Cellulite and cupping: the facts

Does cupping help cellulite or water retention?
What is cupping?
Can cupping get rid of/cure cellulite?
Different cupping methods
Cupping, bruising and burns
How do cupping cellulite treatments work?
What is wrong with cupping for cellulite?
Cellulite cupping massage and skin looseness
Cupping massage vs hand cellulite massage
Stationary cupping for cellulite: even worse than cupping massage but great for instagram pics
Cupping simply has no place in aesthetic treatments
Cupping for water retention

Does cupping help cellulite or water retention?

On this article I am going to explain how effective cupping is for cellulite and water retention, according to both science and my own practical experience.

I have professionally practised and researched cupping for cellulite reduction in different iterations for some time, a couple of decades ago and I found it lacking - in many respects.

Here is the summary of my experience.

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What is cupping?

Cupping refers to the use of plastic or glass cups with a vacuum producing method in order to create suction inside the cup and thereby lift the skin to “suck toxins to the surface” and “eliminate” them.

Cupping is proposed as a “cure” everything from cellulite to deep seated musculoskeletal problems and even deep organ conditions.

I am not going to even touch here on the the last two applications (musculoskeletal and deep organ conditions), as:

Firstly they don’t make any sense (seriously, sucking the skin to “heal” deep muscles or even the kidneys and the liver?)
Secondly they are irrelevant to this discussion

The fact is that “Cupping has been characterised as a pseudoscience and its practice as quackery” for the above purposes (musculoskeletal / organ health applications).

So on this article I will focus on how cupping is purported to work for cellulite and water retention and how effective it is in that respect, as the other two applications are obviously bogus - unless one likes to believe in magic.

Can cupping get rid of/cure cellulite?

This is a common question we are asked at the clinic.

First off, the phrase “get rid of” is totally wrong. “Getting rid off” implies total elimination of cellulite, which in 90%+ of the cases is impossible - with any method of any kind and despite what those fake types on Instagram say
Secondly, the word “cure” also implies permanence, which is also impossible, despite all the tabloid hype. You can not “get rid of cellulite forever”, with any method of any kind

So the correct question is: does cupping work for / help with cellulite (and water retention) and can it do that safely and efficiently?

Let’s have a look.

Different cupping methods

Vacuum suction in a glass cup is produced by lighting a little fire with some cotton ball and alcohol inside the cup and quickly removing the cotton ball while the cup is quickly placed on the skin.

The fire uses up all the oxygen in the cup which creates a negative pressure (suction) inside the cup. The cup is then quickly placed onto the body and the negative pressure "sucks" the skin up.

Massage oil may be applied to create a better seal as well as allow the cups to glide over the skin for a cupping massage. So fire cupping can be stationary or moving.

Another method to produce suction is to use a flexible plastic cup, which you squeeze to produce the vacuum and then glide over the skin to massage it. The suction produced by this method is quite feeble and elusive.

Yet another method is to produce suction in a glass or rigid plastic cup with a vacuum suction machine connected to the top of the cup via plastic tubing and then use the cup to provide either stationary cupping or cupping massage.

Another cupping method employs rollers at the base of the cups which are connected to a machine that creates suction and rotates the rollers, in order to provide a “skin rolling cupping massage” (endermologie / LPG / palper-rouler with vacuum suction / mechanical palper-rouler).

The stupidest method is to use the tip of a vacuum cleaner on the skin as a suction cup. Believe me, crazy / desperate people do that. And please don’t do it at home: it’s both ineffective, awkward and dangerous.

Cupping, bruising and burns

In stationary cupping there is always some degree of bruising.

With gliding cupping massage (manual or with a machine) there may be a lot, a little or no bruising, depending on how strong the suction is and how vigorously the cupping massage is applied.

With fire cupping there is also the chance of burns.

How do cupping cellulite treatments work?

One idea behind cupping is that it brings blood to the surface of the skin and stimulates circulation, which in turn heals the skin tissues. (As mentioned above, we are not even discussing here the looney idea of healing the kidneys by “bringing toxins to the surface”. This is complete mumbo-jumbo.)
Another idea is that by bruising the skin, cupping creates potent inflammation, which in turn takes the tissues out of their chronic, low grade inflammation that characterises water retention and cellulite and gives them a chance to heal properly.
Another idea is that cupping massage (NOT stationary cupping) can reduce fibrosis, However, the intense machine-provided vacuum, that is needed to reduce fibrosis with cupping, also results in quite severe skin looseness, which defies the whole purpose.
Yet another idea is that cupping “brings toxins up to the skin, which are then removed by the circulation”. So this looney idea suggests that you first need to bring toxins into the skin and then remove toxins out of the skin. Defies logic…

Apart from the fourth, looney, idea, the other three kinda make sense. Boosting circulation and lymphatic drainage is good and reducing inflammation and fibrosis are also important.

