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Prednisone and cellulite

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Posted 8/4/2012 1:37 AM (GMT 0)
Did anybody else get cellulite from taking Prednisone? I've been taking it for almost 6 months now (with a 1 month break in April) and I now have all this cellulite on my legs. Hamstrings, quads, butt, even on my calves!  I'm not a big person and I've been working out 6 days a week and trying to eat healty at least 6 days a week.  I've always been a fit person as well. Just wondering if the cellulite will go away when I'm off the Prednisone or if its going to be a battle getting rid of it? Right now I feel like my workouts are for nothing while on the Prednisone - other than making me feel better anyway.
Posted 8/4/2012 2:16 AM (GMT 0)
Yes! This just happened to me with my last round of Pred. I've been off Pred now for about 2 weeks and it looks like it's slowly going away, but I got a lot of it around my butt, thighs, hips and stomach. Bleh.
Posted 12/29/2012 1:11 AM (GMT 0)
This is happening to me too! I am a 28 year old female and have been on prednisone for almost 4 months. I absolutely hate prednisone but I can't get off of it because when I do a break out in hives/welts that cover my body and are so painful I can hardly move.

Over the last 2 months all this cellulite has been appearing on my body, on my thighs both front and back, on my calves, on my back. I have always been skinny at 5'4 and ranging between 124-128 lbs, however, I have been slowly gaining a little weight and a lot of cellulite. I do not know what to do, I am not sure when I will be able to get off prednisone and my self confidence is going down the drain. Since you posted back in August, can you let me know if your cellulite disappeared when getting off the prednisone.
Posted 12/29/2012 6:15 AM (GMT 0)
I don't even want to think about that. I think it's best if you try to keep the course as short as possible and hope that it goes away when you're off.
Posted 1/27/2014 9:19 PM (GMT 0)
Yes. This happened to me when I took prednisone for a few months several years ago. I, too, am anything but fat. I'm thin and fit and have cellulite on the front and back of my upper legs and under my upper arms. Whatever fat I have, which is very little, is cellulite. As for it being a battle to get rid of, it's been several years, and I still have a the cellulite. Yes. It's been a battle. I eat right and exercise. I even take hot baths and do aerial yoga to get the lymph flowing.
Posted 6/5/2019 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
I know this post is really old, but I suddenly have lots of cellulite on my legs, upper arms and butt. The only "new" changes have been going on pred again, starting at 50 mg. May 12 (I'm now on 30 mg and will be going down to 20 mg on Saturday), and I quit smoking May 10 (will be one month quit on Friday). I started exercising again 3 weeks ago and have been eating a lot healthier than I was. I still haven't completely cut out soda or junk food but I'm doing way better than I was for the past two years, so I feel like i should not STILL be gaining weight, and the cellulite is not cool. I don't know for sure if it's from the prednisone but I've been on prednisone a lot the past year. If I flare again after this course, then I will start Remicade. But I'm hoping now that I finally quit smoking again, I'll stop having near continual flares.
Posted 6/5/2019 8:46 PM (GMT 0)
A few points on pred.

1.) Prednisone will give you water-retention/bloating that should go away within a few weeks of ceasing pred. I found this to be a couple pounds of body weight, shed.

2.) Insatiable prednisone appetite can result in weight gain that is shed the usual way (reducing calorie intake, and increasing output via exercise). Certainly eat healthy and filling snacks while on pred, and keep all junkfood out of the house.

3.) Prednisone redistributes body mass from the extremities to the core. Prednisone is a fight-or-flight hormone, which constantly takes fat and muscle and turns it into blood sugar (which enables quick thinking or running in emergency situations). When we're on pred for high dosages for months, the extremity mass continually becomes blood sugar, which then turns back into fat along the core (upper/lower abdomen, back of neck, etc). So, even with healthy eating, longterm pred usage can result in unwanted fat around the core, so you'd want to exercise (burn the abdomen fat and redistribute it as muscle mass on the extremities).
Posted 6/6/2019 6:18 AM (GMT 0)
^ Weight gain has nothing to do with cellulite in the case of prednisone. It happens because prednisone weakens the formation of collagen and connective tissue, both of which are needed to hold the fat layer in place. When the connective tissue (fascial) layer weakens, fat tissue pushes through the layers of skin, and creates cellulite appearance.

I have major cellulite on my buttocks from multiple courses of prednisone. Developing my glutes at the gym has made my butt bigger and it stretches out the skin a bit to hide some of the appearance, but it's still there. It looks pretty bad, cosmetically.

Apparently it can be fixed with cosmetic laser but it's expensive.
Posted 6/6/2019 2:21 PM (GMT 0)
Ok, thanks. I'm hoping it goes away... Looks pretty bad, but I don't think it's just from gaining weight because I just noticed it recently and I've been gaining weight the past 1-2 years (about 26 lbs total but I was only 112 lbs before so I'm still fairly thin overall, I think).
Posted 6/6/2019 2:22 PM (GMT 0)
iPoop -- Do you know if the fat redistribution goes back to normal when off pred or no?
Posted 6/6/2019 3:26 PM (GMT 0)
Pred redistributes mass, but ceasing pred does not reverse that change. Rather you have to work to redistribute that mass yourself with time and hard work.

As an analogy, I've known some guys over the years who were pretty hardcore in weight lifting and with massive arms and legs to show for those efforts. However, once they quit their routines all that arm/leg muscle mass goes straight to their belly's. So our bodies have an established mass that can become muscle or fat based on our use. Use it, and it stays muscle, become sedentary and it just becomes fat. Muscle is denser than fat, so those big time body builders become true couch potatoes in shape once they quit.

