But does it really work?
For the study, researchers taught 27 women between the ages of 40 and
65 facial exercises over two training sessions. Then, the women were
encouraged to do the exercises daily for 30 minutes for the first eight
weeks of the study, followed by every other day from weeks nine through
20. Photographers took pictures of the women before they began doing the
exercises, again at week eight, and then at week 20. They then asked dermatologists to look at 19 different features of the women’s faces and have them rate how old they thought the women were.
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Only 16 women actually did the entire thing (because hello, that’s
pretty time-consuming), but the results are definitely worth noting.
Physicians concluded that the women had more upper and lower cheek
fullness, and estimated their average ages to be about two years younger
after 20 weeks of doing the exercises.
The women were also into the results and said they also noticed improvement in all areas of their faces.
It’s worth pointing out that the study was really small and it’s hard
to say that the facial exercises actually caused the women to look younger. Still, this sounds like some pretty promising findings for facial exercises.
But dermatologists aren’t quite convinced. For starters, there is
still no data that definitely says that doing facial exercises makes
your skin look younger. “It is likely that people who perform facial muscle exercises also are more diligent about skincare and protecting their skin from the sun which may in part explain the results of this study,” says Joshua Zeichner,
M.D., a New York City-based board-certified dermatologist and director
of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical
Center. While facial muscle exercises might make your face appear fuller
in some areas, there’s also a risk that it can increase wrinkles in
your face that are formed by muscle use, says Gary Goldenberg, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
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But, if you really want to try the exercises, there are a few you can
do. Participants in the study did a range of facial exercises for a
minute each. One is The Cheek Lifter, which involves opening your mouth
and forming O, positioning your upper lip over your teeth, smiling to
lift your cheek muscles up, putting your fingers lightly on the top part
of cheek, releasing your check muscles to lower them, and lifting back
up. (You repeat it by lowering and lifting your cheeks.) Another is The
Happy Cheeks Sculpting. To do it, smile without showing your teeth,
purse your lips together, smile forcing your cheek muscles up, place
your fingers on corners of your mouth and slide them up to the top of
the cheeks. Then, hold that for 20 seconds.
Overall, if you’re worried about fine lines and wrinkles, it’s really
best to talk to your dermatologist. They'll likely recommend Botox which is known to make people look younger, Goldenberg says.
