Hundreds of salons and clinics in London now offer cellulite reduction and skin tightening with some sort of machine and everyone seems to be claiming instant, amazing and permanent results that will last until the end of time with something like 1.5 miracle sessions, at a cost of anything from £75-£3,500 each. Obviously, it cannot be all true. And with each of them using a different machine and technique, they cannot all be right.
Deep cellulite vs superficial cellulite
Cellulite refers to fat pockets within the skin that are attached to and/or surrounded by fibrotic (hardened) collagen strands. The fat pocket tries to bulge out of the surface of the skin, while the collagen strand pulls the adjacent skin down. The combination creates the cellulite peaks (fat pocket makes skin “pop out”) and troughs (collagen strands keep skin down).
Cellulite can appear at three depths inside the skin:
At the dermal level (superficial cellulite)
At the hypodermal level (medium cellulite; most common cellulite)
And at the subcutaneous fat level (deep cellulite; not true cellulite)
We will look at each of them in detail…
Cellulite, luxury living and the champagne lifestyle
Beer and fish and chips vs refined restaurants and expensive cocktails. What do these two things have in common? Calories and alcohol, of course. In the last 20 years that we have specialised in cellulite, we have seen so many champagne-sipping people, who had literally thousands of evenings of refined dining…
Cellulite and the takeaway culture
“Don’t cook, just eat”, goes the motto of food delivery app Just Eat. Deliveroo and Uber Eats preach a similar philosophy: why bother to cook, when you can outsource your food? Obviously things are not so simple. Takeaway food is not cooked in a ‘Green Pan’ with a £50-a-kilo extra virgin Toscano olive oil, coming out of a cute glass bottle…
Apigenin from parsley, chamomile and celery may help prevent cellulite
A new study, published a few days ago (December 2023) looked at the potential antioxidant, anti-aging and anti-cellulite potential of a family of aromatic plants called Apiaceae or Umbelliferae. Common apiaceae plants include ajwain, angelica, anise, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, chervil, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, lovage, cow parsley, parsley, parsnip and sea holly…
Cellulite is just fascia: one statement, multiple levels of ignorance…
If you have researched cellulite you must have bumped on this. Someone one day discovered the existence of fascia and dreamed that “fascia is the cause of cellulite”. And what do you do to fascia? But of course you just poke it, what else? Poke it as hard as you can with a crude fascia “blasting” tool, and your cellulite will go forever, right?
Hydroxyproline: an important cellulite / skin firming cream active
Collagen is a protein that contains higher amounts of proline, glycine and hydroxyproline than other body proteins. Hydroxyproline, specifically, is only found in collagen in the body - nowhere else and it is THE most important aminoacid in that protein. Studies have shown that a hydroxyproline peptide stimulates collagen I and III synthesis, as well as elastin synthesis. In addition it inhibits collagen breakdown…