Stretch marks and prednisone

I have been on 50mg of Prednisone since August and I just started to taper, at the end of October I got stretch marks on the upper part of my under arms and it looks like I was attacked by a wild animal, I can no longer wear tank tops or tee-shirts. I am feeling terrible about them and I seem to have a lot of anger that I am not sure how to deal with. I was wondering if anyone else has gotten stretch marks from prednisone, and if so, how long did it take for them to fade? Also how do you deal with your anger from being sick, and the side effects of your medication?

I have stretch marks from the waist down to my knees, top of my arms and chest area, due to Prednisone. When I first got them, 1991, it looked like a wild animal attacked me. From personally experience my angry red stretch marks started to fade to a light pink (flesh color) after lots of moisturizing and sun bathing/tanning beds. (Took me about 2 and half years to get them to fade. I was a young teen when I got them and was to embarrass to go out side with out covering them up. I did not like people looking at me and asking about them.) I know that sun bathing is bad for the skin but for me nothing else seemed to work. As for the anger, most people I talk to and for my self, it seems to lessen over time. Talking to others who are going through what you are going through helps because they are the ones who truly know. Sorry if this makes no séance at all. I’m told I have a tendency to ramble.

I hope this is not a stupid question, but ...

where do the prednisone-induced stretch marks come from? Is it from the weight gain on Pred and the stretching of the skin while getting  bigger or what is it? I heard also that people who didn't gain weight at all get stretch marks - I didn't, but I am covered in stretch marks since a young age anyway (I was pretty big as a child and a normal weight since adulthood).

I have been told that using prednisone "thins" the skin out after so long...I believe that is probably how I got my stretch marks.  Sadly, the last time I had them, before being on pred, was when I was pregnant with my son. 

Anyhow, I have not gained a lot of weight--maybe 10-15 lbs at the most while on pred--and the stretch marks came along when I actually was maintaning my weight while on the drug. Weird!

I have also been told that being on pred makes it easier to get bruised.  I have noticed, as well, that it is also easier for me to get cuts and bleed from them.

I got stretch marks on my back, between my shoulder blades! The only positive thing I can say is that as you are off Pred longer and your body goes back to normal they do fade from bright pink or purple to a silvery white color, so they don't show as much.

my full body every part of it is covered with the marks.could some one pls tell me a medicine name. Pls mail me at

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Post Edited By Moderator (notsosicklygirl) : 9/4/2011 2:58:50 PM (GMT-6)

My 16 year old daughter has stretch marks all on her back. A few under her arms, the ones on her back are huge. She didn't gain any weight while on it. The sun seems to help them fade. Good post because I haven't heard to many people say they got stretch marks from steroids.

My daughter has tons of stretch marks!!  She gains about 20 lbs each time she is on a course of Prednisone (which has been a lot over the last 2.5 yrs) and this time the stretch marks are the worst they have ever been.  I bought her Bio Oil which helped but then she forgot to put it on every night.  Makes me so sad to see her little body all marked up...I hope to G*D they are are not permanent!

Stupid firefox lost my post. I work in pharmaceutical skincare and laser technology, I hope this helps:

Prednisone can also make existing stretch marks go red again due to vascular changes, all my pregnancy marks, even puberty stretch marks are back to an angry red after the prednisone.

To prevent stretch marks, things like Bio-Oil, vitamin E, shea and cocoa butter work in part by softening and strengthening skin, but a lot is derived from you massaging them 2x daily to stimulate healing, blood flow, and elasticity (same goes for cellulite, if anyone is wondering! The massage is what works more than the ingredients)

To get rid of what you do have the best researched ingredients are retinoids, some brands include Striae, Strivectin, or any topical retinol (does not need to be Rx tretionoin like Retin-A) - these work by evening the texture, stimulating new collagen, and will help with dark or pigmented stretch marks. Any retinoid breaks down in light, and the UVA most fluorescent lights give off travel right through clothing, so you really should only use them at night. That helps $ wise because they can be expensive.

