Cellulite is more common in women than in men
Small bumps on our bum and thighs are normal as we age, and yet cellulite is often perceived as a blemish. If you don’t like it, you can try various methods to strengthen your skin.
Cellulite, that dimpling on the skin that appears on the thighs, hips, buttocks and abdomen as we age, leads many to cover up with trousers or long skirts in warm weather. Where do the dimples come from? And if you find them unsightly, are there ways to make your make your skin in these trouble zones smoother?
Cellulite occurs when normal layer of fat between your skin and the underlying muscle pushes against the connective tissue that tethers the two. The connective tissue is honeycombed with fibrous bands called septa. “The septa pull down on the fat tissue and hold it in small compartments,” says Dr Joachim Graf von Finckenstein, a specialist in plastic and cosmetic surgery. While the septa pull down, the fat cells push upward, causing dimpling.
This is much more common in women than in men because hormonal factors make their connective tissue store more fat and water. And in contrast to men, the connective fibrous bands under women’s skin in the areas typically affected don’t criss-cross, but are arranged like a lattice, allowing the compartments of fat to bulge more readily.
the
TREATMENTS TO GET RID OF CELLULITE
There’s a long list of treatments said to mitigate the skin condition, including surgical procedures. “To combat cellulite, an attempt is made to break up the constricting septa,” von Finckenstein says.
● In one method, known as Cellfina, the septa are severed with a mini-scalpel, making the surface of the skin smooth again. The effect is lasting, according to von Finckenstein. On the negative side, the procedure is relatively expensive and some specialists regard it as outdated.
● Another surgical option is skin-tightening, which von
Finckenstein says achieves good results after major weight loss, particularly with a procedure known as a body lift. The drawback: It leaves scars.
Many cellulite treatments can be carried out at home, such as application of creams or oils, massages, baths, special stockings, anti-cellulite capsules or a low-salt diet. The problem, says dermatologist Dr Christoph Liebich, is that “the therapeutic efficacy of
most of these methods is unverified.”
According to Liebich, only two treatments are provably effective against cellulite: acoustic wave therapy and manual lymphatic drainage. In the former, precisely directed sound waves break up the cellulite. In the latter, massage activates the lymphatic system, unblocking fluid build-up in the affected body areas.
“While both treatments achieve nice results,” Liebich says, “the cellulite will regrettably return and must be treated again.”