Bad News - Cellulite is Here to Stay

In an earlier life, I got involved with investigating a ‘product’ that claimed it cured cellulite. It involved applying a great slather of medicated cream and wrapping one thigh in Gladwrap®. There were measurements and photos taken before and after 10 days of wrapping; and the other leg had to be wrapped too, as a placebo control. Well, of course, there was no improvement with the treatment – just a lot of disappointed women. (OK, I know, men get cellulite too.)

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has estimated that 85% of women have some cellulite on their thighs or buttocks. So interest in its removal is considerable. The popular mantra says that losing weight is a sure-fire approach, but unfortunately this has been disproved. Fifty women who were enrolled in medical weight loss programs were carefully studied over 6 months. Their average weight loss was 30 pounds (ranging from 2.5 to 100 pounds). Cellulite was quantified using three dimensional laser surface scanning that measured the average distance from the five highest peaks to the five lowest valleys; this yielded a ‘cellulite index’. The heaviest women had the highest cellulite index, but they were the most successful in reducing it with weight loss. Women who were thinner at the start of the study had a slight worsening of their cellulite as they lost weight. The researchers’ explanation for this was that ‘minor weight loss was insufficient to reduce subcutaneous fat in women with less compliant skin before weight loss . . .’

Whatever. Cellulite, which may sound more interesting when called by its scientific name, gynoid lipodystrophy, is clearly forever.