The possibilities of eliminating cellulite are limited by the attitude of many people towards this problem in society. Since cellulite is a female skin defect in the vast majority of cases, it is often considered a cosmetic defect. The fact is that women in modern society are strongly influenced by beauty standards, one of which is smooth skin on all parts of the body. Thus, the cellulite problem becomes an excellent opportunity for manufacturers to raise profits by coming up with miracle cures for cellulite.
Advertising and imposing on women the desire to immediately cure this skin defect forces them to buy special creams, most of which do not work. So, valuable time is lost when a competent doctor can help cope with the problem. Because of some culturally held views of the standards of female beauty, women may even experience shame for not meeting them. They may be embarrassed to seek medical help because of their sense of wrongness. The ethical issue in treating cellulite is to prevent competent treatment from companies that profit from advertising and selling ineffective anti-cellulite products. Obviously, cellulite is a problem that affects the female part of society. Due to existing stereotypes about female beauty, many women are embarrassed by this problem. Cultural pressure is another problem that hinders the proper treatment of this disease.
The etiology of cellulite is still unclear: the question remains whether it is a structural problem of the connective tissue or is associated with hormonal causes. The lack of standardization of the test protocol, objective means to quantify cellulite improvement and severity, and short-term follow-up makes it difficult to study the effectiveness of cellulite treatment (Bass & Kaminer, 2020). Not knowing what causes this nuisance makes it nearly impossible to treat. As described above, finding the best treatment options is complicated by the cultural and ethical paradigm surrounding this issue. The main research question is: What are the ethical and cultural issues that complicate the process of cellulite treatment?
The Ethical Issues of Cellulite
The question disclosed in this study is as follows: How do money, power, and control matters relate to the cellulite problem and its treatment? The study of the history of the term, and the role of the media in shaping the idea of the problem of cellulite, suggests that the difficulties in treating cellulite are associated with a negative public perception of this skin defect.
The first to talk about the problem of cellulite was from the pages of popular magazines, focusing mainly on the female audience. The term ‘cellulite’ appeared in 1968, first mentioned in “Vogue magazine.” However, the initial mention of ‘cellulite’ in the medical sense had nothing to do with how fashion magazines covered this problem. The 1873 Dictionary of Medicine’s definition of cellulite had nothing to do with dimples on the thighs. This term has been used as a general term to describe cells and tissues in a state of inflammation. Cellulite leaped medical textbooks to the mainstream lexicon sometime around the turn of the century, losing its true definition along the way.
The concept of female beauty and the problem of cellulite were specially developed during the First World War. Just at this time, the concept appears that women can and should control the state and shape of their bodies. The fashion for corsets has been replaced by a fashion for debilitating diets and nutrition systems. Previously, fullness was considered a sign of prosperity, but thinness has become the standard, seen as a personal achievement and a form of higher self-control. The cellulite problem is also beginning to take hold in society as a form of loss of control over one’s body, a manifestation of lack of will.
Thus, before the appearance of the first articles on cellulite, no one thought about the need for its treatment or its perception as a problem in principle. Women’s magazines in Paris were full of headlines about the emergence of miraculous treatments for cellulite, and letters from readers to publishers became more and more concerned. For a long time remaining a French concern, cellulite mania eventually spread abroad, primarily to the United States. In addition, sci-fi inventions often appear on the market to help women get rid of cellulite for good. Modern ways to reduce cellulite are monopolar radiofrequency, ultrasound, mechanical disruption, subcision, lasers, diet, and massage (Cosmetic Dermatology, 2022). None of them is effective: cellulite will return sooner or later anyway. The most annoying thing about this issue is that the anti-cellulite media campaign is making money for cosmetics manufacturers and cosmetologists, and many women are left alone with their problems, spending money on useless treatments.
Considering the information above, the question can be put in more detail: What difficulties in the treatment of cellulite are caused by the ethical side of this issue? Advertising campaigns against cellulite may cause women to feel ashamed and not seek medical help. Also, the existence of a huge number of ineffective means of combating cellulite interferes with the competent study of this skin defect.
