Cellulite and Estrogen

Cellulite is every woman's worst nightmare. It is that disgusting lumpy, dimpled, irregular fat that that suddenly just seems to appear on the hips, thighs and buttocks of 85% of women. Cellulite does not discriminate - it attacks skinny women, obese women, young women, and old women - as well as a small percentage of men. Cellulite can occur at any time from puberty through old age, and many believe is attributed to an estrogen imbalance. Cellulite is composed of fat, and so many women believe that getting rid of that fat is the only way to make the ugly dimples disappear. Unfortunately, in many cases losing weight won't do a thing to help you to help you eliminate cellulite.

Cellulite begins to become visible when two forces within your body find themselves working against each other. First, weakened connective tissue pulls down on the fat layers everyone has on their body, then excess fat and fluids push up. This causes the uneven, dimpled texture the fat beneath your skin begins to take on. However, the connective tissues should not be weakened, even with age, in a normal, healthy woman. So to really understand the causes of cellulite, we must understand how estrogen can effect the tissue.

Many believe that the weakened connective tissues and excess fats and fluids occur when there is an estrogen imbalance in the body. Estrogen plays many rolls for a woman, including softening the fibrous tissues of the womb right before birth. Unfortunately for many women's things, it has the same effect on the connective tissue that anchors the skin to the muscle. When the skin and muscle begin to separate, compartments are formed between them and the connective tissues where ugly fat deposits begin to form. The connective tissue, weakened by the excess estrogen production, pulls down on the skin and causes the stored fat to push up, resulting in the sudden appearance of those scary, dimply cellulite bumps. For some woman it is normal to have a little excess estrogen floating around in the body, but if this estrogen imbalance is complicated by bad circulation, the result is an increased appearance of cellulite.

Some women are so frustrated with having cellulite that they consider hormone therapy to combat the effects of having excess estrogen. However, playing with estrogen levels for the purpose of eliminating cellulite can be is very tricky because it can have a lot of complicated side effects. If a woman were to adjust the balance of the estrogen hormone in order to treat one symptom, imbalances in other hormones might suddenly occur causing problems in another area. Estrogen plays hundreds of different roles in the body and thus affects hundreds of different functions. A skilled endocrinologist or gynecologist should be consulted when considering estrogen hormone therapy.