Cellulite is a condition mostly found in women where there’s a dimpled appearance on the skin, most commonly on the thighs, legs, butt, and lower stomach area. This is caused by irregular patterns of connective tissue beneath the skin: the lumpiness itself is caused by fat deposits that are irregularly shaped and push against the connective tissue under the skin, thereby distorting it. Mind you, cellulite is in no way related to the disease cellulitis, which is a nasty bacterial infection of the skin (trust me, you’re glad you don’t have that).

The main determinant of cellulite is gender, followed by body fat percentage. If you’re female, you’re significantly more likely to have cellulite than if you’re male (it’s not unheard of in men, but it’s extremely rare), after that the most likely cause of cellulite is excess body fat in combination with a genetic predisposition to get cellulite (you may have the genes for it, but if your body fat percentage is low enough, you’ll never know it). Age can also influence how likely you are to get cellulite and how severe it will be–as you may have guessed, the older you are the worse the odds get. Skin thickness, diet, and whether or not you smoke can also play a role–just like with many other health problems, the better your diet and exercise regime, and not smoking, the better you’re going to look and feel.

There are several treatments currently available for getting rid of cellulite. You can go to a spa, many of them offer a deep tissue massage specifically targeted at cellulite, and these are, in fact, effective. Although, the caveat to these massages is that they are only a temporary solution and you will have to keep going back every couple of weeks or so to maintain the effects. In addition to that, the FDA has also recently approved laser light therapy for the temporary reduction of cellulite. Liposuction is a possible solution, but do keep in mind that it will require general anesthesia, you’re going to be in pain for a few weeks afterward, and it’s pretty expensive plus many insurance policies don’t cover it.

There are also various drugs that can be injected into the affected tissue, this is known as “mesotherapy”, but it is still considered controversial because the drugs being injected are not specifically approved by the FDA for the treatment of cellulite (this is known as a medication being used “off-label”, meaning that the drug is FDA approved and considered safe, it’s just not approved to treat the specific condition in question).

A quick bit of advice I can give you is to drink lots of water (I swear to you, the great majority of people are dehydrated most of the time, in all likelihood you don’t drink enough), stop smoking if you do, and do your very best to improve your diet and get more exercise. Just cutting out sodas and junk food will, I promise you, it will work wonders for you–I personally know three people who have lost between 20 and 60 pounds each just by completely eliminating soda and other junk food from their diets.

There are several other treatments available that are very effective at eliminating cellulite altogether, each with their various pros and cons, to learn about this and more I suggest seeing my article on how to get rid of cellulite where I discuss and explain things much more in depth.