All women know how to recognize cellulite.
Indeed, cellulite is very recognizable, displaying the characteristics of peeled orange skin, which is more prominent when pressure is applied.
Cellulite mainly affects skin on the lower female body and affects 85% of women after puberty.
What are the causes of cellulite?
It is not generally known that cellulite is linked to a structure of subcutaneous fat, arranged in small compartments.
These small fat-filled cavities are bounded by inflexible partitions, called fibrous septa. They connect the skin to the aponeurosis, a connective tissue between skin and muscle.
This skin structure could be compared visually to that of a mattress.
This type of cellulite will develop for several reasons.
The most important reasons are weight gain, relaxation of the skin, venous or lymphatic disorders that accumulate water in these cavities, and it can also be caused by genetics.
Can cellulite be treated?
Due to the number of partitions, it is not possible to destroy them, even by using invasive means.
Many, so-called miraculous, therapies remain ineffective. Indeed, none of them can succeed in removing the fibrous septa, which are at the origin of the orange peel skin.
However, we can try to improve cellulite, or at least limit its increase, by managing the structural causes mentioned above.
Several remedies can be useful, but they are never miraculous:
– weight control,
– sports practice,
– massages with various creams,
– lymphatic drainage,
– support stockings.
Researchers at the University of Siena have worked on more than 70 published and listed medical studies on cellulite.
They analysed techniques as diverse as liposuction, laser, massage creams, but also the effects of multiple machines.
These researchers concluded that no partial or total effectiveness had been proven in the long term.
Of course, this is not to confuse cellulite with genetic lipodystrophies.
Lipodystrophies, such as saddlebags, are deep fatty deposits of genetic origin, which can be treated by liposuction.
Lipodystrophies are responsible for the shape of a woman, and not for the actual appearance of the skin, like cellulite.
However, liposuction will be able to act effectively on lipodystrophies.