Marketers do a great job of selling us miracle cures that are anything but. The ads that peddle magic cellulite creams often turn out to be lying, as any woman who's tried to banish this ugly skin condition knows from experience.
So, how do you know what works and what does not? Is there a way to know how the ingredients in these creams affect your cellulite, if at all? Today, everyone is bothered by cellulite and wants to beat it. Are there any treatments and therapies that really work?
What is cellulite?
Cellulite is a normal human body fat variation that many see as some sort of disease. The term cellulite was coined in 1973 and refers to the dimpled appearance of the skin that some people have on their hips, thighs, and buttocks.
This is much more common in women than in men because of the differences in the way fat, muscle, and connective tissue are distributed in women's skin. Although female hormones may play a role in contributing to fat distribution, hormone therapy can't treat cellulite. In other words, the dimpled appearance of cellulite is present in many perfectly healthy humans.
Just like some people have thick hair while others have thin hair, or some have large noses and others small ones, some women have smooth buttocks and thighs that everyone seems to want, while others have less satisfactory, dimpled ones.
What are the treatments for cellulite?
Most people dislike bumps and indentations on their bodies and prefer to be as smooth as they can. Since hope springs eternal, much has been written about cellulite and its causes. Savvy entrepreneurs and marketers have jumped on the bandwagon to sell us products that are meant to fix our (already perfectly imperfect) bodies.
Among the things meant to treat cellulite are:
-A low-fat diet or eating in a healthy manner. A healthy diet is always a good idea, and a low-fat diet is usually recommended as part of a weight maintenance lifestyle. However, the notion that you can shrink a localized fat lump or smooth out a dimple by eating less fat makes little sense when it comes to cellulite, as it does when it comes to flabby thighs. Keep in mind that you do need healthy fat sources in your diet to be healthy.
-Dietary supplements marketed as anti-cellulite products contain a variety of ingredients such as ginkgo biloba, sweet clover, grape seed bioflavinoids, bladderwrack extract, evening primrose oil, fish oil, and soy lecithin. These preparations claim to have positive effects on the body.
Proponents claim these herbs and other ingredients can boost your metabolism, improve circulation, protect against cell damage, and break down fat. Such claims are difficult to evaluate as it is with similar assertions made on behalf of different supplements and alternative therapies. Concepts such as metabolism, circulation, or cell damage cannot be easily measured and there aren’t any objective parameters to determine whether or not any improvement has been achieved.
Because these products are sold as dietary supplements and not as drugs or medications, they are not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They are therefore exempt from meeting the scientific standards for both safety and effectiveness that are applied to prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Furthermore, there are no valid clinical studies to support the use of these dietary supplements for the treatment of cellulite. The few studies that have been conducted have not demonstrated that these supplements have any value at all.
For example, a product containing a mixture of herbs marketed as a cure for cellulite was tested to see whether it had any effect on cellulite, body weight, fat content, or the circumference of the body. No beneficial changes were found when the results of those taking the dietary supplement were compared to those taking the placebo or sugar pill.
The only significant changes were an increase in cellulite and body weight in the majority of women who took these miracle cure products. Some dietary supplements that are promoted for the treatment of cellulite may pose a similar risk. A certain popular cellulite product contains iodine, which may be harmful to patients with thyroid and certain other conditions. Other preparations may interact with certain prescription drugs as well and thus cause damage.
-Massage treatments for the areas affected by cellulite are also popular. Some of the machines that are used for cellulite treatment massage use rolling cylinders to gather areas of skin and massage them inside a chamber. Again, no scientific studies are available to demonstrate the effectiveness of these cellulite treatments. It appears these devices redistribute fat rather than permanently alter its configuration under the skin. Other exotic, but equally unproven treatments include electrical stimulation of muscle cells and the application of an electric current to the fat tissue itself.
-Liposuction - this technique of extracting fat by vacuuming it from under the skin is not effective against cellulite. In fact, liposuction may worsen the appearance of the skin by sucking
So what can be done about cellulite?
In summary, eating a healthy diet and keeping the muscles toned by engaging in regular exercise seem like reasonable steps in keeping the skin as smooth as it can be. Women should be very cautious before trying out surgical procedures, dietary supplements, or elaborate massage techniques of unproven value to beat cellulite.
It is important to remember that until now very few if any remedies were more than simple topical treatments. It means they alone are not very effective in treating cellulite. You can buy various creams that contain vitamins, herbs, minerals, and antioxidants, and it's true the good ones make the skin softer, smoother, healthier, and more able to repair itself. The better ones also contain antioxidants, anti-inflammatory ingredients, and ingredients that stimulate your blood flow.
Cellulite-affected areas tend to be dehydrated and damaged and need the extra benefits of moisture, protection, and increased blood supply as well. You can take steps to achieve this goal by increasing the moisture in the affected area.
The fact is the overall appearance of your cellulite can only be temporarily reduced. When you look at your cellulite, you are seeing not only the dimpling effect, but you are also seeing the damaged, dry skin that accompanies it and even perpetuates the condition. If you can treat this dryness and damage, the appearance of the cellulite will be minimized but the damage itself, and the buoyant fat cells within the skin, will remain only partially treated.
As you know, to completely address cellulite and stretch marks, you need to treat them from the inside as well as the outside. Very often, topical creams dehydrate the affected area of wasted water over several weeks or months you use it. The effect of this is that the thigh that houses the cellulite does, for a brief period of time, become smaller. Thus we feel that the condition has improved as well.
The fact is that the size of your body has no effect on the cellulite that is present; extremely thin women can have cellulite as well. While removing excess water can temporarily decrease the size of the area treated and help to forestall future damage and exacerbation of dimpling, it does not repair or reverse the appearance of cellulite, and any size that was lost will be replaced as soon as you drink water.
While topical cellulite remedies can be very beneficial in the short term, they have little effect if you use these treatments on their own. Creams cannot actually penetrate the dermis where much of the damage is located, and most creams and lotions generally reach only the epidermis, or the top layer of the skin. Many cellulite treatments are largely unsuccessful because they only target the external appearance of the cellulite.
They are unable to fight the damage where it actually lies. Now that you understand that the dimpling on the surface of the skin is merely a symptom of the underlying cause, you can see how banishing lumps and bumps require deeper acting treatments.
Read More: Cellulite: Plenty Of Treatments, No Cure
Beat cellulite now!
To really turn back the clock and reverse the damage, you must reach farther than just skin deep. That is the point where internal remedies and technology make all the difference. It is recommended to go beyond simple topical remedies and utilize science and nature’s entire arsenal to combat cellulite and stretch marks. It would be best to include a combination of effective topical remedies with technologically advanced treatments and formulas that can produce visible results. Nutritional supplements and a diet rich in foods that provide the essential elements for repairing cellulite-induced damage is the combination that will work. This all-inclusive approach is the only truly effective method of treating and repairing cellulite and stretch marks as well. There are nine different avenues by which cellulite and stretch marks can be effectively repaired, where some attack cellulite through more than one of these channels, and others through none. However, it is important to know that these methods work in conjunction with each other. The more of them you employ, the more success you will have in reducing, preventing, and even eliminating cellulite.
1. Strengthen blood vessels and increase blood flow
2. Encourage the production of connective tissue
3. Stimulate the production of collagen and elastin
4. Attract water to your cells
5. Repair all cell membranes
6. Reduce all wasted water
7. Prevent common free-radical damage
8. Reduce any inflammation
9. Promote exfoliation
Any ingredient that accomplishes none of the nine goals cannot help your cellulite in any way.
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