So, our body shape and mass distribution generally matches our activity and diet. If you're generally an active person who eats responsibly then we're generally fit in shape. So over time it should self correct, but if you want a faster result then it'd take a more involved/active stance.
Posted 6/6/2019 7:22 PM (GMT 0)
Ok, thanks! I like your prednisone joke in your signature - ha.
Posted 6/6/2019 7:47 PM (GMT 0)
I cannot wait to drop down to 20 mg pred Saturday. I was on 50 mg for 2 weeks and 40 mg for 1 week; that's a long time at a high dose for me. Now have been at 30 for almost a week. Ready to be off of it. Not having any symptoms so far but time and the taper will tell...
Posted 6/6/2019 8:17 PM (GMT 0)
I was surprised to get a notification of activity on this old thread! smile

Update on my cellulite - I still have it on my thighs but it doesn't look quite as bad as it used to. I workout a lot - at least what most people would consider to be a lot (to me I probably think it's not enough, lol). I do a lot of weight training and cardio, plus pilates to strengthen my core. I don't have any cellulite around my waist - I tend not to hold any fat there (although my massive bloating lately makes me feel huge around there). It's all on my thighs. I've been trying to hard to build up the muscle on my legs more over the past 2 years and it makes it less noticeable - I can actually finally see some of the muscle on my legs. But I can't get rid of it. I saw a plastic surgeon years ago and he said you can't get rid of cellulite with surgery. You can get lipsuction which will get rid of fat, but the cellulite will still be there (it may appear smoother after though). The tissue fibers are broken and that produces the bumpy appearance - right now as far as I know there is no proven way to fix that.

But building muscle will help the appearance smooth out a bit, as well as getting rid of fat as that will allow muscle to show.
Posted 6/7/2019 2:05 AM (GMT 0)
I found it when I Googled "can prednisone cause cellulite?" Lol!

Thanks for the update and info. I used to work out a ton (ran marathons and ultramarathons and did weight lifting 2-3 times a week) and then I basically stopped exercising for a year and a half and started eating pretty horribly (soda, lots of junk food) and I was also on pred a lot during the past year... So...I'm really not sure if this is from the pred or if my unhealthy life choices just caught up to me. It was just odd that all the cellulite just showed up recently. I always had a little bit on the back of my thighs but never on my arms or calves or the front of my thighs. I am carrying a ton of weight around my tummy but don't see any cellulite there. I know some of that tummy weight is probably bloating from pred, but I just tend to gain weight in that area. Anyway, I've started working out again and eating better...guess that's all I can do and try not to care too much! Thanks again! smile
Posted 5/31/2021 10:32 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Sara! Wondering if you could give a update if this cellulite ever got better? I have no idea what to do and I am devastated about this. Just came on out of no where.
Posted 6/1/2021 12:28 AM (GMT 0)
Hey! No, unfortunately. I now have tons of stretch marks and continue to get more even though I stopped gaining weight a year ago. The stretch marks started when I went on Uceris though. I've been stuck on steroids now for most of the past 3 years...either Uceris or pred. I did start exercising again too and that didn't help.
Posted 6/1/2021 12:50 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for replying. How long after you started prednisone did the issues start happening? And what dosage? I also have white stretch marks that came totally out of no where nearly overnight. My self esteem is ruined.
Posted 6/1/2021 1:16 AM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry, I don't remember anymore. It's been a few years and so much has happened since. I was on many course of pred over several years before this popped up (usually starting at 40 mg for 2 weeks and tapering off over 5 weeks). I'm now more concerned with the effect it has had on my bones. Got a stress fracture a year and a half ago in my foot and I think I now have another one. Pretty upsetting since I love to be active. I am sorry you're dealing with this. It was really upsetting to me as well. I guess I've kind of accepted it now. I'm single too and haven't dated in 2 years, so I guess that helps. I don't want to continue getting more and more though!
Posted 6/1/2021 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
Ugh. I’m so sorry. I’m single too. Certainly doesn’t help not having self esteem. I’m so sorry about your bones. Are you still on steroids now? I was only on a 5 day burst.
Posted 6/1/2021 2:37 AM (GMT 0)
Oh, you were only on them for 5 days? I wouldn't think that would cause this issue. Yes, I am still on them. You must not have UC. Lol. Probably a coincidence you got some cellulite. I've been off and on pred since 2012.
Posted 6/1/2021 2:42 AM (GMT 0)
I wouldn’t this so either, but it was a high dose and there is no denying these hideous stretch marks everywhere.
Posted 6/1/2021 2:44 AM (GMT 0)
Do you even have UC? Try being on it for 9 years, hun...and being severely sick all the time with UC. Sorry you had to take a med for 5 days. Most woman get cellulite. It really isn't that big of a deal. Take care.
Posted 6/1/2021 2:49 AM (GMT 0)
Oh god. What a compassionless person you must be. I can’t imagine if someone treated you like you just treated me for asking a question about something that is wrong with me. You have NO idea what my condition is, so to just assume because you have been sick for longer that I don’t have issues and deserve compassion as well? Guess this board is only good for you when you are the one in need of help. Sad.
Posted 6/1/2021 5:09 AM (GMT 0)
Wow...and it seems the newbie does have an arsehole problem. Can't be fixed.
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