Yoga for the face: can exercise really help you look younger?

What is Facial Yoga

It is a system of exercises for the muscles of the face designed to tone them up, provide toned contours and prevent or reduce the signs of aging.

Currently, there are many such systems, starting with the model proposed by Patricia Goroway at the beginning of the 2000s, and ending with methods with the word "yoga" in the name: Gary Sikorski, Fumiko Takatsu or Marie-Veronique Nado.

Exercise typically involves dynamic muscle tension, such as raising and lowering your eyebrows or squinting your eyes. And also static positions like an extended neck and closed lips.

In some systems, exercises are combined with massage movements, breathing practices, and relaxation techniques.

The creator of Happy Face Yoga, Gary Sikorski, says that with age, facial muscles weaken, sag and pull the skin with them. He argues that strengthening them will widen the eyes, lift the cheeks and corners of the lips and strengthen the jawline, while the increased blood circulation will make the skin tighter and tighter.

In addition, Sikorski believes that by putting weak and sagging muscles back in place, you can also get rid of wrinkles and prevent them from appearing in the future.

However, this topic is quite controversial, and the first thing that opponents usually mention is the differences in the anatomy of the muscles of the face and body.

Maria Gavrilova Dermatologist, member of the European and Spanish Academies of Dermatology (@dr_maria_gavrilova).

The muscles of the face and body are fundamentally different from each other. In mimic ones, one part is attached to the bone, and the second to the skin, while in the skeletal, both parts are connected to the bones. By contracting, the facial muscles move the skin, providing a smile, wrinkling of the forehead, squinting eyes, and so on.

For a face to look harmonious, a balanced and precise work of many small facial muscles - agonists and antagonists - is needed. It is doubtful that exercise could target any muscle group and improve the appearance of the face.

What science says about yoga for the face

In 2014, Belgian scientists conducted an analysis of scientific research on facial exercises.

They managed to find only nine works on the topic, moreover, six of them were simply reports on individual cases, and in the remaining three they used small groups of 8 to 11 people. In addition, there was no uniform standard of exercise, and the results were assessed based on the participants' opinion of their appearance.

In 2017, the first American study was released, involving 27 people between the ages of 40 and 65.

Participants engaged in the Happy Face Yoga technique, performing 32 exercises. The first 8 weeks they trained for half an hour every day, then - the same time, but three or four times a week. At the end of the experiment, the researchers applied the Carruthers Photonumeric Scale for Signs of Aging and noted that the participants had an average of two and a half years younger.

But despite the optimistic results, one small study and a review of nine Brazilian papers is not enough for the scientific world to even think about recognizing the method as effective.

Thus, at the moment, science does not give an answer whether yoga is effective for the face, and experts' opinions on this matter differ greatly.

Does Facial Yoga Have Benefits

While some experts consider the practice to be completely useless, others acknowledge that it can provide some positive impact.

For example, Harvard Medical School dermatologist Suzanne Olbricht in Does your face need a workout? at Harvard Health suggested that facial exercise can help combat the loss and redistribution of subcutaneous fat.

The doctor believes that training the facial muscles in the long run can keep fat from sliding down under the influence of gravity, thus preventing age-related changes.

However, Suzanne Olbricht noted that the positive effect of exercise will be several times less than when using dermal fillers.

Maria Gavrilova

Training the muscles of the middle third of the face can cause hypertrophy and thus support the fat sacs. But for this it is necessary to practice for a long time and regularly and at the same time not to use other muscles, so as not to harm them.

In Face Workout Studios Are A Thing, But Are They Worth It? on HuffPost, dermatologist Debra Jaliman suggested that exercise may offer some benefits, as it speeds up blood flow, tone and strengthens facial muscles.

Her colleague Morgan Rabach said that improved blood circulation can make areas of the face look fuller and fuller, and plastic surgeon Gary Motiki mentioned the effect of lymphatic drainage, due to which the contours will become clearer. But both noted that it was very short-lived.

But what you should definitely not expect from facial exercises is getting rid of wrinkles and improving the appearance of aging skin.

Causes of age-related changes include exposure to sunlight (photoaging), decreased synthesis and increased breakdown of collagen and elastin proteins, which are responsible for the strength and elasticity of the skin, as well as impaired hydration mechanisms.

As Face Workout Studios pointed out Are A Thing, But Are They Worth It? plastic surgeon Joshua Zuckerman, exercise is not able to cope with any of these problems: it will not affect the production and organization of collagen and elastin, will not help reverse damage from the sun, and will not restore elasticity or volume.

Denis Ginzburg Doctor - plastic surgeon, anti-age expert.

The aging process is quite complex. It involves the skin, subcutaneous fat, muscles, bones and almost the entire periodic table, which is called "metabolism" in everyday life. Face fitness can only affect two factors: muscles and lymph flow.

It turns out that with the help of these exercises you can only pump up the muscles of the face and disperse the edema. And - alas! - this should be done regularly and all your life.

Can yoga for the face hurt?

Some experts believe that exercise for the muscles of the face is a safe practice and if it doesn't work, it certainly won't make it worse.

Denis Ginzburg

I'm not really sure that you will be able to somehow harm yourself with face-fitness. If you suddenly discover new wrinkles, just don't do more of these exercises. The muscles will return to their original state very quickly.

I have a positive attitude towards face fitness and find it extremely useful. The main thing is to realistically assess its capabilities and not place unjustified hopes on it.

However, not all specialists share a positive attitude towards facial exercises. For example, the website of the Aesthetic Society, an international organization of plastic surgeons, claims Do facial exercises combat signs of aging? that excessive stress on the facial muscles can exacerbate the appearance of wrinkles such as crow's feet and creases between the eyebrows.

Maria Gavrilova

To eliminate wrinkles, Botox injections are used to relax the muscles while smoothing the skin. Facial tension can have the opposite effect - to provide hypertonicity and the appearance of wrinkles where they were not previously, as well as deepen the nasolabial fold or wrinkles on the forehead.

Maria Gavrilova mentioned that in the only study of the technique, people were trained by a specialist before starting to do facial gymnastics on their own. Even so, not everyone made it to the end of the experiment simply because they had no desire to study.

Iya Zorina Fitness expert of Lifehacker.

From my own experience, I can say that doing facial exercises regularly is unrealistic. I was enough for a maximum of two days. My sister is simply sure that face fitness helps to look better: “opens” her eyes, tightens her cheeks. She has printouts of the exercises, she knows how to do them … and she doesn't.

The likelihood that you will be able to independently study the technique and regularly exercise for a long time is very small.

Maria Gavrilova

Even if people have the time and desire to do gymnastics for the face, they will not get great results. To improve your appearance, I recommend doing a facial massage - from professionals or on your own, to monitor your posture, eat right and play sports.

So don't waste time on exercise that hasn't been proven to be beneficial in the short or long term. Instead, focus your efforts on maintaining a healthy body or consider beauty treatments that are scientifically proven to work.