The incidence of cellulite increases with the advent of modern society
Cellulite is a disease that requires ‘treatment’ and requires a different approach from general weight loss
It is often thought that, as you gain weight, you have cellulite, which is lumpy like an orange peel. If that is truth, thin people should not have cellulite, and if they lost weight, cellulite should also be gone, but it is not. Of course, gaining weight causes cellulite, but cellulite can also be caused by a variety of other causes.
When you look at the surface of the skin of severely obese people, you can see that there are bumps in places. This is cellulite, which mainly appears in obese people, so many people think that cellulite occurs only after gaining a lot of weight. This is why people try to exercise and diet to get rid of cellulite.
Moreover, since cellulite grows from the subcutaneous fat layer, it is easy to misunderstand that the subcutaneous fat layer is swollen from the outside, that is, it is caused by gaining weight. In fact, it is caused by swelling of the ‘matrix’ in the subcutaneous fat layer. The substance in the state of mucus between the cells of our body is called a matrix, and when this matrix becomes 'chronic inflammation' due to various problems, degeneration occurs within the tissue and fat, waste, and fibers are entangled. That's what cellulite is.
Cellulite makes it easy to gain weight, so cellulite is viewed on the same line as obesity. Dr. Sehyun Kim, a founder of Lynn clinic, said, “When tissue becomes inflamed, inflammatory substances move through the blood. A typical example is a substance called ‘cytokine’, and the more these substances are in the body, the more disturbing it is in obesity-related hormones such as ‘leptin’ (an appetite suppressant and satiety hormone) or ‘adiponectin’(a lipolytic hormone). It causes us to feel an appetite and eat. When the body becomes inflamed, that is, when cellulite occurs due to chronic inflammation of the matrix, it is easy to misunderstand that it is caused by eating a lot and gaining weight.”
So, how does the matrix that makes cellulite become an inflammatory state? According to Dr. Kim, the four causes of matrix contamination are obesity, overuse of muscles, leaky gut syndrome, and female hormones.
The first cause is ‘Obesity’. When fat accumulates too much in the body due to obesity, it interferes with blood and lymph circulation and makes the surrounding clean matrix messy. If you do something that causes obesity, you can say that fat cells and cellulite increase at the same time. The cellulite referred to here is ‘Hot Cellulite’, which is a chronic inflammation of the subcutaneous fat layer caused by excessive fat accumulation and is expressed as cellulite.
The second is ‘Overuse of muscles.’ You may have experienced swelling of your legs by wearing heels for a long time, or stiff and swollen shoulders after using them a lot. This is due to overuse of muscle tissue. Excessive use of any tissue causes damage and swelling. If this progresses chronically, degeneration and inflammation occur, which leads to deterioration of the matrix and the formation of cellulite. Cellulite here is ‘Cold Cellulite’, which appears as an inflammatory condition of the musculoskeletal system caused by incorrect posture, regardless of fat cells.
The third is ‘Leaky gut Syndrome’. The intestine plays a role in protecting the body from harmful substances that enter through food, but when the barrier built up by the intestinal mucosa cells is damaged by stress, alcohol, or various drugs, various bacteria and toxins enter the intestine. Various bacteria and toxins invade and exit the intestine and move through the blood vessels, causing an inflammatory reaction. This is leaky gut syndrome. With this, toxins and wastes contaminate the matrix, and it causes cellulite.
The last one is ‘Female hormones’. This is why cellulite is found more in women than men. Estrogen, a female hormone, play a role in increasing fat synthesis in fat cells. If estrogen is secreted a lot, it is easy to develop lipoedema-type cellulite even if you don’t eat a lot.
There is also a view that the incidence of cellulite increases as technology advances and the standard of living improves, that is, as we live in modern society. Compared to the old days, eating better and calorie intake increased, and using smartphones or computers in uncomfortable positions for a long time causes inflammation in our body little by little. Abundant food leads to obesity, and incorrect posture causes muscle problems and increase cellulite. It can also be related to the worsening of environmental pollution. Dr. Kim told that endocrine disrupting substances such as environmental hormones, heavy metals, and toxic substances accumulate not only in the subcutaneous fat layer but also in the matrix, which can cause cellulite.
Cellulite is different from what we think of as ‘normal flesh’. Therefore, if you simply try to manage cellulite in terms of weight loss, you will not lose weight, but rather, it may get worse.
Dr. Kim emphasized, “Cellulite is a kind of aging and inflammatory flesh. The inflamed flesh is in a state of ederma, so no matter how much you starve or exercise, it will not disappear. Cellulite is a disease that requires ‘treatment’ and requires a different approach from general weight loss.
