For all the joys and wonders of a twin pregnancy, the loose stomach skin is something I’ve really struggled with postpartum. I’ve read every mindset-shifting statement about gratitude for my body and ability to carry two 7-pound babies to full term, and I assure you that I am extremely grateful. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that being left with all the loose belly skin made my self-confidence take a massive hit, made me struggle to believe all of the kind words my husband said to me daily about my body and my stomach, and saw me living only in high-waisted gym tights for the first 6 months postpartum (at least).
Stomach Skin Tightening After Pregnancy
So I searched high and low online for every cream or treatment I could find. I found a few options that I promptly ordered and started using – namely a dry brush, a dermaroller, and hyaluronic acid, alongside my regular coconut butter. Then, two months ago, I came across a laser treatment called Thermage that was offered by local skin clinics. So naturally (and out of desperation), I tried that too. Here are my reviews and experiences with all of them.
Stomach Dermarolling
In a world full of belly butters, the first thing that truly piqued my interest was using a dermaroller on my stomach. Now, if you’re like me and had never tried dermarolling before, it involves using a small handheld roller that is covered with hundreds of tiny needles at specific lengths, which is the ‘mm’ of your dermaroller that you select. The needles are designed to be kind to your skin – and I really didn’t find it painful at all.
Dermarolling originates from the broader practice of microneedling, which I had heard of before, and had several friends that swear by it to help with signs of aging on their face such as wrinkles, as well as to reduce scars. When the dermaroller is rolled over the skin, it creates tiny, microscopic punctures. While it seems intimidating, it encourages the skin’s natural healing process – or at least that’s how they sold me on it, ha. These tiny ‘injuries’ kick-start the production of collagen and elastin that then work to smooth, firm, and plump the skin from within. This then leads to visible improvements in the texture and appearance of the skin, and why a lot of people love it for their face. But the real question for me was: would it work on my stomach?
According to the reviews I’d read, it was worth a go. If it’s your first time dermarolling like it was mine, they recommended starting with slightly shorter needle depths and working your way up. So I ordered three dermarollers: a 2mm, a 2.5mm and a 3mm. Just for comparison – the needle depth you’d use on your face would start at 0.25mm, or even less (I’m not a skin technician so it could well be way less). What I surmised from my research was that after showering so you could clean your stomach, you’d get your clean and sterile dermaroller out, move it across your stomach both from side to side and up and down, a few times over. And that’s pretty much it. And then you repeat it just once every 4-8 weeks, because you need to give your skin time to do its thing and get that collagen production started. I mean, it’s great that the instructions were so hands-off (it literally took a minute to roll over my stomach), but it made me feel like I wasn’t actually doing very much, if that made sense.
The day after the treatment I didn’t notice anything different, just a few red bumps (a little like a consistent rash) over some of the areas I rolled. I imagine I just pushed down harder in some areas over the others. And I did it again four weeks later. Has it helped? It’s been about four months since I started working on my stomach in general and the honest answer is that I’m not sure. My stomach is definitely looking a little better now than it did back then. Is it the dermaroller? Is it the effects of another treatment? Is it just time? I can’t really answer that. But I can tell you that I still have it in my calendar to keep rolling every four weeks, so I must believe that it’s helping.
Dry Brushing
Dry brushing I started doing even earlier than dermarolling, for the simple reason that I could just pop out to the store and buy a dry brush the same day that I decided to start being proactive about my loose stomach skin. I’ll add a photo of my dry brush below.
A dry brush is really a simple, natural bristle brush that you sweep across your skin. When applied to the rest of the body, there’s a pattern that should be followed that mirrors the body’s lymphatic flow. On the stomach, everything I read (and watching videos of people doing it) said to use both a circular motion in the area the skin is very loose, as well as moving the brush from the pubic bone upwards towards the breastbone. Keep the movements light and gentle so you don’t irritate your skin. Apparently, doing this consistently, 3-4 times per week, can help the skin become firmer and develop a more toned appearance over time.
What I did was keep my dry brush right next to all my usual facial skin care creams and oils. This reminded me to do it, and I actually did it almost daily for a couple of months, before dropping down to a few times per week. And I’d always wait a few days after a dermarolling session before dry brushing so there were no spots left on my stomach after the dermarolling. I’m still dry brushing today, down to a couple of times per week.
Skin Tightening Creams
Now for the skin-tightening creams. This may be a little controversial, but a lot of the content I read from dermatologists and skin technicians said that if a product is marketed as being “ skin tightening” and they showcase drastic before and after results, to avoid it – because it’s likely that company is using marketing to try to sell you the dream, without being realistic and honest about what topical products can and can’t achieve.
From what I’ve read, even products that contain all of the collagen and elastin in the world may have little to no effect given that the size of the collagen molecules are too large to penetrate the skin’s surface, and they’re not able to fuse with the collagen and elastic in the skin to help rebuild or reinforce those structures. The most they can do is contain film-forming agents that temporarily make the skin feel tighter.
So what did I use? Well, as I was already using hyaluronic acid (HA) on my face as part of my normal skincare routine as a woman in her thirties, I just stuck to what I knew. Here’s a paper on hyaluronic acid if you’re interested in knowing more about what it is and its role in supporting ageing skin. I did this knowing that I wasn’t expecting anything from using the HA on my stomach. I just felt like I wanted to be doing something that would at least help support the skin and moisture retention, so that I wouldn’t inadvertently be making it worse, and maybe I’d somehow be supporting the other treatments I was doing. I also kept using my tried and tested coconut body butter that I’ve been using over my whole body for years, because it always makes my skin feel lovely and supple, even if it’s not helping the saggy skin.
Thermage Stomach Skin Tightening
Now for my most ‘intense’ stomach tightening treatment to date. Thermage FLX is a skin tightening treatment that doesn’t use any needles or anything that penetrates the skin like dermarolling. Instead, it uses radiofrequency waves to stimulate collagen production in the skin. I decided to trust this procedure because it has a good track record from everything I could find online, it’s FDA-approved, it had some impressive before and after results for the stomach (as well as the face and other areas), and the process made sense to me (as a medical researcher). Let me explain what I surmised from it.
Thermage essentially heats the deep layers of the skin, stimulating the natural regeneration process of collagen. This leads to the tightening of existing collagen fibers and the production of new collagen over time. Thermage works without damaging the skin’s surface by keeping it cool using a kind of rapid cooling system (at least that’s what the brochure said), which also helps the treatment feel that little bit more comfortable with minimal downtime or side effects. While I agree with the minimal downtime and side effects, I wish someone had told me to take strong painkillers before the procedure – because I found it hard. Really hard. But much like childbirth, writing this two months later, I barely remember the pain – although I do distinctly remember that I found it quite painful at the time and left feeling sweaty, tense and like I’d just run a marathon. Thankfully, I’d jotted down my Thermage experience and process in great detail the night I had it done.
Ultimately, the outcome of the skin tightening treatment is a gradual improvement in skin tightness and contour, with some results that can be seen shortly after the treatment, but are really meant to be seen 3-6 months after the treatment when the collagen has had time to regenerate. As I’m writing this it’s only been 2 months since my treatment so I can’t comment on the final results, but I can upload some before and after photos of my progress so far. I can genuinely say that I noticed a difference immediately after it, and so far it has been absolutely worth the pain for me.