What Can I Do to Treat This Cellulite?
This bathing suit looks horrible. It's almost summer and from the top to the bottom of my legs I just look like cottage cheese. I have been exercising, dieting, and trying all those creams. Why me?? Is it just me?
Oh no. Almost 90% of women, some as young as 14 years of age, have cellulite or that cottage cheesy look to their thighs and or buttocks. No one know for sure what causes it, but researchers think it has something to do with estrogen dominance (explaining why it affects women and not men) and circulation.
If I do not already have cellulite, you might wonder, "What are my chances?" Genetics are a factor, but it isn't understood yet exactly how. Have a look at your mother, though, and you might get a good idea whether cellulite is headed your way.
What we do know is this: when there is cellulite, there are bands that are abnormally tight between the lower layers of the inside of the skin that pull down on the top layer of skin causing the dimple. On either side of the dimple is an abnormally large fat cell. In the 1950s, a scientist named Pistor was injecting substances into athletes with sports injuries and discovered that the medicines killed fat cells and had an effect on cellulite. But to be really effective in treating cellulite, the band that is holding the dimple down must be broken. That is why all of those cool-sounding machines (like lasers, automatic massagers and other machines out there) really do not work: they may be able to help the fat cells shrink, but they cannot break the band. That must be done mechanically by a treatment such as lipotherapy.
Once the band is broken, the fat cell can be injected with something to kill it and the cellulite will be permanently gone...forever. Yes, it is true, forever!
People who have cellulite do not have the appropriate blood supply to the surface of the skin, but it is believed that this is due to the enlargement of the fat cell, and that the blood supply will be restored once the fat cell is killed. Traditional liposuction can actually worsen cellulite by lessening the blood supply to the surface of the skin and causing bands to form. The more modern tumescent, small bored cannula or wide-awake forms of liposuction do not worsen cellulite, but no form of liposuction treats cellulite. There are no studies that prove that anything can treat cellulite topically either.
So if you want that cellulite gone forever, lipotherapy is the treatment of choice as those bands are broken by a needle and do not reform. The procedure can be quite uncomfortable for up to a week, and the area treated will swell and bruise, but it is permanent and really works for good, and is inexpensive compared to the thousands of dollars you will spend on one treatment with the fancy machines. And it requires no maintenance treatments!
If you want to learn more about your cellulite treatment options, please contact us to set up a free consultation today!