Do cellulite creams work? Do they even get absorbed?

• “Cellulite creams do not get absorbed, it’s the massage that you do while applying the cream that works”…

• Fake news vs scientific evidence regarding cosmetic product absorption

• Decades of application in not just cosmetics but also in pharmaceuticals

• What regulatory authorities say about skincare product absorption

• Not all cosmetic products are equal, of course

• Penetration enhancers

• The 500 Dalton rule on natural skincare active absorption

• Epidermal and dermal/hypodermal communication

• Urban myth

• Have a cellulite treatment in London with the cellulite experts

• Discover our professional training and consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency and ultrasound cavitation

“Cellulite creams do not get absorbed, it’s the massage that you do while applying the cream that works”…

…says the shallow magazine article. And a few pages later “This miracle cellulite cream will banish your cellulite in minutes”, says another silly article.

Sounds familiar?

You suffer from cellulite, you want to know if a cream or a treatment might help, you open a newspaper, magazine or website (I hope you don’t look on Instagram or TikTok 😂) and you find those two pearls of immense wisdom from the same magazine/newspaper/website, usually a few pages (or a few days) apart.

Fake news vs scientific evidence regarding cosmetic product absorption

Most people are misled by ignorant so-called beauty "experts" to believe that cosmetic products do not get absorbed by the skin.

This is in contrast to a huge body of scientific evidence, comprising entire textbooks and thousands of research papers written on the subjects of dermal/cutaneous and transdermal/transcutaneous absorption, and aesthetic/pharmaceutical application of that scientific knowledge for several decades, which shows exactly the opposite.

At the time of updating this article there were ~22,000 science papers on the subject of transdermal absorption; ~7,000 papers on the subject of cutaneous absorption; and more when searching about different terms.

All in all, well over ~30,000 papers in the field of cosmetic product absorption. So what do you think, creams don’t get absorbed?

In terms of textbooks, here is a short list for not just absorption by the skin, but actually absorption through the skin into the body:

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Topical-Transdermal-Drug-Delivery-Principles/dp/0470450290

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Percutaneous-Penetration-Enhancers-Second-Edition/dp/0849321522

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transdermal-Drug-Delivery-Systems-Pharmaceutical/dp/082470861X

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transdermal-Drug-Delivery-Adrian-Williams/dp/0853694893

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Skin-Barrier-Principles-Percutaneous-Absorption/dp/3805563264

I suppose those “beauty experts” who claim creams do not get absorbed prefer to post shallow “content” on Instagram and TikTok rather than opening one of these books.

Decades of application in not just cosmetics but also in pharmaceuticals

Anti-ageing, anti-cellulite and other skincare creams do get absorbed and manufactures can formulate them to be more absorbable or less absorbable, according to the desired effect:

• A good example of designing for minimal absorption are sun protection creams and lotions, where we desire skin absorption to be absolutely minimised

• On the other hand, a good example of formulating for maximal absorption are anti-ageing or anti-cellulite creams, where we do want the actives to penetrate not just the epidermis, but also to reach the dermis and hypodermis

• And a good example of formulating for really deep absorption are medicated creams, ointments and gels, such as male/female hormone creams, contraceptive patches, anti-inflammatory gels/creams and many more, which aim to - and they provenly do - penetrate straight through the skin

These creams, gels and ointments are proven in rigorous, pharmaceutical-level clinical studies to be absorbed, to work as medicines and indeed to be approved by regulatory authorities as absorbed and clinically effective.

Sorry, but those doctors who one day claim that creams don’t get absorbed and the next day they prescribe pharmaceutical ointments, creams and gels, have no excuse. They should know their field better and/or stop being so narrow minded.

In short: creams and gels do get absorbed. Period.

What cosmetic regulatory authorities say about skincare product absorption

Well, cosmetic regulatory authorities also have a different opinion to said “experts”.

In fact, cosmetic regulatory authorities around the world impose VERY strict limits on how much of each chemical, natural or man-made, can be contained in each product.