The imposition of the need to urgently get rid of cellulite by advertising is absolutely unethical. This approach makes women feel inferior and strive to get out of this state as soon as possible. Cellulite is a huge problem for modern cosmetic surgery: cellulite treatment is tedious and expensive, and its effectiveness is questionable (Tokarska et al., 2018). Women go for procedures with unpredictable results and use useless creams and inappropriate physical exercises. All this leads to the fact that the problem remains unresolved, and companies receive a stable income. Women do not seek qualified medical care and do not receive proper treatment. This leads to the widespread belief that cellulite cannot be cured at all. Thanks to the efforts of advertising, effective treatments are impossible to develop if everyone prefers to resort to easier, albeit completely pointless, ways to hide this skin defect.
The Cultural Issues of Cellulite
The question is the following: Which cultures or societies are most affected by the cellulite problem and why? Cellulite is considered a female problem, hence a number of complications regarding the standards of female beauty. The imposed idea of the need to have smooth skin forces women to fight cellulite in a variety of ways. This directly affects the difficulty of finding the right cellulite treatment.
The need to pursue the idea of getting rid of cellulite obsesses women since this skin defect is present in a large part of the population. Men can also suffer from cellulite, but this is not so common. In healthy men, cellulite is rare but may occur due to diseases that lead to androgen deficiency or require estrogen therapy (Sadick, 2019). The problem of cellulite treatment also lies in the cultural paradigm that has been built around this issue. This applies to stereotypes around female beauty, because of which women are constantly forced to be ashamed of their bodies.
Society has a well-established understanding of how a woman should look, and cellulite clearly does not fit into this notion of an ephemeral ideal. The presence of cellulite is considered a manifestation of weakness and lack of sufficient control over diet or exercise. The truth is that cellulite appears regardless of weight, although excess fat mass can be an additional cause of its occurrence. The depressing fact is that sufficient research on this problem simply does not exist. This may be a consequence of the disadvantage of studying the problem for corporations and society as a whole: effective treatment of cellulite will lead to the destruction of the cosmetics business and the loss of control over a huge part of women.
A more detailed question might be: how do cultural stereotypes and perceptions affect the difficulties of treating cellulite? Medical research can be influenced by public sentiment, which is what happened with cellulite. Lack of research on the subject has led to the lack of effective and high-quality treatment for this skin defect. The problem of cellulite, which affects a large part of society, still remains unresolved.
Societal standards for women’s bodies are constantly changing from era to era, and this should be remembered. If fuller female bodies, and with it cellulite, come back into fashion in a few decades, this does not mean that the medical search for a treatment for this skin defect should stop. Unfortunately, medical research is also directly affected by public sentiment. Therefore, the search for competent cellulite treatment should not rely on public attitudes towards it.
The emergence of an effective and competent medical treatment for cellulite would make many women more self-confident, which does not fit into the patriarchal paradigm of society. The imposition of non-existent ideals is the easiest way to control people who forget about truly important things in a senseless race for beauty. In addition, women feel compulsive and guilty because of the cellulite problem; many think that this is a sign of weakness and lack of self-control. Therefore, women do not go to doctors, considering their problem not serious and blaming themselves for its appearance. This leads to the lack of a competent medical study of the problem and the development of effective ways to eliminate it.
Conclusion
Thus, the search for the causes of cellulite and effective treatment methods is complicated by ethical and cultural issues. Effective medical treatment for cellulite does not benefit cosmetic companies that do business selling anti-cellulite creams, liposuction, and laser cellulite treatment. The cultural attitude towards the problem of cellulite imposes on women a sense of guilt for the appearance of this skin defect, which prevents them from seeking medical help. Finding an effective treatment for cellulite will require a lot of effort to resist stereotypes, cultural and ethical attitudes towards this problem. However, these searches are necessary since cellulite is currently the problem of most women who do not know how to deal with it.
References
Bass, L. S., & Kaminer, M. S. (2020). Insights into the pathophysiology of cellulite: A review. Dermatologic Surgery, 46(1), S77-S85. Web.
Draelos, Z.D. (Ed.). (2022). Cosmetic dermatology: Poducts and procedures. 3rd edition. Wiley.
Sadick, N. (2019). Treatment for cellulite. International Journal of Women’s Dermatology, 5(1), 68-72. Web.
Tokarska, K., Tokarski, S., Wozniacka, A., Sysa-Jedrzejowska, A., & Bogaczewicz, J. (2018). Cellulite: A cosmetic or systemic issue? Contemporary views on the etiopathogenesis of cellulite. Advances in Dermatology and Allergology, 35(5), 442-446. Web.