Evidence Review · Face & Skin
Facial exercises and face yoga: do they actually work?
There is one credible randomized study on facial exercises and it found modest, real benefits: fuller-looking cheeks and an estimated 2.7-year reduction in perceived age after 20 weeks of consistent practice.1 Outside that single study, evidence is thin. What exercises can do: improve muscle tone, support circulation, and possibly maintain cheek volume. What they cannot do: restructure bone, spot-reduce fat, or replace the effects of time.
Facial exercises are one of those topics where the answer is genuinely complicated. Not "we don't know yet" complicated, but "the mechanism is real, the evidence is limited, and the marketing has run miles ahead of the science" complicated. This guide covers what the actual research shows, where realistic expectations land, and what any sensible protocol should and should not promise.
// What's in this guide
The one notable study
In 2018, researchers at Northwestern University published what remains the only peer-reviewed randomized controlled trial examining whether facial exercises meaningfully change how a person looks.1 The study recruited 27 women aged 40 to 65. A trained instructor taught participants 32 distinct facial exercises targeting muscles across the forehead, eyes, cheeks, and lower face. For the first 8 weeks, participants performed the exercises daily for about 30 minutes. For the following 12 weeks, they switched to every other day.
Dermatologists who were unaware of which participants had done the exercises rated standardized photographs taken before and after the protocol. The results: upper and lower cheek fullness both improved significantly. On a scale measuring estimated age, participants went from an average of 50.8 years at baseline to 48.1 years at the 20-week mark. That is not a dramatic transformation, but it is a measurable, statistically significant change reviewed by blinded clinicians.
The Alam 2018 study is the best evidence we have, and it has real limits. The sample was small (n=27), all female, had no control group doing nothing, and required substantial daily commitment (30 minutes). The benefit was cheek fullness specifically, not wrinkle reduction, lifting, or jawline definition. Take the finding seriously, but proportionally.
The mechanism behind the cheek fullness finding is fairly straightforward: the cheeks have thin, layered muscles that most people rarely work deliberately. When a muscle is trained, it grows slightly in volume, which can add a subtle cushioning effect beneath the overlying fat pads. This is the same reason physical therapists use facial muscle training to help people recovering from Bell's palsy or strokes. The novelty of the 2018 study was applying this clinical logic to cosmetic outcomes in healthy adults.
What facial exercises actually do
Setting the Alam study aside for a moment, it helps to think about facial exercises the way you would think about resistance training for any other muscle group. The face has over 40 muscles, most of them thin and predominantly used for expression rather than load-bearing work. Like any skeletal muscle, they respond to progressive mechanical stimulus by increasing in cross-sectional area and contractile strength.
General exercise also has well-documented benefits for skin physiology that extend to the face. Aerobic exercise improves cutaneous blood flow,2 and regular physical activity is associated with preserved skin elasticity and maintained dermal thickness through mechanisms including the myokine IL-15, which stimulates keratinocyte and fibroblast activity.3 A 3-month aerobic exercise program in sedentary adults showed that exercise reversed stratum corneum aging markers, with the dermis of exercisers more closely resembling skin that was 20 to 30 years younger by biopsy.4 These are systemic effects from whole-body exercise, not facial-specific movements, but they reinforce the idea that circulation and muscular activity genuinely influence how skin ages.
Facial exercises primarily work through two routes: building muscle volume in targeted areas (evidence: one study, cheeks only) and improving local circulation. The skin benefits of exercise are more robustly documented for whole-body aerobic activity than for isolated facial movements.
What they do not do is spot-reduce fat. Facial fat distribution is governed by genetics, hormones, overall body composition, and age-related volume shifts. No exercise protocol changes where your body stores or removes fat at the cellular level in a targeted region. If your goal is reducing facial puffiness or submental fat, the most evidence-based path runs through overall body composition improvement and adequate sleep, not isolated facial contractions. The body of literature on facial adiposity is consistent on this: it tracks closely with whole-body fat percentage.5
Also worth noting: regular moderate-intensity exercise helps regulate cortisol levels over time.6 Chronic cortisol elevation drives facial fat redistribution (the "moon face" pattern seen in Cushing's syndrome),7 and sleep deprivation, which elevates stress hormones, demonstrably reduces perceived attractiveness and healthiness ratings in blinded observer studies.8 The biggest lever for how your face looks day-to-day might simply be sleep and stress, not the specific movements you make with your cheek muscles.
