Six Myths and Facts About Treating Cellulite

Cellulite. Fat dimples. Cottage cheese. Orange-peel skin. Whatever you call it, if you’re a woman, chances are more likely than not that you’ll deal with the annoying appearance of cellulite at some point in your life. What exactly is cellulite and how can you get rid of this extra insulation? Dr. Beena Nagpal of Bella Medical Aesthetics in Columbia, Maryland, sets the record straight regarding some of the most popular myths and facts about treating cellulite.

Myth 1: You can only get cellulite if you’re overweight.

This might be one of the biggest misconceptions about cellulite in existence. When you’re overweight, you may certainly have more cellulite than you would at a healthier weight, but cellulite can strike women of all shapes and sizes. It’s partly hereditary, and hormones, diet, and age also play a role in who gets cellulite and who doesn’t.

When the connective tissue just under your skin’s surface becomes less elastic, fat deposits just below this tissue push through and become more visible. As age, hormones, and heredity cause connective tissue to weaken, you continue to have a cellulite problem, regardless of whether or not you’re overweight.

Myth 2: Liposuction gets rid of cellulite.

Liposuction gets rid of fat, but it can actually make your cellulite look even worse. Liposuction removes fat but doesn’t tighten your skin. Since cellulite is not just fat, but rather a problem involving weakened connective tissue, a treatment that helps tighten your skin may work better at minimizing the appearance of cellulite than liposuction can.

Myth 3: Your diet has nothing to do with the appearance of cellulite.

Although your diet alone can’t change the fact that you may have cellulite on your hips or thighs (two of the most common areas), what you eat can certainly affect how your cellulite looks. Consider eating a diet rich in foods with high water content like cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Vegetables with a high water content can help support your connective tissue as you age, and therefore, help minimize the appearance of unsightly fat dimples.

Additionally, a plant-heavy diet and drinking plenty of water every day helps reduce inflammation all over your body and can help you maintain a healthy weight — both of which minimize the appearance of cellulite.

Myth 4: Cardio is the best way to remove the cellulite jiggle.

Cardio workouts can certainly strengthen your heart and help prevent you from becoming overweight, but strength training to build lean muscle is much more effective at making cellulite disappear. When you add lean muscle and lose fat, you become more tone from underneath your skin, and you get a smoother overall appearance of what was once fatty tissue and cellulite. Strength training workouts out won’t totally get rid of your cellulite, but they can certainly have a positive impact on its visibility.

Myth 5: Skin-firming creams treat cellulite if you use them long enough.

This is only partly true. Skin-firming creams that contain retinoids (over-the-counter retinol) may help to thicken your skin and therefore provide camouflage to cellulite dimples, but they don’t actually treat the cellulite itself. And, unfortunately, the results are short-lived.

Myth 6: You’re just stuck with cellulite.

Again, this is only partly true. You can camouflage and smooth it out to some degree, but you aren’t necessarily just stuck with cellulite and its cottage-cheese texture on your skin. There are highly effective treatment options that make cellulite appear much less noticeable over time.

One of these treatments is the PelleFirm® Body Treatment System. The PelleFirm system is safe, noninvasive treatment that uses radiofrequency (RF) energy to massage and deeply heat the tissue beneath your skin where cellulite exists. When the RF energy heats up the tissue below your skin’s surface, it facilitates the movement of fluids so your body can eliminate them naturally.

After a series of PelleFirm treatments, cellulite is less noticeable, and you may only need touch-up treatments every six months or so to maintain your desired appearance. It’s that simple and long-lasting.

If you’re ready to minimize the appearance of cellulite, make an appointment to speak to Dr. Nagpal. She creates a customized plan for your specific needs. Call the office in Columbia, or schedule a consultation using the online booking system.