6 Fixes For Summer-Ready Skin

3. Stretch Marks

Stretch marks are just one of those things that are par for the course when it comes to life, especially if you’ve had a baby, gone through a growth spurt, or even if you’ve lost some weight recently! Unfortunately, commercially-marketed stretch mark creams are ridiculously overpriced and aren’t very effective either, according to research published in the Journal of Dermatological Treatment.

Further research suggests that the best way to get rid of those unsightly stretch marks is with laser skin treatments. They help get rid of discoloration, scarring, and of course, stretch marks. They even give your skin an added golden glow! A study that monitored the effect of factional laser treatment on 19 women found that there was a 50-75% reduction in the stretch marks’ visibility in just one week.

4. Spider Veins

The appearance of those horrifying-looking red and blue veins down the back of your legs is enough to make you wear long pants all summer long – sweat and humidity be damned. But, the good news is that, unlike varicose veins, they aren’t painful and won’t swell up.

The other bit of good news is that there are expert-approved long and short term solutions for this embarrassing problem. Dr. Jason Rivers, a Vancouver-Canada based dermatologist, and clinical professor at University of British Columbia, in Canada, suggests using an over-the-counter self-tanning product (purchased easily from most drug stores), to conceal the appearance of spider veins.

In the long-run, your best bet would be a safe, dermatologist-administered procedure called sclerotherapy, where a sugar and salt solution is injected directly into the affected veins to make them collapse and disappear.