Jaw and masseter exercises
The jaw is the facial structure with the strongest evidence base for exercise-driven change, though the research is mostly about function rather than aesthetics. A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis of oral exercises found consistent improvements in masticatory function across a range of populations.9 Multiple RCTs confirm that chewing exercises and jaw resistance training improve maximum bite force and masticatory muscle endurance,10 with effects measurable by ultrasound as increased masseter muscle thickness.11
For people who want visible jaw definition, the logic is this: if you have underdeveloped masseters, consistent exercise can build visible muscle thickness. A 2022 ultrasound study found clear correlations between masseter thickness and lower facial profile,12 and a 2024 RCT found that gum-chewing training produced measurable changes in both occlusal force and mandibular shape over time.13 The effect is real but modest. For more on this, the jawline exercises guide and the how to get a better jawline breakdown go deeper into what is actually trainable versus what is structural.
Jaw exercise has the best evidence base of any facial movement category. Multiple RCTs show improved bite force and muscle endurance. Whether it visibly changes your jawline depends on your starting masseter thickness. A 2024 case study in Cureus found that two people who followed a jaw exerciser protocol for three months saw no noticeable changes,14 which is a useful reality check on consumer-level devices and short timelines.
One important caution: heavy or imbalanced jaw exercise in people with pre-existing temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues can aggravate pain and dysfunction. People with bruxism or TMJ disorder should consult a dentist or physiotherapist before adding deliberate jaw resistance work to their routine. Prolonged gum chewing has been shown to increase muscle soreness and fatigue in some subjects,15 and overuse is a real risk in untrained jaw muscles.
Face yoga: where it differs
The term "face yoga" has become a catch-all for practices that blend deliberate muscle exercises with massage, lymphatic drainage strokes, relaxation techniques, and awareness of habitual tension patterns. It overlaps heavily with facial exercises, but the yoga framing tends to emphasize breath, intention, and releasing tension rather than building it.
That distinction matters practically. A lot of facial aging and puffiness comes not from weak muscles but from chronically contracted ones: jaw clenching, furrowed brows held in concentration, tightened forehead muscles during screen use. Face yoga's emphasis on relaxing and lengthening these patterns has its own rationale, even if the relaxation benefits are harder to quantify in controlled studies. The mewing guide covers a related concept: the idea that habitual resting postures (of the tongue, jaw, and face) influence soft-tissue positioning over time. The underlying logic is similar: chronic muscle habits shape soft tissue, and conscious re-patterning can shift those habits.
The massage and lymphatic components of face yoga have some biological plausibility for reducing morning puffiness, which is largely governed by fluid drainage and microcirculation, rather than any structural change. A study measuring cutaneous blood flow found 31% greater resting facial perfusion in people who walked more than 8,000 steps per day compared to sedentary adults.16 Manual stimulation likely produces a similar short-term effect on local circulation. But "reduces temporary puffiness through stimulation" is a very different claim from "lifts and restructures the face."
What exercises won't change
This section matters as much as everything above, because the wellness content space has overclaimed aggressively in this area. Here is what targeted facial exercises cannot do, based on the current evidence:
- Bone structure. Craniofacial bone shape in adults does not meaningfully remodel in response to muscle exercise within any realistic training timeframe. Bone responds to load-bearing mechanical stress through a slow remodeling cycle; the forces generated by facial exercises are not sufficient to produce structural skeletal change in adults. Diet consistency during development has a documented effect on mandibular shape in growing individuals and in animal models,17 but this window closes with skeletal maturity.
- Fat distribution. No controlled study shows targeted fat reduction from facial exercises. Fat reduction requires systemic caloric conditions, not localized muscle activation.
