How do cellulite creams work?

How can a cellulite cream reduce cellulite?

LipoTherapeia: Check our advanced skin tightening, phototherapy and cellulite treatments in London, based on the best technologies in the world and on more than two decades of experience over more than 20,000 sessions

• How can a cream reduce cellulite fat that lies deep in the dermis and hypodermis?

• What is a real cellulite cream?

• How fat cells accumulate and release fat in reaction to different chemicals

• How natural actives from a cellulite cream stimulate fat cells to release fat

• Why a high-concentration, multi-ingredient cellulite cream is needed for effective cellulite fat release

• No cellulite cream “burns” fat or melts(😂) fat

• Combine your cellulite cream with strict diet and exercise, for best results

• Spot cellulite reduction: when a cellulite cream works - and when it doesn’t

• One last thing: can spot fat reduction be achieved with a cellulite cream? CAn a cellulite cream be a slimming cream?

• Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment in London with the cellulite experts

• Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia

• The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening

How can a cream reduce cellulite fat that lies deep in the dermis and hypodermis?

Most people believe that cellulite creams do not “work” and I do not blame them given the hype, exaggeration, misinformation and fake “before and after” pictures regarding anything to do with cellulite out there - not just cellulite creams.

On the other hand, most people believe that cellulite creams do not get absorbed or it is “massaging a cream onto the skin that works”, not the cream per se.

These are ludicrous ideas propagated by ignorant “experts” that we have addressed in previous articles:

• Well-designed creams do get absorbed, all the way not just into the dermis/hypodermis, where cellulite lives, but also into the more deeply lying subcutaneous fat, as research has shown

• And no, the puny one minute of massaging a cellulite cream onto the skin does absolutely nothing. What ignorant mind has ever thought of that? If a cellulite cream works, it is not massaging the cellulite cream that works, it is the cream.

But even knowing that a cream can get absorbed, one may ask how can a cream reduce cellulite fat that lies in the dermis and hypodermis?

And this is the question I am going to answer here.

What is a real cellulite cream?

Before we explain how cellulite fat can be released from fat cells due to the action of a good cellulite cream, let’s first define what a good cellulite cream is.

A quality cellulite cream is one that contains:

• MULTIPLE natural active ingredients

• in high CONCENTRATIONS

• that are PROVEN by research papers to stimulate fat release from dermal and hypodermal fat cells and that also act on all other aspects of cellulite, i.e. microcirculation, fibrosis, collagen/elastin synthesis, glycation, free radical damage and inflammation

Why we need MULTIPLE actives and why we need them in HIGH CONCENTRATIONS will become apparent below.

In the meantime, let’s just make it clear that for profit maximisation purposes most cellulite creams are diluted and only contain a couple of cheap actives, even the rip-off expensive ones (especially the rip-off expensive ones).

So very, very few real cellulite creams exist on the market.

How fat cells accumulate and release fat in reaction to different chemicals

Like all fat cells in the body, your cellulite fat cells (dermal and hypodermal adipocytes) constantly release or accumulate fat in reaction to contact with various chemicals that reach their surface receptors.

These chemicals include, among others, hormones, neurotransmitters, adipokines, triglycerides (fat molecules), glucose, vitamins, aminoacids, peptides and phytochemicals.

These molecules can be derived from food or from topical application products, such as cellulite creams.

• If, for example, glucose is infused from the blood capillaries into the adipose tissue extracellular fluid (the fluid that surrounds a fat cell), the cell will react by absorbing this glucose and convert it into fat

• If triglycerides (fat molecules) reach the adipocyte (fat cell), they will also be absorbed

• If insulin is infused at the same time, glucose/triglyceride absorption increases

All the above lead to fat cell enlargement - certainly not a good thing for cellulite prevention/removal.

How natural actives from a cellulite cream stimulate fat cells to release fat

If, on the other hand, adrenaline/noradrenaline (the fight or flight hormones) are released locally/infused from the blood into the adipose tissue, as for example happens during exercise or intense dieting, the fat cell will release fat.

Then this fat will find its way via the blood circulation into the muscles and organs to be oxidised (burned) for energy.

• If a natural plant chemical mimicking adrenaline, such as forskolin attaches to adipocyte cell surface receptors, it will also stimulate fat release (lipolysis)

• If a natural plant chemical that maximises lipolysis, such as caffeine attaches to the fat cell receptor, lipolysis will increase further

Such actives can stimulate the fat cell to change its function towards fat release and can even make the to fat cell to die off early (this process is called adipocyte apoptosis).

All these things lead to fat cell shrinkage or even fat cell early death - certainly a good thing for cellulite prevention/removal.

Why a high-concentration, multi-ingredient cellulite cream is needed for effective cellulite fat release

Since one biochemical pathway usually is not enough to produce the results you are after, your fat-releasing cream should ideally contain multiple ingredients that act via several lipolytic pathways.

And of course, those ingredients should be in high enough concentrations to make an impact on your fat cells. Otherwise the message will be subdued and lost in the cacophony of messages received from hormones, triglycerides, glucose and other chemicals in the bloodstream.

In the same way lipolytic actives help reduce cellulite fat, multiple other active ingredients can help improve microcirculation, fibrosis, inflammation, oxidative damage, glycation and skin firmness/elasticity, i.e. all 7 aspects of cellulite

No cellulite cream “burns” fat or melts(😂) fat

As you can see, nowhere in this article there is any mention of “fat melting” or “fat burning”, because such things do not happen either with cellulite treatments or with cellulite creams.

