The contraceptive pill and cellulite

“In a few words, in the case of chronic hormonal contraception, skin becomes loose, puffy and spongy-soft, especially on the front of thighs. Plus, quite often skin appears blotchy and has a higher number of thread veins.”

Does the contraceptive pill cause cellulite?

We are pleased to share our experience in cellulite and skin tightening, from our clinic in London with everyone in the world. Check all our articles here. And if you do live in London, book an assessment, consultation or treatment with us here.

• Hormonal contraception, water retention, subcutaneous fat accumulation and cellulite

• Estrogen, the contraceptive pill and cellulite

• The contraceptive pill and cellulite in young / slim women

• My observation over 20+ years with thousands of women and the correlation between the contraceptive pill and cellulite

• Contraceptive pill and “fat trousers” look

• In summary

• Check our professional consultancy for a masterclass in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

Hormonal contraception, water retention, subcutaneous fat accumulation and cellulite

Few people talk about the contraceptive pill as a major cause of cellulite.

Many doctors who prescribe it do not even mention the well established increase in blood coagulation, the weight gain, the water retention, the increased breast cancer risk and yes, the cellulite, that quite often go together with hormonal contraception.

And when it comes to cellulite causes, beauty writers stick to the old topics of “toxins”, caffeine, fizzy drinks and advice such as “use fake tan to hide the cellulite” and “drink lots and lots of water”.

It’s like everyone is for some reason afraid or too ignorant to address the elephant in the room.

Most of our cellulite clients who are - or have been - on the pill for sometime, say things along the lines of:

“The doctor didn’t tell me about this and then I got water retention, fat on my thighs and lots of cellulite. I stopped it two years later but it’s too late now...”

Estrogen, the contraceptive pill and cellulite

Estrogen is the most important cause of cellulite.

In fact, estrogen is the basis of cellulite.

Without estrogen you may get weight gain and/or skin looseness, but you won’t get cellulite - and that’s why men* don’t get cellulite.

Yes, in addition to estrogen you do need to consume excess calories / eat unhealthily etc, but you need estrogen to turn those excess calories into cellulite, instead of plain overall fat.

Estrogen is what stimulates the significant proliferation of hypodermal and subcutaneous fat cells on the thighs, buttocks and other body areas that turns those areas bigger and “cellulite-y”.

Progesterone is also implicated, to a lesser extent.

Hormonal contraception is based on estrogen, progesterone or a mix of both.

However, hormone-based contraceptives do not even contain natural estrogen / progesterone: they use man-made derivatives of these hormones.

And since we are on the subject of artificial estrogen, xenoestrogens, i.e. man-made estrogenic substances, such as BPA, phthalates and other plastic constituents, also mimic estrogen in the body, causing hormonal disruption at multiple levels - and yes, cellulite.

(* In men it’s not so much testosterone that is protective for cellulite, it is the fact that estrogen is very, very low compared to women. When estrogen levels are high in men, as in overweight, older men or transgender women, they get cellulite too. )

The contraceptive pill and cellulite in young / slim women

The contraceptive pill is quite an obvious culprit in cellulite development in young slim women with cellulite (even skinny women or fashion models), where excess food intake and genetics cannot be blamed.

Together with sugar intake, smoking/vaping and alcohol, “the pill” is a disaster for both overall health and for the skin of the thighs and buttocks. And unfortunately many women combine all of the above these days.

Hence the ubiquity of cellulite in the last few decades.

Our observations over 20+ years with thousands of women and the correlation between the contraceptive pill and cellulite

Over the last 20+ years we have seen and worked on literally thousands of women with cellulite - and the pill is indeed one of the biggest causes of cellulite.

Hormonal contraception may take from a few months to a couple of years to spurt the development of anything between mild to quite significant cellulite, water retention and weight gain, in most women.

After that, cellulite just gets gradually worse with every year that passes.

Many of our worst cases of cellulite have been “on the pill” for years.

Although our sample size is quite huge, sure, we did not contact official statistical analysis on it. This is not our job.

On the other hand, there are no actual large-scale medical studies on the correlation between cellulite and the “pill” with thousands of women participating, as you see in cancer or heart disease studies, so it still remains observational.

But then how many proper, serious cellulite research papers have we seen? We have read no more than 20 in total and we have been following cellulite research for 20+ years now.

So we stick to a very strong observational evidence with a really, really large sample size and the very close correlation between contraceptive hormones and cellulite.

Of course, occasionally we have seen women who were on the pill, but their cellulite was not very pronounced.

So the rule still stands, with rare exceptions.

Everyone is different.

Contraceptive pill and “fat trousers” look

In our experience, the pill creates a very specific type of cellulite and fat accumulation, which we call ”fat trousers” (the name, in fact, originated from one of our clients, which she used to describe how her thighs changed over her years on the pill).

In most women, subcutaneous fat accumulation (what we call ‘fat’) and hypodermal fat accumulation (what we call ‘cellulite’) are typically found on the outer thighs (saddlebags), back of thighs and buttocks - and less so on the front of thighs.

In contrast, after taking the contraceptive pill for a few years, cellulite and subcutaneous fat look like “fat trousers”, i.e. they are equally distributed around the thighs.

Quite often that fat accumulation pattern is more evident on the front of thighs rather than the usual fat accumulation on the back of thighs/saddlebags and it is accompanied by more pronounced skin looseness and water retention than cellulite without the pill.

In a few words, in the case of chronic hormonal contraception, skin becomes loose, puffy and spongy-soft, especially on the front of thighs. Plus, quite often skin appears blotchy and has a higher number of thread veins.

Yes, what we are describing here is advanced cellulite, the one you see in some women in their 50s or 60s.

However, in the case of the pill this appearance starts much earlier in life.

In summary

Estrogenic medication, such as “the pill” in women and transition hormone therapy in male-to-female transsexuals, causes cellulite, if combined with excess calories, sugar intake, lack of exercise etc, at a much higher rate than on people who are not on that medication.

Of course, we are not here to say that you should not take the pill. You need to discuss your medication with your doctor.

However, if you have to take estrogenic hormones for a medical reason (acne, polycystic ovaries, MTF transition etc) or if the pill is the only suitable contraception in your case, then make sure that you avoid sugar intake, exercise a lot, don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol often, have contrast showers, don’t eat fried / trans fats and generally follow a healthy lifestyle.

If you don’t, cellulite is almost inevitable. Of course, cellulite doesn’t kill and you can live with it and accept it. Apparently some people even love it…

But if you want to prevent it you must follow the above advice and if you wish to reduce it you will most probably need to have a course of deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and deep acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation, the strongest SAFE anti-cellulite technologies known today.

And perhaps apply daily or twice-daily a real cellulite cream, i.e. one with multiple, high-purity anti-cellulite actives in high concentrations, for further prevention.

Disclaimer

Never quit any medication without doctor’s permission. This article is strictly for informational purposes only and it does NOT aim to diagnose or treat any medical condition or to provide/replace medical advice. Always consult your doctor first and foremost.

Check our professional consultancy for a masterclass in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening? Attend a half-day, 1-day or 2-day or 3-day professional consultancy / one-to-one training and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible. Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.