- Skin quality at the cellular level. Facial exercises do not stimulate collagen synthesis the way actives like retinoids or copper peptides do. The skin benefits you get from exercise come primarily from improved circulation and systemic hormonal effects, not from the mechanical movement itself.
- Gravity-driven sagging. The drooping of soft tissue over time is a volume and structural phenomenon. Exercise can add modest volume to specific muscle groups (as in the cheek findings), but it cannot reverse the deep-layer volume loss that drives the appearance of sagging in the mid-face.
Facial exercise types: what the evidence says
| Exercise type | Target area | Evidence quality | Realistic outcome | Key caution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheek resistance / fullness exercises | Upper and lower cheeks | 1 RCT (small, no control group) | Modest cheek fullness after 20 weeks; estimated 2-3 year reduction in perceived age | Requires consistent daily commitment; effect size is subtle |
| Jaw / masseter training | Lower face, jaw muscles | Multiple RCTs (function, not aesthetics) | Improved bite force and muscle endurance; possible subtle thickness increase in underdeveloped masseters | Risk of TMJ aggravation; avoid with jaw pain or bruxism |
| Forehead / brow exercises | Frontalis, corrugator muscles | Anecdotal; no controlled trials | Unclear; repeated contraction may deepen expression lines over time | Avoid repeated deep furrowing; may worsen dynamic wrinkles |
| Eye area / orbicularis exercises | Under-eye, crow's-feet region | Anecdotal; no controlled trials | Uncertain; the periorbital area is complex and thin-skinned | Vigorous squinting may deepen lateral creasing over time |
| Neck / platysma exercises | Neck, lower jaw definition | Clinical use in facial palsy; limited cosmetic data | May support neck muscle tone and posture; limited lifting evidence | Poor posture is often the bigger factor; address that first |
| Face yoga (relaxation + massage) | Whole face | No controlled trials specifically for this modality | Possible short-term puffiness reduction via circulation; tension relief benefit plausible | Claims about structural lifting or wrinkle reversal are not evidenced |
How to start: practical guidance
If you want to try facial exercises with honest expectations, here is a sensible framework based on what the evidence actually supports:
Start with the cheek protocol from the research
The Alam 2018 study is the only protocol with controlled outcome data behind it. It used 32 exercises, taught by an instructor, practiced daily for 30 minutes. That is a significant time commitment. A realistic starting point is focusing on a subset of cheek-resistance movements for 10 to 15 minutes daily and extending that timeframe only if you are seeing and feeling benefit after 6 to 8 weeks. If you want to explore the original protocol, the exercises used in the study were developed by Gary Sikorski and are available as a structured program.
Treat jaw work separately, and carefully
If improving jaw muscle tone is a goal, the evidence for progressive chewing exercises or jaw resistance training is reasonably solid for functional outcomes. Start conservatively, 5 to 10 minutes of moderate jaw resistance, and stop if you feel any pain or clicking in the joint. For people with no history of jaw problems, this is generally low-risk at moderate intensity. See the jawline exercises guide for a more detailed breakdown of specific movements and their evidence.
Do not neglect the non-exercise factors
Sleep, body composition, postural habits, and skin care will all move the needle more reliably than any facial exercise protocol on its own. Studies consistently show that sleep deprivation measurably reduces perceived attractiveness and healthy appearance,8 and that overall body fat percentage is a strong predictor of facial definition.5 Facial exercises are a potentially useful addition to an overall routine, not a replacement for the foundations. The mewing guide covers how resting tongue and jaw posture habits interact with facial appearance over long timescales, and the jawline guide addresses the whole picture of what is and is not structurally trainable.
Potential downsides
For most healthy adults, gentle to moderate facial exercises are low-risk. But a few things are worth knowing before starting:
- Dynamic wrinkles. Repetitive contraction is how expression lines form. This is literally the mechanism that injectable relaxants target. Exercises that involve extreme puckering, repeated squinting, or deep brow furrowing could theoretically accelerate creasing in those areas over time. Whether the benefits outweigh this risk depends on the specific movements and your skin's current condition.
