We’ve all heard the slang for it: hail damage, orange peel, cottage cheese. It’s cellulite, and the only thing we dislike worse than the ugly slang, is actually having it. The team at MedSpa at ChristiMD knows how to treat cellulite in Houston.
We can help you even out—or even erase—those unwanted dimples. And we can help you firm up those trouble spots to look and feel your best.
Contact us, or set up an appointment, and let’s talk about how to treat your cellulite. Plus, read on for procedure possibilities at our medical spa in Houston.
What is cellulite?
Most people think that cellulite is just extra fat that has collected under the skin. That is both right, and wrong.
The formation of cellulite, that dimpled appearance of skin usually over areas of collected fat, is actually caused by fibrous bands that connect your skin to your muscles.
As fat cells accumulate and expand in those areas—usually the thighs, buttocks, and stomach—the fat pushes up against the skin. The fibrous bands pull the skin down at their tether points, and voila: the dimpled look of cellulite.
What causes cellulite?
Unfortunately, not much is known about the causes of cellulite. Since it’s not a life-threatening condition, it doesn’t receive an overt amount of attention from the medical world. There have been some causative factors identified, even if that primary cause itself is not known in any detail.
Weight gain
Obviously weight gain in the form of fat accumulation makes the issue apparent. Also, hormonal factors can influence the development of cellulite, along with a person’s genetics. Oddly enough, even people who are physically fit can have cellulite.
Your sex
Cellulite occurs significantly more in women than in men. Most women—even that body toning goddess BFF of yours—developed at least some cellulite after puberty. For women, our fat is usually carried in the thighs, hips, and buttocks, which as we mentioned are the most common cellulite locations.
Aging
The aging process also creates more cellulite as skin loses collagen and elastin, becoming thinner and less pliable. This makes dimpling underneath the skin even more noticeable.
Inflammation
When damage or disease injures tissue, your body’s response—immune, vascular, cellular, or a combination—inflames the tissue. Like an accumulation of fat deposits, this enlarged tissue pushes against the fibrous strands, causing the appearance of cellulite.
Grades of cellulite
Aestheticians and medical providers follow a grading system for defining the severity of cellulite. The 3 grades of cellulite include:
- Grade 1. The mildest appearance of cellulite, shows with an “orange peel” look with slight dimpling and up to 4 minor skin depressions.
- Grade 2. This mid-level appearance shows more intense ripples with a “cottage cheese” look to the skin. Grade 2 shows with 5 to 9 medium skin depressions.
- Grade 3. The most severe of the 3 shows with deep rippling of the skin, and 10+ deep depressions. Some descriptions include a “mattress” look to the cellulite.
How to get rid of cellulite—or not
We have good news and bad news. The good news is you can most definitely treat cellulite in Houston! However, you cannot get rid of cellulite. Nature built us that way, and that way will stay. You can never completely eliminate cellulite, but you can improve its appearance.
How to treat cellulite’s appearance
There are ways to lessen the severity of cellulite. Some you can do on your own, and others your aesthetic provider can offer for effective options.
Lose weight
Since the appearance of cellulite is usually caused by increased fat deposits, burning off the felt helps decrease cellulite.
Start with your diet, eating healthier with less fat-inciting foods. Those donuts? Yeah, they’re cellulite fuel, so reduce (or eliminate) them. Add in exercise, and over time you should see a reduction in the grade level of your cellulite. The fat doesn’t go away, but the cells shrink and collapse, eliminating the “bulge.”
Keep in mind that even slim, trim people can have cellulite, because sometimes the fat refuses to be lessened. Hereditary factors play a large role in this situation. But a healthy diet and exercise regimen will not only positively affect the appearance of most cellulite, they make you feel better all the way through. Ask your aesthetic provider about nutrition plans and workout routines that can help you help yourself.
Body sculpting
Your aesthetic provider may offer body sculpting as a way to target fat cells and remove them permanently. Body sculpting (also known as body contouring) reshapes specific areas of your body.
Though body sculpting can remove fat cells forever, it doesn’t work as a weight loss plan. The fat cells that remain can grow larger, effectively “regaining” weight. Also, when body sculpting methods increase muscle mass, muscles weigh more than fat!
