Cellulite

Cellulite is essentially excess body fat and body fluids that gets accumulated within several layers of skin, especially among women. This commonly happens in and around the thighs, stomach and the buttocks area, and is not a pretty sight. It is therefore not a surprise that beauty-conscious women go to extreme distances to get rid of these wrinkled and lumpy layers of skin that ruin their streamlined looks.

In fact, it is women who complain more about cellulite than men. They have a reason too. Cellulite looks uglier on them than men for purely physiological reasons. This can be better understood when a cross-section of a woman's thigh is examined. It is found that the muscles are connected to the skin by fibers that trap fat. The fat bulges out in regions where the connections are absent, giving a wrinkled appearance to the skin. This does not happen in the case of men, where the fibers are connected in a criss-cross pattern that doesn't allow fat to accumulate or bulge. Cellulite can be caused by several reasons. These include genetic reasons, age, gender and hormonal imbalances.
Cellulite deposits can also result from excessive intake of fatty foods, especially among those men and women who are too lazy to exercise. Stress too, in recent times, has been blamed for cellulite deposition under the skin. Medical science has come up with several treatments to remove cellulite, but all these have had only limited successes. Three of the common cellulite treatments are:

1. Liposuction: In this treatment, the excess body fat is removed through surgery.

2. Mesotherapy: This treatment is non-invasive. Drugs are injected into the body to dissolve the cellulite deposits, and ensure better circulation.

3. Ionothermie: This treatment is offered at beauty salons and uses small doses of electric current to remove cellulite. All these treatments, however, are very hard on the pocket, and can remove only a small percentage of the cellulite. There is also a degree of risk involved in the procedures as sometime body fat mistaken for cellulite can be removed thus doing more harm than good.Doctors therefore recommend non-surgical or non-medicine based procedures.  

According to them, the best way to prevent cellulite deposition is to:

1.  Undertake regular exercise like swimming or cycling. Both these activities burn fat in the thigh regions, and make them look shapely;

2. Reduce consumption of fatty foods and increase the intake of fresh fruits and green vegetables;

3. Massage the area gently to ensure better blood circulation, and reduce the deposition of cellulite. 

The irony is that even thin and physically fit women have cellulite. According to rough estimates, American women spend millions of dollars to get rid of it, but fail to do so. The expenditure especially goes up during summers, when women slip into swimsuits. That is when they don't want cellulite to show.

Beauticians now advise tanning as a good way to camouflage cellulite. They quote the example of Baywatch star Pamela Anderson whose thighs are specially tanned by studio beauticians to create the streamlined effect. Maybe, this is the wise way to treat cellulite. However, till a proper treatment is found, women across the world will consider cellulite as their greatest enemy.