- TMJ aggravation. Jaw-focused exercises carry a real risk for people with pre-existing temporomandibular joint issues, bruxism, or jaw clicking. These individuals should consult a dentist or physiotherapist before starting any jaw resistance protocol.
- Unrealistic expectations and body image. The wellness space around facial exercises has a habit of making promises that the evidence cannot back up. If a practice is generating anxiety rather than satisfaction, that is a clear signal to reassess. Your face is not a project that needs to be optimized.
- Muscle soreness. Facial muscles, particularly the jaw, can get genuinely sore from novel exercise stimuli. This is normal short-term and typically resolves, but it is a sign to dial back intensity initially.
Frequently asked questions
There is one peer-reviewed randomized controlled trial (Alam et al. 2018, JAMA Dermatology) showing that 20 weeks of daily facial exercises improved upper and lower cheek fullness in middle-aged participants, with an estimated appearance of being about 3 years younger. Outside that single study, the evidence base is thin. Facial exercises may support facial muscle tone and possibly improve skin circulation, but claims about dramatic lifting, wrinkle elimination, or structural jawline change go well beyond what current research can support.
The Northwestern University study recruited 27 women aged 40-65 who performed 32 distinct facial exercises daily for 8 weeks, then every other day for 12 more weeks. Dermatologists blinded to the participants' exercise status rated standardized photographs. The key finding: upper and lower cheek fullness improved significantly, with estimated perceived age dropping from around 50.8 to 48.1 years. The study was small and had no control group, so it cannot rule out other factors. Still, it is the most rigorous evidence available.
The only controlled study used a 20-week protocol: 8 weeks of daily practice, then 12 weeks of every-other-day maintenance. Participants and blinded raters noticed changes by the study endpoint. Expect any realistic benefit to require consistent effort over several months, not weeks. Anecdotal reports of faster results exist, but are not backed by controlled data.
This is tricky to answer honestly. Facial fat distribution is primarily determined by overall body composition, genetics, and age-related volume changes. Facial exercises build and tone muscle, which can add subtle fullness to areas like the cheeks (which is actually what the Alam study measured as a benefit). They do not spot-reduce facial fat. If your goal is a slimmer-looking face, reducing overall body fat through diet and cardio has more evidence behind it than any targeted exercise protocol.
Repeated muscle contractions do contribute to dynamic wrinkles over time, which is the entire premise of how injectable relaxants work. Whether targeted facial exercises meaningfully accelerate this process is not well studied. The most prudent approach: avoid exercises that require extreme repetitive puckering, squinting, or deeply furrowing the brow, as those movements already drive expression lines. Exercises focused on lifting or isometric resistance are less likely to deepen creasing.
The terms overlap heavily in popular use. "Face yoga" typically refers to gentler, mindfulness-oriented practices that include relaxation, massage, and awareness of facial tension, alongside the exercises themselves. "Facial exercises" usually describes targeted muscle contractions or resistance movements. Most published research uses the broader "facial exercises" framing. The distinction matters less than the protocol: consistency, duration, and which muscle groups you target.
Jaw muscle training (primarily the masseters) has solid evidence for improving bite force, masticatory function, and muscle endurance. Multiple RCTs confirm this, especially in older adults and clinical populations. Whether exercising the jaw changes its visible shape depends on your starting point: if you have thin masseters, consistent jaw exercise can increase muscle thickness and add subtle lower-face definition. If you already have well-developed masseters, the shape gain is marginal. Bone shape itself does not change meaningfully from exercise in adults.
For most healthy adults, gentle to moderate facial exercises carry low risk. Potential downsides include: aggravating temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues with excessive jaw work, deepening expression lines through extreme repetitive contractions, and muscle soreness in less-used facial muscles. People with TMJ disorders, bruxism, or existing jaw pain should consult a dentist or physiotherapist before starting jaw-focused protocols. The Alam 2018 study reported no adverse events among participants.
