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How many modern women have gazed at the nudes in Renoir's "Grandes Baigneuses" and wished those fleshy knees and dimpled thighs would be so lovingly immortalized today? These days, those bathers would be described as showing "orange-peel skin," or "the mattress effect." Or maybe they would suffer that dread one-word condemnation coined in 1973 by beauty writer Nicole Ronsard: cellulite. Today, Renoir's beauties would probably be exercising, avoiding fats and investigating plastic surgery.
Some of them might even be massaging creams into their legs. Almost everyone hates cellulite except the cosmetic companies, which expect to rake in an estimated $50 million this year for "anti-cellulite complex" lotions that doctors like New York dermatologist Michael Brodin say "are just plain garbage." These products have become hot sellers as the baby-boom generation begins to age. "Body products are the fastest-growing area in the cosmetic business," says Salomon Brothers analyst Diana Temple. Of the seven major cosmetic companies now offering anti-cellulite treatments, four of them-Lancome, Elizabeth Arden, Erno Laszlo and La Prairie-- entered the U.S. market in the last year. And Chanel recently announced that its new product will be out in April.
The cosmetic industry claims that cellulite-those unsightly ripples on thighs, arms or midriff that afflict more than 90 percent of the female sex-is a combination of fat, "toxins" and water retained in the tissues. It can be reduced, many imply, by using creams that help break down the fat and "release the toxins." The companies cite their own studies to bolster their claims. But the experiments lack a certain rigor-perhaps because they are paid for by the manufacturers themselves. Who else would try to prove that cellulite responds to a gel whose "unique thermo-action helps promote skin's micro-circulation"?
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The pseudoscientific tone of this explanation irritates doctors and consumer watchdog agencies, which have gone so far as charging some companies with false advertising. Most doctors say that these cosmetic remedies are useless; cellulite is so hard to get rid of that even plastic surgery doesn't do the job. Liposuction removes excess fat in the underlayer of skin, but doesn't eliminate all the ripples on the skin's surface. Some surgeons are mystified by the cosmetic companies' claims. "They have to invent the idea of toxins," says Dr. Peter Fodor, president of the Lipoplasty Society of North America, "because that gives them something to pretend they can fix."
Most doctors agree that cellulite is caused by little chambers of fat separated by fibrous bands of connective tissues that are firmly attached to the musculature below and the skin above. For genetic reasons, these connections are tighter than they should be in many women and pull the skin toward the muscles. Some doctors believe that a woman's tendency to retain water adds to the problem. Do the creams help eliminate the fluids? "As doctors," says skin specialist Brodin, "our only defense against quackery is science. And there isn't one shred of scientific evidence that these creams work."
The Federal Trade Commission certainly isn't convinced. It has a case pending against the video company Synchronal alleging "false and unsubstantiated claims" in commercials for cellulite products of the New York-based Anushka Institute. And last May, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus criticized Clarins USA for promising its gel would help consumers "slim down and firm up." Clarins agreed to tone down its future ads. Most companies now avoid suggesting that their products produce any real change and emphasize that the "appearance" of the skin is improved.
But many women have less exacting standards. They find the idea of a magic body potion irresistible, and they're willing to pay whatever it costs. New Yorker Corinda Carford paid $695 for 10 treatments at the Anushka Institute and says her cellulite radically improved. She also lost 27 pounds by following Anushka's diet suggestions, which probably helped, but she defends the cream anyway. "Rubbing it in every day makes you pay attention to your body," she says. "It's amazing," says Linda Wells, editor of the beauty magazine Allure. "Even though the creams don't do what's promised, women go against their common sense and buy them anyway. I thought women were smarter than that." Apparently, some women aren't.
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