Cellulite vs visceral fat vs subcutaneous fat: the differences

All you need to know about the different types of fat tissue, including what type of fat is cellulite

• Three main types of fat: visceral fat, subcutaneous fat and cellulite

• More types of fat

• Visceral fat: pro-inflammatory

• Subcutaneous fat: usually NOT pro-inflammatory

• Hypodermal fat / cellulite: as inflammatory as visceral fat - plus it doesn’t look good

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

Three main types of fat: visceral fat, subcutaneous fat and cellulite

Adipose (fat) tissue, i.e. what we call ‘body fat’, stores calories in the body in the form of ‘triglycerides’, which is the technical name for all fats and oils.

In addition, adipose tissue also secretes hormones-like substances, called adipokines, such as resistin, adiponectin, leptin, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and even estrogen. This function makes adipose tissue an endocrine organ, not just a calorie storage organ.

In fact, adipose tissue is the largest endocrine organ in the body - especially so in overweight people.

Quite often adipokines secreted by fat tissue cause chronic, low grade inflammation which act both locally (make the actual fat tissue inflamed and unhealthy) and on the entire body (causing anything from arthritis to heart disease).

There are three main types of fat, depending on where fat is located in the body:

• Visceral fat (fat deep in the abdomen)

• Subcutaneous fat (fat under the skin)

• Hypodermal fat (fat in the deeper layers of the skin itself, i.e. what people call ‘cellulite’)

More types of fat

In addition to these broad categories, there is also:

• Intramuscular fat (fat inside muscles, as in ‘marbled meat’ that we eat or that we also have inside our muscles)

• Peri-organ fat (fat around organs, such as the heart or kidneys)

• Intrahepatic fat (fat inside the liver, known as ‘fatty liver’)

• Perivascular fat (fat around blood vessels)

• Bone marrow adipose tissue (fat inside the bone)

• Brain fat

• Ectopic fat (i.e. out of place fat, as in lipomas)

• And more…

Visceral fat: pro-inflammatory

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT), aka omental adipose tissue, is found deep inside the abdomen (between and around your gut) and below your abdominal muscles and the fascia underneath them.

Visceral fat is known to be pro-inflammatory and to increase the risk of insulin resistance, diabetes, whole body inflammation and heart disease (in that respect, visceral fat is only second to intrahepatic fat).

This deep belly fat is the cause of the “pot belly” or “beer belly” appearance and can only be reduced by diet, exercise, and lately, with medication such as Ozempic and Mounjaro. Visceral adipose tissue is not accessible by liposuction or by any other surgical or non-surgical treatment

If someone tells you they can reduce visceral fat with surgery or - even worse - with non-surgical method, they simply lie.

In addition to visceral fat, you may also have superficial (subcutaneous) fat on your stomach, which can further increase the size of the ‘belly’.

And on top of the subcutaneous fat you may even have hypodermal fat, i.e. what is known as cellulite. More on those two, below.

Subcutaneous fat: usually NOT pro-inflammatory

Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), is literally “fat tissue under the skin”, as the name suggests.

This is what most people refer to as “fat”, e.g. fat cheeks, fat under-chin, fat arms, fat bum, fat thighs, fat calves, the superficial belly fat we mentioned just above etc.

Subcutaneous fat is generally thought to NOT be pro-inflammatory, unlike visceral fat and NOT to increase the risk of insulin resistance, diabetes, whole body inflammation and heart disease. Subcutaneous fat just makes you bigger (and “flabbier”).

Sure the extra weight is not good for your joints and with time it may eventually become inflamed, but generally it isn’t very inflammatory, as visceral fat is.

But definitely subcutaneous fat is not anti-inflammatory, as some people suggest. It serves as a dumping ground for excess calories in the body, so they do not end up in visceral adipose tissue, but that’s where its anti-inflammatory action ends.

Subcutaneous fat can be reduced by diet and exercise and it can also be removed by liposuction.

Non-surgical subcutaneous fat removal is largely ineffective and inefficient - don’t bother:

• Cryolipolysis offers a 50% chance of success in fat reduction on the stomach/waist area; and 10% chance of success in any other body area

• Any other non-surgical method is generally ineffective

If there was an effective, efficient and SAFE non-surgical fat reduction that worked at least 80% of the time, we would already offer it at the clinic.

If someone tells you they can remove large amounts of subcutaneous fat with ANY non-surgical method, they simply lie.

Hypodermal fat / cellulite: as inflammatory as visceral fat - plus it doesn’t look good

On top of the subcutaneous fat lies a thin layer of fibrous fat (i.e. fat compartmentalised by collagen sheaths and surrounded by perpendicular to the surface collagen strands).

This fat:

• Lays above the subcutaneous fat and is separated from it by a thin layer of collagen, called intermediate fascia

• Lays below the dermis (middle skin layer) and is an integral part of the skin, called hypodermis

Hypodermal adipose tissue behaves differently to subcutaneous adipose tissue, in that is is as prone to inflammation as visceral fat. Plus it is prone to fibrosis (quite often fibrosis goes hand in hand with inflammation).

Both inflammation and fibrosis are hallmarks of what is called cellulite.

Those two properties make cellulite, especially progressed, inflamed, fibrous cellulite, a very unhealthy tissue.

Cellulite / hypodermal fat is also NOT removable by liposuction.

If someone tells you they can remove cellulite with liposuction, they simply lie.

Furthermore, non-surgical cellulite removal is largely ineffective and inefficient with most techniques and treatments.

Deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and deep acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation, however, are the two main techniques that are effective (i.e. that “work”), SAFE and efficient (i.e. that work with a reasonable number of sessions, about 6-12).

If someone tells you they can remove cellulite with one or two very expensive, very dangerous painful sessions, they simply lie.

A very small number of creams with:

• multiple

• high-purity

• high-concentration actives

…can also reduce cellulite in a slower (but more economical) way than treatments.

And no, a simplistic 2% caffeine-only cream won’t cut it - we all wish it was that easy and cheap…

Obviously, the combination of healthy nutrition, exercise, intensive treatments and concentrated creams will offer the fastest, most impressive results.

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

Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening? Attend an 1-hour, half-day, 1-day or 2-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.