Stretch marks on the stomach

Stretch marks on the stomach are scars in the dermis of the abdominal wall, left where the skin stretched faster than it could adapt. The NHS lists the tummy among the commonest places for them, and pregnancy, weight gain and puberty are the usual reasons. Stretch Mark Removal London explains what can reduce their appearance and what it costs, because the stomach is a large area and that changes both the plan and the price.

New stomach marks are pink, red, purple or darker than the surrounding skin, often run in lines around the navel and lower abdomen, and fade to pale silver over a year or two. Older marks are flatter and paler, and loose skin after pregnancy or weight loss can make them look more obvious depending on how it folds. The guide to reducing the appearance of stretch marks compares every option.

• Pregnancy, as the bump grows
• Gaining weight quickly, which stretches the abdominal skin first for many people
• Losing weight quickly, which can leave marks and looser skin
• Growth during puberty
• Some steroid creams or tablets
• A family member with stretch marks

The same three routes apply as anywhere else: thicken the thinned skin with microneedling or fractional laser, even the colour of red marks with a vascular laser or with time, or hide what is left with camouflage. On the stomach the size of the area matters more. A whole abdomen takes longer per session and costs more than a patch on the hip, so a practitioner may suggest treating the most visible band first. Marks that are still red may need nothing but a few more months.

Red or purple marks on the stomach are new, and they are still fading on their own. They respond better to treatment than white ones, but they also improve without it over six to twenty-four months, so the honest first step is often a photograph and a second look in a few months. Very wide purple marks on the stomach that come with weight gain on the chest and tummy, fat on the back of the neck or a rounder, redder face are worth showing a GP, as the NHS advises.

After a pregnancy, the skin and weight keep changing for months, and elective treatment waits until breastfeeding has finished too. Marks and loose skin are separate problems: treatment for stretch marks thickens and evens the marks, and does not tighten a large area of loose skin. An assessment can say which of the two is making the stomach look the way it does, and what each would take. The guide to stretch marks in pregnancy covers the timing.

Because body treatments are priced by area, the stomach sits at the top of most price lists. When Stretch Mark Removal London checked on 29 September 2026, one London clinic charged about £900 a session for laser on a full abdomen against about £550 for a palm-sized area, and another priced a CO2 course of three for the stomach at about £5,859. Microneedling costs less per session. The practitioner at UNTIL Soho or Marylebone quotes for your own area first, and the London stretch mark prices page lists the figures.