Cellulite Causes & Anti-Cellulite Treatments
Cellulite is a skin phenomenon whose causes and cure remain a mystery to dermatologists and afflicted women alike. A minimal amount of cellulite will appear as dimples or ripples in pinched skin and has the texture of an orange peel. More serious cases are easily visible without pinching, characterized by sagging, lumpy flesh resembling “cottage cheese,” located around the buttocks, thighs and abdomen. This kind of cellulite typically goes hand in hand with excess body fat and a sedentary lifestyle, and may be accompanied by varicose veins or broken blood vessels.
Cellulite is not just an eyesore either. The presence of cellulite has been shown to cause tightness and stiffness in the legs, in addition to feeling tender when pressed against or massaged. Luckily, you can easily take steps to minimize the severity of your cellulite problems by engaging in an active lifestyle or simply eating right to reduce the amount of available body fat around your problem areas that may later convert into cellulite.
Anti-Cellulite Treatments: Pros & Cons
In addition to healthy lifestyle changes, there are plenty of different anti-cellulite treatments available to help reduce the appearance of uneven skin. This article will discuss the pros and cons of the three most common anti-cellulite products on the market: anti-cellulite pants, anti-cellulite massagers, and anti-cellulite skin creams.
Anti-Cellulite Pants
High-rising, tight undergarments have been used for centuries to mold and disguise unwanted body fat from sight. Corsets, girdles and other similar undergarments are worn high reduce waist size while simultaneously minimizing the appearance of unsightly bulges around the stomach.
A pair of anti-cellulite pants is really a girdle shaped like a pair of long john’s, typically promoting some outlandish claim to “melt away fat” backed by shoddy pseudoscience. Aside from tightening your skin against the body so you can look slimmer, anti-cellulite pants provide no real value.
For example, Scala Bio-Fir Anti-Cellulite Pants are simply regular tights, but claim to “improve circulation” and “melt fat cells into liquid” through powerful infrared rays emitted into your skin from patented crystals in the fabric, which will heat up your skin and increase metabolism. That is, infrared rays that are powerful enough to heat up your skin… without you feeling it?
This claim is false at best, since heating the skin only increases your blood flow to the skin – not to the fat cells that cause cellulite. Additionally, scientific studies have shown that tight clothing actually decreases circulation, which will actually encourage cellulite by pressuring subcutaneous fatty tissue to herniated through connective tissue, making your skin problem far worse.
And for you male readers out there, here’s one important FYI: Exposing your man parts to heat stress (as these anti-cellulite pants do) may result in you shooting blanks.
Anti-Cellulite Massagers
The big circulation issue leads into our next product, anti-cellulite massagers. Like anti-cellulite pants, these massage wands and other products rely on the theory that improved blood circulation will reduce the appearance of cellulite by smoothing out fatty tissue that is lumping beneath the skin, like how a masseuse can eliminate tension by rubbing out muscle knots.
While there is no doubt that a massage can help to alleviate fat lodged into awkward lumps, massaging on its own is simply not enough to get rid of cellulite. Sadly, fat cells don’t just “melt away” – they don’t even go away, ever. Fat cells simply fluctuate in size (not number) to accommodate stored fat deposits, and only shrink by burning off fat used as energy.
Try as we might, fat cells will never burn off fat in response to increased circulation or massage. And as long as there is fat, there will be cellulite. Furthermore, excessively massaging an area can actually hinder your circulation by breaking tiny capillaries and blood vessel damage.
Anti-Cellulite Creams
The last common treatment on our list is anti-cellulite skin creams. Like other topical skin ointments, anti-cellulite creams are typically applied to the afflicted area and gently rubbed in. The cream is comprised of a special blend of herbs and vitamins (such as retinoids and caffeine) which plump and tighten the skin for a smoother, even appearance.
Good cellulite creams such as Cellulite MD contain alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) – highly potent chemical compounds that reduce cell adhesion the top layer of the skin for prolonged skin smoothness.
Cellulite MD also addresses the key factor to cellulite development that other products do not – excess fat. Cellulite MD does not “liquidate” fat. It does not cause fat cells to magically transform into muscle tissue by heat exposure. But what this particular anti-cellulite cream does do is increase the rate of your body’s own lipolysis, or fat-burning, process, in addition to alleviating fluid retention in the body.
Cellulite MD formula increases lipolysis (your body’s fat-burning process), collagen regeneration (for improved skin elasticity) and skin hydration to visibly reduce the appearance of your cellulite. For more information, visit CelluliteMD.com or sign-up for a free trial now.