“Rumors of a cure are greatly exaggerated,” begins the latest New York Times article regarding the dreaded blight of cellulite. The article covers the typical cellulite banter. Anti-cellulite creams offer temporary results. Uh-huh. Treatments are a multi-million dollar business. We’re with you. Women are more physically predisposed to cellulite compared to men. You tell it, sister.
But do articles like this really add any value to the ongoing discussion on cellulite? There’s no shortage of cellulite diagnoses supporting the argument that “life is a crapshoot” and there’s just nothing you can do about it. This latest Times article is based on a review published in the April 2008 Journal of Drugs in Dermatology. Conducted by Dr. Molly Wanner, an instructor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, the review evaluates all the medical research on the efficacy of existing cellulite treatments, from light sources and lasers to radiofrequency devices and mechanical massage. The review concludes:
The best of the currently available treatments have, at most, shown mild improvements in the appearance of cellulite, most of which are not maintained over time. Studies about cellulite treatments are often limited by small patient groups, a lack of a control group, inadequate blinding of investigators, and a failure to test for statistical significance. Thus, the promise of cellulite reduction with any treatment should be regarded as speculation.
The New York Times author, Catherine Saint Louis, appears to reach a similar conclusion:
A lasting remedy would have to address the interplay between skin, fat, connective tissue and underlying muscle. In other words, curing cellulite requires nothing short of changing the structure of skin.
But is changing the structure of skin such an impossible feat? Isn’t it changing all the time, as anyone who suffers with acne will readily attest?
What Dr. Wanner’s review article really demonstrates is the extent to which the anti-cellulite business has failed to develop an effective treatment to cure cellulite. But after the scientists publish their inconclusive research, the journalists take over with their reports about how even attempting to treat cellulite is a hopeless cause. But maybe the cure for cellulite just isn’t conducive to a sixty-minute session at a trendy wellness clinic. Maybe it can’t be packaged in a pricey pump bottle. Maybe all those anti-cellulite researchers are barking up the wrong anti-cellulite tree.
What do you think? Are the rumors of the lack of a cure for cellulite greatly exaggerated?
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References:
Saint Louis, Catherine. “Treating Cellulite? It’s Still There,” The New York Times, 25 June 2009, p. E3.
Wanner, Molly and Mathew Avram. “An Evidence Based Assessment of Treatments for Cellulite,” Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, April 2008.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It's kind of crazy how much women are willing to spend on anti cellulite treatments that aren't even guaranteed to work!
I agree, El Bilson. Cellulite is too complex of a problem to be cured by a cream.