If you want the best results, healthy eating habits and regular exercise must be part of your body sculpting goals. Otherwise, you’ll erase your achievements by that poor diet’s inevitable weight increase.
When you’re ready to feel healthy, be healthy, and stay healthy, you can use these body sculpting methods to help erase the appearance of cellulite.
Emsculpt NEO®
Non-invasive, non-surgical procedures allow you to address problem areas without surgery and the associated lengthy recovery periods. One such technique is Emsculpt Neo. This procedure gives you firmer, tighter results in your target area, increasing muscle definition while permanently decreasing body fat.
Each 30-minute procedure applies high-intensity focused electromagnetic energy (HIFEM®) to your target area. This energy causes the muscles to contract up to 20,000 times per session. Imagine doing that many crunches in a single workout! Your muscles
Simultaneously, Emsculpt NEO applies radiofrequency (RF) heating, which kills fat cells. Your body naturally flushes those cells over time, permanently removing them. The eliminated fat cells do not grow back.
Clinical studies confirm that Emsculpt Neo averages an increase of 25% more muscle, and a decrease of 30% less fat in the treatment areas. Since these are averages, your results will vary.
Cellulite Soundwave Solutions
Most of the non-invasive treatment options for cellulite have been focused around lasers and topicals. These procedures and home-remedies deliver minimal success. But there is a non-invasive body treatment which offers clinically-proven results: Cellulite Soundwave Solutions.
The Cellulite Soundwave Solutions procedure utilizes the same technology for cellulite, skin tightening, and non-invasive body shaping. Using soundwaves to disrupt cellulite and localized adiposity, Cellulite Soundwave Solutions works for all skin types, with zero downtime.
Secret® RF Pro Skin Tightening & Smoothing
Secret RF Pro Skin treatments introduce radiofrequency microneedling to the target area. This procedure effectively tightens the skin, causing the surface to appear more smooth and uniform.
The Secret RF Pro treatment addresses skin laxity—sagging skin—by helping the skin to produce more collagen and elastin. These two natural proteins cause skin to appear more youthful and vibrant, and can firm the dimpled appearance of cellulite to a more even texture.
IPL Light Therapy
IPL—intense pulsed light therapy—targets colors in your skin with several wavelengths of light. This energy penetrates into your dermis, below your top layer of skin, heating the cells there. That heat destroys the pigment, and can even kill hair follicles to prevent unwanted hair growth.
Similar to other treatments, IPL Light Therapy promotes collagen and elastic production, firming your skin as it evens out the pigmentation. A clinical study has reported positive results in cellulite treatment while undergoing IPL light therapy.
Other treatment options
Scientific research has not yet addressed several other possibilities for cellulite treatment. These can include laser procedures, acoustic wave therapies, massages, and more invasive techniques that break up the cellulite-forming connective tissue bands.
The aesthetics industry also offers medications and creams that are said to help, due to their actions on fatty tissues. Others propose positive results through improved cellular metabolism and blood circulation.
Make sure your aesthetic provider is board certified, and then ask about the efficacy of their cellulite treatments. It’s perfectly reasonable to request to see before-and-after pictures of specific treatments. You may also want to ask for research data on the treatment’s efficacy.
Cellulite: here to stay, but not always here to see
Cellulite, like taxes, is a forever kind of thing. But the appearance of that cellulite can be greatly reduced, or sometimes eliminated, through your own efforts and choices, along with help from your qualified aesthetic provider.
Remember that cellulite is caused by the bands of tissue connecting your skin to your muscles. The growth of fatty deposits exacerbates the appearance of cellulite, so decreasing unwanted fat, combined with healthy lifestyle changes, work to treat the appearance of cellulite.
Talk to your aesthetic provider, discuss realistic, attainable goals, and then work together toward a happier, healthier you.
Less cellulite makes you feel better about your body. Feel better about your love life too, with Cliovana.
MedSpa at ChristiMD knows how to treat cellulite in Houston
Contact the team at ChristiMD Medical Group for more information. You can schedule a consultation online, or call us for answers about how to treat cellulite.
In Houston and the surrounding cities—The Woodlands, Sugarland, La Porte, Galveston, and more—Dr. Christi Pramudji’s pioneering pelvic health and regeneration work has helped thousands of women heal and get their lives back.
Discover better doctors, better techniques, and better results at MedSpa at ChristiMD.
