Skin Files · Body
What is cellulite? It's the dimpled, orange-peel look of skin where fat pushes up between bands that tie skin down. Here's what it is, how doctors grade it, and the words you'll see on product labels.
By Ashley, skincarereceipt content team · Published
Short answer: cellulite is the dimpled or orange-peel look skin gets when fat underneath pushes up between bands of connective tissue that hold the skin in place. It's harmless and very common, showing up in 80 to 90% of women after puberty.
You'll hear it called orange-peel skin, cottage cheese skin or, in medical papers, gynoid lipodystrophy and edematous fibrosclerotic panniculopathy. They all mean the same thing.
Older scales split cellulite into grades: grade 1 shows only when you pinch, grade 2 shows when standing but not lying down, and grade 3 shows both standing and lying. Newer photo scales score dimple depth, number and pattern. Clinical trials use these scales, which is how studies report results like a drop in cellulite score.
Under the skin sits a layer of fat divided into pockets by thin, stiff bands called septae. In women these bands tend to run more vertically and are weaker, so fat bulges up between them while the bands tug the skin down. Hormones, genes, age and weight all affect how visible this becomes.
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