Such claims are either marketing hype or simply misinformation given by ignorant practitioners/salespeople. If you bought a product or a service from anyone promising you that their treatment or product will “burn your fat” or “melt your fat”, they lied to you.

The facts are that:

• Triglycerides (fat) in adipocytes (fat cells) are already liquid. They do not need to melt down, thank you very much.

• Adipocytes do not melt down either. No scientist has ever seen a cell, any cell, “melting down”.

• And no triglyceride oxidation normally occurs at the adipocyte level. Triglycerides only get “burned” (oxidised) in muscles and organs.

[In certain fat cells, but NOT human cells, and definitely not cellulite fat cells, a fat cell can oxidise its own fat (in brown/beige/brite adipose tissue). This mainly happens in mice, it is extremely limited in humans and occurs only in tiny fat tissues near the base of the neck and shoulderblades.]

Combine your cellulite cream with strict diet and exercise, for best results

So you need:

• A cream with several active ingredients in significant concentrations

• Combined with a strict and healthy nutrition that does not encourage your fat cells to grow

• And ideally you also need to combine your cream application with some exercise that will give a helping hand to your cream in its fight against the flab

Why is that? Because exercise makes you secrete adrenaline and noradrenaline, which in turn stimulate fat release, adding to the lipolytic messages sent by the cellulite cream’s active ingredients.

This means that you should ideally apply your cellulite cream right before and/or right after exercise, for maximum results.

Spot cellulite reduction: when a cellulite cream works - and when it doesn’t

If these four conditions are met:

• multiple AND proven actives

• high concentrations

• healthy nutrition

• and exercise

…a cellulite cream CAN INDEED HELP YOU REDUCE CELLULITE.

• This is called spot cellulite reduction / topical cellulite reduction. Very few such creams exist on the market.

• This is in contrast to whole body cellulite reduction, which occurs with diet and exercise only, whose effects are unequally distributed throughout the body, due to genetics and current state of health/metabolism

On the other hand, a cream with only one or two active ingredients (or even a cream with multiple actives but in low concentrations) WILL SIMPLY NOT WORK. The vast majority of the so-called “cellulite creams” fall into this category.

Furthermore, applying EVEN THE BEST CELLULITE CREAM IN THE WORLD without a strict diet and exercise will achieve very little.

Again, as the terms ‘spot cellulite reduction’ / ‘topical cellulite reduction’ suggest, this reduction is localised, i.e. you cannot expect to lose pounds/kilos of fat - only superficial localised fat deposits (i.e. cellulite), where the cream is applied.

One last thing: can spot fat reduction be achieved with a cellulite cream? CAn a cellulite cream be a slimming cream?

Spot fat reduction refers to reduction of subcutaneous fat, which lies deeper to cellulite’s dermal/hypodermal fat.

If the subcutaneous fat deposits are small (i.e. when we are talking about a thin layer of subcutaneous fat), then yes, a good cellulite cream can in time reduce those fat deposits, perhaps not completely, but to a large extent.

But under no circumstances should you expect SIGNIFICANT subcutaneous fat deposits to be reduced with a cellulite cream or even with a cellulite treatment.

If you want significant local fat reduction, go for liposuction.

Efficient non-surgical “liposuction” only exists in marketing brochures, ignorant Internet articles and misleading Instagram posts - not in actual real life.

The only really efficient non-surgical liposuction is only possible with diet and exercise.

(Of course there exists the inefficient cryolipolysis, which works 40-50% of the time and almost solely on the stomach and waist. On arms and thighs fat freezing only works 10-20% of the time.)

Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment in London with the experts

At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.

This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.

As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.

Furthermore, over the last two decades we have developed advanced RF and cavitation treatment protocols in order to make the most of our technologies, for maximum results, naturally and safely.

And for even better, faster results, we now combine our RF/ultrasound treatments with high-power red/infrared light LED treatment.

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And our focus is on honest, realistic, science-based treatment, combined with caring, professional service, with a smile.

We will be pleased to see you, assess your cellulite, skin laxity or fibrosis, listen to your story, discuss your case and offer you the best possible treatment.

Learn more, check prices and book an expert cellulite / skin tightening treatment at our London clinic.

Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia

At LipoTherapeia we are passionate about phototherapy (also known as photobiomodulation/PBM, red light therapy, infrared light therapy, blue light therapy, LED light therapy etc) and we use the most powerful equipment available today (up to 200mW/cm2), for best results and treatment of large body areas.

We use specialised therapy protocols for skin rejuvenation / anti-ageing, pigmentation / post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH), moderate/severe acne, skin redness, sensitive/inflamed/irritated skin, wound healing, sports injuries / musculoskeletal pain and overall wellness / well-being.

Our LED phototherapy sessions are comfortable, deeply relaxing and super-safe and are great to enhance our radiofrequency/ultrasound treatments for skin tightening / cellulite reduction.

On our booking page you can book stand-alone phototherapy sessions or combine them with our other treatments, as an add-on.

Learn more or check prices and book an expert LED phototherapy treatment at our London clinic.

The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening

Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening?

Attend a half-day, 1-day, 2-day or 3-day one-to-one masterclass and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible.

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Learn more or check prices and book training at our London clinic or via Zoom.