Blue-Light Special

Your skin may do a fine job of keeping you under wraps, but gain weight or grow rapidly, and it can show signs of wear and tear: tiny scars known as stretch marks. Now doctors may have come up with a way to minimize those unsightly, sunken streaks. (Forget cocoa butter and vitamin E; they don't help.) At a dermatological meeting in October, researchers will present the results of a study in which stretch marks were zapped with the new excimer laser. Lasers have been used for a decade on fresh stretch marks that are still red. But the blue beams of the excimer laser seem to work on "mature" stretch marks that over time have turned white. All 75 subjects saw normal or almost normal skin color return after up to 20 five-minute sessions with the beam. The laser treatment will not, unfortunately, restore the skin to its original smooth state, but at least you'll feel less like a marked man--or woman. --By Janice M. Horowitz