What is wrong with cupping for cellulite?

However, the problem with cupping is that:

Firstly, there are better, not so “violent” methods to produce more pronounced and faster results, in terms of circulation, inflammation and fibrosis, without all the bruising and burning drama
Secondly, by stretching the skin, vacuum suction actually causes skin looseness, especially in women with existing skin laxity and cellulite, which defies the whole purpose of cupping
Thirdly, cupping can cause broken capillaries (thread/spider veins) due to the suction applied on them, which results in some of them bursting/breaking - for good.
And fourthly, cupping doesn’t do anything for fat accumulation, the hallmark of cellulite

So the benefits of cupping for cellulite reduction (temporary circulation boost; possible inflammation reduction in the long term, after an increase of inflammation/bruising in the short term; possible fibrosis reduction) are undermined by the skin looseness and spider veins it produces and by its inability to do anything for fat accumulation, the most important aspect of cellulite.

We are not even discussing oxidative damage and glycation here, the other two facets of cellulite, which can not be removed by any treatment (but which can be reduced with diet and/or a good cellulite cream).

Cellulite cupping massage and skin looseness

Everything that stretches the skin vigorously and for a long period of time will unavoidably stretch it.

Now the efficacy of cupping massage in breaking down fibrosis and boosting circulation is directly related to the negative pressure (suction) applied for it. However, the higher the suction the more the skin looseness produced. (Stationary suction does not help with fibrosis.)

With low suction, cupping is not effective. With higher suction, it causes a lot of skin looseness. And with medium suction, cupping is somewhat effective while it only causes some skin laxity. It’s a lose, lose, lose situation.

Cupping massage vs hand cellulite massage

Not very smart to use cupping massage for fibrosis and circulation improvement, when you lose your skin firmness (high suction), waste your time (low suction) or lose a bit of firmness and waste a bit of time (medium suction).

And this is especially true when you can achieve those two goals with your (or a therapist’s) lovely hands, which can do a much better job - and without all the skin looseness, spider veins and bruising.

Yes, the benefits of cupping massage can be provided by hand massage and without all the broken veins, skin looseness, bruising and even burns (from fire cupping).

In fact, a good cellulite massage, involving long strokes, kneading and skin rolling can offer all the benefits of cupping (circulation/lymph drainage boost; fibrosis reduction; inflammation reduction; even toxin removal) in a safer, more effective and more exact way than any manual or mechanical cupping massage can offer.

All that is needed is a pair of hands (yours or a therapist’s) and a little oil.

Take it from someone who twenty years ago practised cupping (manual and mechanical, with rollers and without), researched the traditional chinese medicine /western science rationale behind it and found it wanting.

Stationary cupping for cellulite: even worse than cupping massage but great for instagram pics

Needless to say that stationary cupping is even worse, as:

it helps with circulation much less than cupping massage
it causes more bruising
it causes more broken veins
and it does not even help with fibrosis
while at the same time it still causes skin laxity

Stationary cupping is pointless for cellulite - or anything else for that matter (but it makes nice Instagram pictures for shallow celebrities).

Cupping simply has no place in aesthetic treatments

I have tried hands-on different types of cupping/vacuum suction for a long time and I wanted it to “work”.

So believe me, in comparison to strong manual cellulite massage, high-intensity, deep-tissue radiofrequency or high intensity ultrasound cavitation, cupping and vacuum suction massage literally and metaphorically “suck”. They suck and stretch (the skin).

Whether you are a therapist or simply someone who wants to reduce her cellulite, forget about cupping and use that wonderful set of tools you have attached to your body: your lovely hands. Or use someone else’s, highly trained, lovely hands.

And if you would like to use technology to ease the pressure on your hands, don’t go for the half measures that cupping, dry brushing (another big joke…), “fascia blasters” and other such simplistic tools/methods offer. Look for a technology that really works, such as RF and ultrasound - without suction.

Take it from someone who has been there.

Cupping for water retention

Specifically for water retention cupping massage “sucks” even more.

For water retention there is:

pressotherapy
lymphatic massage
normal massage
cellulite massage
effective supplements such as centella asiatica or aesculus hippocastanum
healthy nutrition
swimming
graduated compression garments

…and lots more methods which are way more helpful and comfortable than cupping massage (stationary cupping is totally useless in that respect too).

No need to bruise, burn or stretch your skin.