Does face yoga actually work?

Does face yoga actually work?

Face yoga has real evidence behind it, but thinner than the trend suggests. One small, imperfect 2018 study found cheeks looked fuller and faces were rated about three years younger after 20 weeks of daily exercises. It is probably harmless and modestly effective at best, nowhere near the needle-free facelift the trend promises.

The claim spreading across social feeds is bigger than that: toned muscles, lifted jowls, slimmed cheeks, a jawline sharpened with nothing but your own fingers and face. Search for the trend and you will find thousands of videos demonstrating the "duckface" pout or the "smiling Buddha face," each one implying this is a proven, free alternative to Botox. Almost none of them link to the actual research, and the research is a lot narrower than the claims built on top of it.

The one study behind the trend

The most cited evidence is a 2018 trial out of Northwestern University, led by dermatologist Dr. Murad Alam and senior author Dr. Emily Poon. Twenty-seven women aged 40 to 65 were recruited. Each did two 90-minute training sessions with a facial exercise instructor, then practiced 32 distinct exercises at home: 30 minutes daily for eight weeks, then every other day through week 20.

Only 16 women completed the full program. Two blinded dermatologists, using a standard aging photo scale, rated their before-and-after photos. Upper and lower cheek fullness both improved, and the dermatologists' estimate of the women's age fell from 50.8 years at baseline to 49.6 at week eight and 48.1 at week 20, a drop of under three years. "The place where we noticed the biggest change was the cheeks," Alam told CNN.

That is a real, measured result, but it comes with real limitations. There was no control group, so there is no way to know how much of the change came from the exercises versus the attention, sunscreen habits or general self-care that often accompanies joining a study. More than a third of participants dropped out. And the exercise program itself was designed by Gary Sikorski, founder of Happy Face Yoga, who is also listed as a study co-author, a conflict of interest that outside reviewers have pointed to since publication.

What it does not show

It is worth being precise about what the study measured, because the trend claims far more than this. It did not test wrinkle reduction, skin texture, jawline definition, double chins or jowls. It measured cheek fullness and a holistic "how old does this face look" rating from two dermatologists looking at photos. The mechanism the authors propose is straightforward: repeated exercise builds up the muscle layer beneath facial fat, the same way exercising any other muscle adds volume. More volume in the cheeks can read as a younger, fuller face, independent of whether a single line or wrinkle actually changed.

Dr. Anetta Reszko, a dermatologist at Weill Cornell, has made a related point: "the fat and the muscles work together to give the face volume," which is part of why isolated muscle work has a ceiling on how much it can visibly do. No larger or independent trial has replicated Alam's findings since 2018, which matters more than it might sound: a single small study, run partly by people with a stake in the result, is a start, not confirmation.

Who might actually get something out of it

If you already enjoy a daily ritual, face yoga is a low-stakes one to add. It costs nothing, needs no products, and the time spent (30 minutes a day for 20 weeks in the original protocol) is itself a meaningful commitment few casual practitioners match. People doing the quick one-minute versions seen on social media are not replicating the study's dose, so expecting the study's result from a fraction of the effort is its own kind of hype. The temporary flush and puffiness-reduction some people notice right after a session likely comes from increased blood flow and light massage, not from any lasting structural change, similar to what you would get from gua sha, another trend built on a real but modest physiological effect.

Is it safe, and does it compare to other options

Alam has said the exercises are "generally harmless" for most people, and there is no real safety signal against trying them. The one specific caution dermatologists raise is the skin under the eyes, which is thinner and more fragile; repeated rubbing or stretching there is discouraged even though the cheeks tolerate it fine. For anyone weighing this against professional treatments, Alam was direct about where it stands: asked if face yoga could replace cosmetic procedures, he said, "Is this a replacement for cosmetic procedures? Not really." If wrinkles specifically are the concern, a board-certified dermatologist, not a facial exercise routine, is the better starting point, the same caveat that applies to mewing, another jaw-and-face trend that outruns its evidence.

Our take

Face yoga is not a scam, but it is not the proven facelift alternative the trend implies either. One small, flawed, sponsor-linked study found a modest cheek-fullness change after 20 weeks of serious daily effort, and nothing since has confirmed or expanded on it. Try it if you enjoy the ritual and keep your expectations to "maybe slightly fuller cheeks eventually," not "instead of Botox."

This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to a clinician before changing anything, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or managing a condition.