KEY TAKEAWAYS: Treating cellulite isn’t always easy, but it can give your clients the look they desire and the confidence they deserve. As an esthetician, offering cellulite treatment services can expand your business, grow your client base, and give your esthetician beauty biz an opportunity to thrive while helping people.

Transforming the lives of your clients is one of the most rewarding parts of being an esthetician.

From helping them embrace a new look to seeing them grow confident in their own skin, the ability to improve someone’s life experience is an incredible feeling.

When it comes to specific areas where these transformations can occur, there are a handful of skin conditions that stand out to estheticians.

Among them is cellulite, which affects more than 80% of women.

As an exceptionally common condition that looks like dimpling or denting in the surface of the skin, cellulite can negatively impact a person’s confidence and happiness within their own body.

Treatment for cellulite is often difficult, but there are certain methods an esthetician like you can use to address the condition and help their clients reach the vision they have for their bodies.

Cellulite: What It Is and How to Treat It

Cellulite is harmless skin condition that does not require treatment. It is a wholly aesthetic skin condition that manifests as dimpled or bumpy skin.

Cellulite occurs when the fibrous tissue that connects skin to muscle is tight (pulling skin inward) and fat cells push upward against the skin.

This contrast between the two tissues can create the uneven surface associated with cellulite.

What Causes Cellulite?

At this point, there is very little information about what causes cellulite–only the factors that make someone more likely to develop it.

Hormones are one of the most influential factors in the development of cellulite, with women experiencing it at a vastly higher rate than men.

Genetics that affect body type, as well as skin structure and texture, are also a factor.

Weight plays a role, too, with a higher distribution of fat than muscle tone, making cellulite more likely (though anyone with any body type can develop the condition–even active individuals).

Finally, age is a factor. Skin loses elasticity with age, making cellulite more likely to occur.

Is Cellulite Treatment Important?

From a purely physical perspective, cellulite does not need to be treated. It is a harmless and purely aesthetic condition that does not pose a health risk.

However, there is a psychological element to cellulite that makes treatment a viable option for many people. 

When someone is unhappy with how they look or feels uncomfortable in their own skin, the emotional toll can be very real.

Their confidence, quality of life, satisfaction with their body, ability to engage in healthy relationships, and more can all suffer.

Treating cellulite is important when it begins to affect your confidence and happiness. Your quality of life can change dramatically for the better if addressing this skin condition causes a positive shift in your mental and emotional state.

Top Cellulite Treatment Options from Estheticians 

There are many approaches to treating cellulite, each with its pros and cons. While minimally invasive and surgical options can be effective–and may be appropriate in the right context–estheticians tend to focus on non-invasive methods.

Understanding the basics of the non-invasive treatment options for cellulite is key to determining which services you might want to add to your esthetician beauty biz and offer to your clients.

• Radiofrequency (RF) Therapy: RF therapy heats deep skin layers to promote the production of collagen. This improves skin elasticity, which helps reduce the appearance of cellulite and create a smooth visual.
• Ultrasound therapy: Using sound waves to target and break down fat cells beneath the skin. In this study, it was shown that focused ultrasonic lipolysis appears to be an effective method for reduction of cellulite! 
• Laser Treatments: Using lasers to break up the tight tissue beneath the skin can help reduce visual cellulite. Results from laser treatments tend to last for many months, if not longer.
• Topical Treatments: Creams, lotions, and other topical treatments for cellulite can have an effect on the appearance of affected areas. Ingredients like caffeine and retinol are essential, as they improve skin health, especially when applied consistently.

There are some minimally invasive treatments, too, but mostly estheticians won't offer these options to their clients unless they have special licenses or certifications, or they're acting as medical aestheticians: 

• Subcision: This procedure cuts through the fibrous bands under skin to release tension and reduce the appearance of cellulite. 
• Acoustic Wave Therapy
• Injectables

There are a few emerging treatments to know about, too, such as carboytherapy and cryolipolysis – each using new technology to reduce the appearance of cellulite in your clients. 

When choosing the best treatment for your client’s cellulite, it is important to consider their overall health, the severity of their cellulite, the condition of their skin, and more.

These factors can determine whether a treatment will be safe and effective for that specific patient.

Incorporating Cellulite Treatments into Your Practice as an Esthetician

Offering cellulite treatments at your esthetician practice can give your current clients new services to add to their regimen and attract new customers who are seeking to reduce their cellulite. Both results help you grow your esthetician biz, so expanding your services to include cellulite treatment is a win-win.

Before you debut your new services, it’s imperative that you go through proper educational courses and training, especially for more advanced treatment methods (like laser therapies).

Securing your certification in those techniques should be a prerequisite to expanding your service offerings.

Keep in mind that many cellulite treatments require specialized equipment. If you want to grow your esthetician biz through these avenues, it may require a significant investment in the right equipment and tools, and you should factor in the subsequent maintenance of those things.

To ensure you see a return on your investment, do a little market research before setting prices. You’ll want to be competitive with other local estheticians and fair to your clientele while remaining profitable.

The Challenges & Rewards of Offering Cellulite Treatments 

Like with any new service, you'll face both challenges and rewards when you decide to start offering cellulite treatment. 

From a challenge perspective, you'll have to manage the balance of education, results, and patient expectation. In addition to this, helping your clients understand and manage any side effects will be an important part of dealing with these challenges.

The best thing you can do? Keep clear communication as your strongest priority, create an education protocol, and ensure your patients never feel like they're moving into any aspect of this process blindly. 

Though the challenges might be tough to deal with, there's nothing quite like the success stories from your patients–their increased confidence and personal satisfaction with their smoother skin. 

Don't keep these success stories to yourself! Make sure you're optimizing these reviews and sharing your clients' experiences with the world to get more satisfied customers in your chair for your new service. 

With those pieces in place, it’s time to market your cellulite treatments to your loyal customers and potential clients you wish to convert.

Be sure to leverage digital marketing via your website and social media, as well as more traditional marketing tools, such as physical materials and word-of-mouth advertising.