. Surgery might be a good option if you want to remove them completely although it is costly and risky. Therefore to prevent stretch marks from appearing during and after pregnancy is to start controlling your diets. Gaining weight during pregnancy is unavoidable since you need all the nutrition for yourself as well for your baby. What should you do is to manage your food intake to keep off rapid weight gain. By putting your weight in constant gradual pounds increment, you will let the skin stretch gradually. At the same time, drinking lots of water will keep your skin healthy and the elasticity will increase to cater the skin stretching. Those unwanted marks will form and emerge once you are dries out.

In managing your diets and controlling your weight gain, start looking into taking food or nutrients that contain Zink such as cereal products. Take vegetables like spinach and carrots that will provide you with beta carotene and do not forget to get essentials fatty acid. All the above will basically increase the growth rate of your skin cell which resulting healthy and flexible skin. Since you are pregnant, it is recommended to get a consultation from your doctor before changing your diets.

The next step is to keep your skin moisturize. You can begin using preventing stretch marks cream with vitamins A and E in them so that to lessen your chances of getting them. Make sure your skin is always moist, this helps in stretching the skin and not tearing. All these will help you to prevent stretch marks from appearing or at least the scar is not that severe.

The practice of good skin care is essential if your goal is to turn back the hands of time, and enjoy the youthful appearance you thought had escaped you long ago. In order for you to be successful in reducing the wrinkles in your skin, or in eliminating them all together, you need a line of anti aging products working for you that have been developed using healthy, all natural ingredients.

If you think that you are already using healthy products in order to treat your skin, but are not seeing the results that you expected, then you might want to check your labels. Even formulas that come highly recommended, or are heavily marketed as being effective, may not be giving you exactly what it is that you need in order to revitalize your appearance.

Good skin care begins with choosing a set of anti aging skin care formulas that possess a carefully selected blend of all natural ingredients. These natural compounds will provide your skin with all of the nutrition that it needs in order to recover from much of the damage done to it over the years. The products you choose should contain ingredients that are capable of reversing the causes of aging.

What causes the development of wrinkles in the skin is the decline in production of your collagen and elastin, the breakdown of your hyaluronic acid, and oxidative damage done to your cells through free radical activity. In order to return your skin to its former state of glory, the formulas that you choose must be both safe and clinically proven effective. A formula that meets these requirements is a rare find.

The bulk of the cosmetics formulas being offered do not even come close to qualifying as good skin care products. The majority of the formulas being made are mostly comprised of chemically developed synthetics, which don’t offer your skin any benefit and could even prove to be dangerous over an extended period of time. The wrinkle reducing compounds in these formulas are typically either useless, or potentially harmful.

Everyone has tried at least one of the anti aging formulas featuring collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid as ingredients, but most of us don’t understand why these products didn’t work. The truth is that it is impossible for these compounds to make a difference in your appearance, because they are all too molecularly dense for the skin to absorb them.

The other anti aging products that fail to qualify as good skin care products are the ones that contain one or more of the Botox alternatives such as Argireline. What the primary compounds in these products are designed to do is induce sagging in the facial muscles by temporarily paralyzing them. The chance of this paralysis possibly becoming permanent should be enough to keep you away from these products.

Good skin care is the use of all natural products containing Cynergy TK protein and enzyme mixture, and Phytessence Wakame kelp extract. These formulas increase the production of collagen and elastin, stop the breakdown of hyaluronic acid, and supply all of the antioxidants and vital nutrients you need. In other words, they actually work.