According to a new survey conducted on behalf of Serica™ Skincare, stretch marks are causing body image issues for a large majority of women, who say they are embarrassed by them and go out of their way to hide them.
Stretch marks are a form of scarring on the skin that form during rapid growth of the body in up to 88% of the population during important, life changing moments such as puberty, pregnancy or weight loss. While some women claim to wear their stretch marks as a badge of honor, the survey uncovered that the majority of women have a negative relationship with their stretch marks, leading to body confidence issues:
- More than half of women with stretch marks cite them as one of the top parts of their appearance they would change (59 percent) or claim they have a negative impact on how they feel about their appearance overall (54 percent)
- Roughly two out of three say they would feel more confident (66 percent), more attractive (66 percent), or sexier (62 percent) if they didn’t have stretch marks
- A large majority don’t think they can do anything about their stretch marks: 83 percent overall say they have had to accept that stretch marks are now part of their appearance
- Three out of four women (76 percent) would be likely to consider using a product to reduce the appearance of their stretch marks