Both the EU and UK, for example, have extremely stringent such limits and cosmetic companies must provide a full list of ingredients together with a safety toxicological report based on upper inclusion limits.

EU legislation explicitly states that cosmetic ingredients are absorbed into the body, not just by the skin, and must be used in appropriate, safe amounts

In fact, there are multiple studies of cosmetic absorption of thousands of chemicals into the skin and through the skin into the body, upon which EU and UK legislation is based.

So who do you think knows better? The thousands of scientists and dozens of government regulatory bodies, or the TikTok “beauty experts”?

Of course the upper safe limit of something like vitamin C is very high, while the upper limit for some chemicals is very low.

But in all cases, cosmetic product approval by the EU and UK regulatory authorities (the strictest in the world) depends on adhering to these inclusion and absorption limits.

(The US has recently modernised its cosmetic regulatory framework according to the EU model.)

I suppose no beauty “expert” or doctor ever bothered to look into any of that legislation, even in summary.

Not all cosmetic products are equal, of course

Of course, that is not to say that all cosmetic products are designed well and with active ingredient absorption in mind.

Many skincare products contain so little in the way of active ingredients (i.e. less than 0.1%) that there is not even a point in enhancing absorption, especially when you have marketing to easily fill the void of poor ingredient content. (You just bombard the gullible public with endless amounts of marketing BS and active ingredient content doesn’t matter anymore…)

And many skincare products are mis-formulated and end up being absorbed poorly.

The sad truth it that it is marketing that sells cosmetics, not quality.

However, just because active ingredients and their absorption are not even a priority for many cosmetic companies, this does not mean that all “skincare creams do not get absorbed”.

Penetration enhancers

Natural penetration enhancers (and reversely, penetration inhibitors, if needed), such as:

• liposomes

• niosomes

• phytosomes

• special silicon compounds

• special fatty acids, such as palmitate, myristate, acetate etc

• sugar molecules

• emulsifiers

• and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, among others

…are some of the many dermal skin delivery mechanisms proven to help penetrate into the skin and deliver active molecules inside the cells.

The 500 Dalton rule on natural skincare active absorption

Most active ingredients in skincare are small molecules with a molecular weight below 500 Dalton.

The small molecule size allows them to penetrate the skin efficiently and this is called the 500 Dalton rule for active ingredient absorption (click the link for more info).

Epidermal and dermal/hypodermal communication

Furthermore, even epidermal (i.e. superficial) absorption affects the deep skin layers, i.e. the dermis and hypodermis.

The last few years there is more and more talk and research about the communication between the epidermis and the dermis/hypodermis.

Scientists have found that active ingredients in the epidermis can affect the more deeply lying dermis and hypodermis via communication signals between the different skin layers, previously unknown to us.

And this can explain how some products that are known not to penetrate too deeply into the skin can actually have effects in deeper skin tissues.

Of course, this is new science and not all actives have effects deep into the skin, but the fact that we do not need to have huge absorption levels deep into the skin is great news for skincare and bad news for the ignorant naysayers who think all cosmetic products just sit on the stratum corneum and basically do almost nothing.

Urban myth

Clearly, the urban myth of "creams do not get absorbed" is exactly that: an urban myth propagated by the usual hear-say of misinformed "experts".

Literally thousands of studies have been contacted by cosmetic ingredient manufacturers, cosmetic product manufacturers, regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical companies and universities, and whole volumes of books have been written on dermal/transdermal absorption and skin penetration.

Yet some people (from bloggers to doctors) keep maintaining that the earth is flat. On the other hand, these same people advocate naive methods, such as the application of ground coffee beans on the skin for the reduction of cellulite 😂.

Of course, the very little caffeine contained in the ground coffee is firmly bound to the fibrous structure of the coffee beans, making it absolutely impossible to release caffeine ONTO the skin just by rubbing the coffee grounds on it. And we are not even talking about releasing caffeine INTO the skin.

Oh well…

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Discover our professional training and consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency and ultrasound cavitation

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 masterclass and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible. Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.