This issue is entirely dependent on the patient, and the location of the striae or stretch marks. If the stretch marks are entirely confined to the skin that will be resected, obviously all of the stretch marks will be gone. If there are stretch-marks present outside of the area to be excised, the stretchmarks will be stretched in the direction of their orientation. To be sure, stretching them in a direction perpendicular to their orientation will always make them worse. When stretch-marks are present in lose skin the adopt a raised appearance with color-variegation, and become very conspicuous. Stretching them along their long axis, however, generally camouflages them to a greater extent than they would be in an area of excess skin.
Jacob Gerzenshtein, MD, FACS,
A Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
