Kim Kardashian vs. cellulite

May 14th, 2008, 8:08 pm · 1 Comment · posted by Colin Stewart

(CORRECTION: The machine used to treat Kim Kardashian’s cellulite was a Velashape device. An earlier version of this post used a name belonging to an earlier model.)

Kim Kardashian in 2007 at age 26

Survey: Can you accept cellulite as something normal for adult women?

Actress Kim Kardashian has declared war on “a little bit of cellulite” that she hasn’t been able to eliminate from her thighs and rear by working out.

To try to remove the small lumpy deposits of fat that she sees “kind of everywhere,” she visited American Laser Centers for an episode of the reality-TV show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

Good luck to her, since no reputable cellulite treatment claims anything more than temporary relief.

In fact, the lumpy, dimpled fat that bothers many women is actually a secondary sex characteristic like breasts and wide hips, says Dr. Christopher Zachary, chairman of the Department of Dermatology at UCI Medical Center.

Nevertheless, it’s “Public Enemy No. 1” for many women, says dermatologist Ava Chambon of Santa Monica. She is restrained about what anti-cellulite treatments can accomplish. For example, Chambon classifies the statement “This device will get rid of your cellulite” as one of the world’s top lies, close behind “I’ll respect you in the morning.”

Common cellulite-fighting machines include Velasmooth from Syneron (of Irvine and Israel), Dermosonic from Sybaritic (of Minneapolis, Minn.) and Endermologie from LPG Systems (of France). Each of them combines tissue massage with other treatments, says plastic surgeon Dr. Tony Youn of Michigan, who prefers the Dermosonic device. It combines massage with ultrasound.

A newer device is the ThermaTip CL treatment for Thermage machines from Hayward-based Thermage Corp., which use radio-frequency waves to try to rejuvenate skin.

Kim Kardashian tried out a Velashape machine, the latest version of the Velasmooth device, as shown in this video.

Her cellulite isn’t visible in any of the photos here. The photo above is from last year, at age 26. The photos below are from this March and April, at age 27.

What's your attitude to cellulite? Is it ...

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