The ultimate would be to get light based therapy, like IPL. Stronger than LED lights, not as powerful as a laser, IPL targets the pigment, the blood vessels, and triggers a wound healing response that will deposit more collagen and smooth them. It's really expensive, but the results I've seen are amazing, plus it tightens any loose skin you have which is always a plus. It takes several treatments, feels like a hot rubber band snapping your skin, and costs $$$$ but can completely change your skin.

Also - Indoor tanning does nothing for stretch marks except mask them with pigment, but in return for that you get an 80% increased risk for melanoma every time you go, and even if you wear an SPF for the rest of your life the risk factor never goes down. More people have skin cancer than all other cancers combined, and stage 4 melanoma has an 85% fatality rate. Sorry - I had to tack that on, I've lost very young patients to melanoma from tanning beds :(

I was first introduced to prednisone in november of 2010 while incarcerated. From eatin high sodium foods i went from 170 lbs to 255 lbs in 1 week. From my waste down was filled with water and very scary. They sent me to BAyfront medical was i was diagnosed with FSGS which is an excretion of protein in the urine which means my filter isnt as small as it should be so certain things flow through it that shouldnt. Neway i started at 70 milligram of prednisone and stayed on it for about 8-9 months. What is crazy is I did not have a mark on my body until about the 8 month. Now lol I have these crazy huge stretch marks that look like stabb wounds all around my waist. I even have two or three in the middle of my back/ Also my groin which I have to explain to certain ladies. If  anyone knows the answer to this please comment: Will they fade at all and when will they possibly. Yes it aaffects my confidence but no where near what it once did. If this helps anyone out: The way i have learned to look at it is I could have died from this disease but i am now off the prednisone and doing good.

uuugh I hate mine, they are underneath my arms on the side of my chest area, that is one of the areas that grew with the prednisone. It took a couple of years to fade but they still look gross. I hate them and try not to think about it.

Greetings, all!

I've had chronic UC for approximately 14 years now. Of those 14 years I was on varying doses (up to 70mg daily) of Prednisone for 10+ years. The long-term use of Prednisone left striae (stretch marks) on my inner thighs and also 2 skin tears running vertically on the sides of my stomach. The marks on my thighs aren't that noticeable and are mostly superficial. However, the striae (skin tears) on my stomach is much worse and I'd like to find a way to remove them or repair them as much as possible. Thankfully, I've been off of Prednisone for almost a year now, but I want to find a way to fix the damage its done. If anyone reading this has any information that would help me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Justin - 33yo/m

Current Meds:

Colazal - 3 750mg tabs 3x daily
Allopurinol - 1 100mg tab 1x daily
Imuran - 2 50mg tabs 1x daily
INFLIXIMAB

Post Edited (Barbarossa) : 3/9/2012 1:16:58 PM (GMT-7)

My doctor put me on prednisone for over a year. It made me gain 70lbs in a few months. I got tapered off over a year ago and lost all that weight now. But I am left with extreme stretch marks. They are under my arms, on my boobs, stomach and hips. When I say they are extreme I mean extreme. They are really long, wide and deep. So bad that they are painful with my armpits being the worst. I can't shave, put deoderant on or anything. They are so bad I have to close my eyes, grab something to bite on, have my wife hold my arm up and have her shave it and put on deodorant.
My doctor recently sent me to a plastic surgeon who told me my only hope is to get a tummy tuck, breast reduction and to have the ones under my arm cut out and have it put back together. BUT that would cost over $20000 and my wife and I can not afford that in any way possible. I can't wear tank tops, won't let my wife see me naked which has severely effected or sex lives and am very depressed about it.

I am just hoping somebody can give me some suggestions on how to heal these. I have tried bio-oil, vit e cream/oil, body butter, even a type of acid lotion prescribed from my new family Dr. Nothing has helped. My only option I know of is all those surguries which isn't an option because I could never come up with the money