What Is Cellulite?

Cellulite is a term coined in European salons and spas in the early days to describe the dimpled skin appeared on the thighs, hips and buttocks of many women.

This dimpling appearance comes from pockets of fat stored in the fibrous, connective tissue just beneath the skin. Think of it as a honeycomb where little globules of fat are stored in panels. When you got too much fat in each panel, they bulge and push against the skin, thereby forming the "cottage cheese" appearance.

Interestingly, this cellulite fat is no different from the fat found elsewhere in your body such as your facial fat. It's the way in which connective tissue, fat, blood flows and lymphatic drainage are intertwined to thicken and harden under the skin in the affected areas that form cellulite.

What Causes Cellulite to Form?

When fat cells inside the subcutaneous layer expand, the overall fat tissue will push upward. This causes the collagen bonds (also known as septae) holding both the upper and lower end of subcutaneous layer to taut, which in turn results in the uneven surface of the skin.

This outer irregular surface of skin looks like "orange peel" under white light, which many women deem it ugly and causes them to give up on their favorite hot pants or bikini wear.

However, do not take it that only women with fat thighs and buttocks will have cellulite formed on the skin, women with slim or lean thighs couldn't escape far either.

That's because besides the fat cell expansion that causes cellulite to form on the skin, the muscle tissues right underneath the fat layer are just as important. When these muscles in your cellulite zones are soft, limp and un-toned, it makes your skin and the fat layer to also be soft and limp and uneven, causing the skin to 'dimple' and pucker, hence giving you the appearance of "cellulite".

Though cellulite appearance in slim women may not seem as worse as that occurring in obese women, it's nonetheless a pain in the butt for most women who are plagued by it.

Take note that cellulite is not a physical entity that you can simply get rid of. It's a condition that appears when you introduce more fat into the cellulite-prone areas or you got weak muscle structure in those cellulite zones. In other words, even though you manage to "remove" the cellulite and smoothen your skin, that doesn't mean cellulite has vanished completely. Try pinching the skin on the affected areas and you'll still see the "orange peel".

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