Dimples are unsightly if located in your thighs, hips, buttocks and stomach. While not a matter of life or death, the occurrence of cellulite – which incidentally happens in almost 90% of women – is bothersome enough to merit attention and desperate measures from women. After all, looking good, or not, in revealing clothes does have a certain impact on women’s confidence.
Just under the skin, there is a layer of fat connected to the skin by a band called septae. When collagen breaks down unevenly, as they eventually do in old age, the septae pull tighter in certain areas and loosen their grip in others, thus creating the lumpy appearance. Cellulite is aggravated by obesity, as a thicker fat layer can be tugged down hard by septae, creating a more pronounced, dimpled look.
While there is no cure for this unsightly condition, there are plenty of things that can be done to minimize their appearance. Losing weight definitely helps, although exercises – even those that tone the thighs and target other specific areas – will only minimize their appearance and not totally banish them. In fact, sometimes the opposite is true: Shedding pounds loosen the skin, and this makes cellulite more noticeable.
Diet also plays a huge role in losing and maintaining weight, but not in directly eliminating cellulite. Even creams that are purported to shrink fat cells, like those that contain caffeine and retinol, only impart short-lived benefits. Longer lasting effects on reducing the appearance of cellulite also require longer treatment by retinol and/or caffeine. But this does not address the underlying issue of fat elimination. Retinol, for example, thickens the skin, thereby masking the appearance of dimples.
A more promising approach to reducing cellulite is the use of light therapy using infrared and magenta light to control the lumpy appearance by triggering the release of fat in the cells and stimulating the production of collagen to make skin more elastic. This light-based technology also revascularizes (restores and even improves normal blood circulation) the treated areas, softens fibrous tissues and incorporates vacuum sub-dermal massage to tone the skin for it to regain its proper form. A few sessions may need to be completed to achieve the desired effect which is longer-lasting compared to other modalities.