How to effectively treat stretch marks is just as easily told by advising how not to treat them. What may work for other skin conditions may not work for stretch marks due to their nature. While highly touted, creams don’t have very good results.

Prescription creams containing retinoids, like Retin-A, have minimal benefit and only work on new stretch marks. The cream requires daily applications for up to a year. It will not work if the marks are older and have turned white. There have been studies that claim the effects are faster and more vigorous than studies have suggested, but this is an expensive, unproven treatment, at best.

Do not use cortisone creams to treat stretch marks. The excess cortisone produced by your body is what caused the stretch marks to begin with. Those glucocorticoid hormones affect the skin by keeping the fibroblasts from making collagen and elastin fibers, critical for maintaining tight skin, especially when you’re quickly growing new skin, such as during pregnancy.

Stretch marks are not like werewolves. There is no silver bullet. Homemade remedies don’t work. Cocoa butter is reputed to be effective, but this is a myth. It is a fine moisturizer, but it will not remove stretch marks. You’ll get more benefit from cocoa butter before you have the stretch marks than after they develop.