Stretch Marks under Arm

[a1089g]

I've been lifting from November 2020 for 5 months now and have made a lot of progress going from 143lbs 6 foot to 169lbs 6'1 at 16 years old. Most of these gains were made in earlier months at around over 6 pounds a month from newbie gains. However, around Feburary I noticed stretch marks forming under my left arm. At first I was like no big deal its only a little one, but over the last few months my armpit have gained many more. I have pretty light skin so I know eventually they will fade to the color of my skin. But I feel really discouraged and depressed by the red color they currently have. Ive tried lowering my intensity and stopped training my chest which has prevented new ones from forming, but they don't seem to be getting better. I've also cut over the past month going down to around 161lbs at 11% body fat so I don't feel too big either. Ive talked to an experienced guy at my gym and he said if its really bothering me to stop training for a few months and focus on nutrition and some light cardio to keep the blood flowing into the muscles. I'm feeling down as I spent the past few months pushing myself extremely hard, and I feel like I'm going to lose my gains and essentially have spent 5 months measuring out my food working for up to 2 hours in the gym almost everyday, to just end up with stretchmarks. Im normally a pretty confident guy, but this has really taken a toll on my mental health and happiness. Over the past month I've gone into laser therapy to help them improve, but as soon as I go back to the gym (even not training chest), boom they are red again. I also put on cocoa butter and tretinoin twice a day, but I feel hopeless. I also am worried that I won't be able to train chest ever again due to the stretch marks. Any words of advice or knowledge from personal experience would mean a lot.

[lukabosnjak]

Don't feel bad because of it! It's a sign of hard fkin work my dude. Embrace them. I'm sure no one really cares about them when the arms are popping! They will subside over time.

[MrCarrot]

Don't worry about it, as long as you're not getting fat it's a sign you're growing. They do fade to skin colour as you've mentioned.

I got them on my biceps and under my arms in my late 20's. I still have them now but they're virtually invisible unless you look really closely. Even if you asked my wife if I had stretch marks she wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about.

I wouldn't stop lifting if I were you.

[a1089g]

Don't worry about it, as long as you're not getting fat it's a sign you're growing. They do fade to skin colour as you've mentioned.

I got them on my biceps and under my arms in my late 20's. I still have them now but they're virtually invisible unless you look really closely. Even if you asked my wife if I had stretch marks she wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about.

I wouldn't stop lifting if I were you.

How long did they take to fade?