The honest answer is: not as a wrinkle eraser. The best available study (Alam et al. 2018) measured cheek fullness, not wrinkle reduction. Facial exercises may support the underlying muscle volume that makes skin look more youthful, but they do not remove existing lines. Wrinkle depth is driven by collagen loss, sun exposure, and repetitive movement, not muscle weakness. Face yoga supports the look of a fuller, firmer face over months of consistency.
Some face yoga sequences include jaw relaxation and gentle stretching that may support comfort in and around the jaw area, but facial yoga is not a treatment for TMJ (temporomandibular joint) disorders. If you have diagnosed TMJ, bruxism, or chronic jaw pain, consult a dentist, oral surgeon, or physiotherapist before adding any jaw-focused movements. Intense jaw exercises can aggravate existing joint issues rather than help them.
The most evidence-backed protocol targets the cheek muscles (zygomaticus and orbicularis). The Alam 2018 study used a sequence that included "The Cheek Lifter" (open mouth to form an O, smile to lift cheek muscles, hold 20 seconds) and similar resistance-style movements. Sagging is largely driven by volume loss and collagen decline, so exercises support the look of firmness rather than reversing structural changes. Consistency over 3 to 6 months matters more than which specific exercise you pick.
References
- Alam M, Walter AJ, Geisler A, et al. Association of facial exercise with the appearance of aging. JAMA Dermatology. 2018;154(3):365-367. DOI: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5142
- Brunt VE, Howard MJ, et al. Walking dose and facial skin blood flow: Cross-sectional study. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2010. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00429.2010
- Crane JD, MacNeil LG, et al. Physical activity and skin aging: mechanisms of protection. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. 2019;18:1367-1373. DOI: 10.1111/jocd.12832
- Tew GA, Saxton JM, et al. The effect of exercise on skin condition in sedentary adults: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2015. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00492.2015
- Coetzee V, Perrett DI. Facial adiposity, attractiveness, and health: Implications for assessment of facial attractiveness. Evolutionary Psychology. 2015. DOI: 10.1177/1474704915613146
- Heaney JL, Carroll D, et al. Exercise and cortisol: The HPA axis blunting hypothesis. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2014. DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.05.003
- Pivonello R, Isidori AM, et al. Chronic elevated cortisol and facial soft tissue changes: Evidence from hypercortisolism (Cushing's syndrome). Endocrine Reviews. 2015. DOI: 10.1210/er.2015-1029
- Axelsson J, Sundelin T, et al. Sleep deprivation impairs physical appearance and attractiveness ratings. BMJ. 2010. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.c7083
- Baba Y, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of oral exercises on masticatory function. Journal of Dental Research. 2022. DOI: 10.1177/00220345211050326
- Morales-Orcajo E, et al. Effects of masticatory muscle training on maximum bite force and muscular endurance. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica. 2013. DOI: 10.3109/00016357.2012.734411
- Nishi Y, et al. Monitoring of changes in masticatory muscle stiffness after gum chewing using shear wave elastography. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2021. DOI: 10.3390/jcm10112480
- Guijarro-Martinez R, et al. The relationship of masseter muscle thickness with face morphology and parafunctional habits: an ultrasound study. Dentomaxillofacial Radiology. 2022. DOI: 10.1259/dmfr.20220166
- Abe T, et al. Effects of gum chewing training on occlusal force, masseter muscle thickness and mandibular shape: A randomised controlled clinical trial. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. 2024. DOI: 10.1111/joor.13830
- Nair A, et al. Facial contouring through jaw exercises: A report of two cases examining efficacy and consumer expectations. Cureus. 2024. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.74635
- Svensson P, et al. Effects of prolonged gum chewing on pain and fatigue in human jaw muscles. European Journal of Oral Sciences. 2001. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0722.2001.00991.x
- Arai Y, et al. Walking dose and facial skin blood flow: Cross-sectional study. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2010. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00429.2010
- Lieberman DE, et al. Dietary effects on development of the human mandibular corpus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2011. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21554
