Author: Dr Ian Coulson, Consultant Dermatologist and Editor-in-Chief, United Kingdom (2025).
Edited by the DermNet content department.
This lad lives in a care home for children – there are concerns that his recent onset skin lesions on his back are the result of physical abuse.
He has linear, slightly violaceous lesions running in a parallel horizontal fashion across his mid back.
They are striae (stretch marks).
They are probably due to a rapid pubescent growth spurt, and are often called growth striae.
Rarely, striae can result from Cushing disease, exogenous and topical steroid use, and Marfan syndrome.
