Face Yoga for Marionette Lines: Causes, Exercises and Massage

Face yoga for marionette lines is a gentle, low-risk way to work and relax the muscles around your mouth corners, but there’s no evidence it makes the lines go away, because they come mostly from age-related changes in bone, fat and skin plus the downward pull of a small muscle at the mouth corner. What a few minutes a day can offer is a more relaxed lower face, a habit of noticing a downturned resting expression, and massage that may make the area look fresher for a while. Below you’ll find what causes marionette lines, five exercises, a massage sequence and the habits that matter most.

Short answer: what face yoga can do

Marionette lines form through several slow changes at once, and exercise reaches only one of them: the muscles. So treat face yoga as a complement to sun protection and skincare. Here is what it can realistically offer:

• Muscle work around the mouth. Slow holds engage the muscles that lift and shape the corners of your lips.
• Relaxation. Stretches and massage can ease tension held in the chin and lower lip.
• Expression awareness. You learn to notice when the corners drift down.
• A fresher look for a while. Massage may reduce morning puffiness. That effect is temporary.

Research on facial exercise is limited, and none of it looked at marionette lines specifically. The best-known study is a small pilot in JAMA Dermatology: 27 women aged 40 to 65 enrolled and 16 completed 20 weeks of exercises, 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks and then every other day (Alam et al., 2018). Dermatologists rating standardised photos saw fuller upper and lower cheeks, and the average estimated age fell from 50.8 to 48.1 years. It had no control group, so larger controlled studies are needed. For the full picture, read whether face yoga works.

What are marionette lines and what causes them

Marionette lines are the creases that run down from the corners of your mouth toward your chin. Cleveland Clinic explains that the name comes from marionette puppets, which have pronounced vertical lines in the same place, and that they sit below the smile lines (nasolabial folds), which run from the nose to the mouth (Cleveland Clinic). If you want to compare the two areas, see our guide to smile lines.

A 2024 anatomy review describes marionette lines as the result of several factors working together: bone loss, fat changes, muscle pull, the ligaments that tether skin to deeper layers, gravity and skin aging (Hong et al., 2024).

The muscle that pulls the corners down

Just below each mouth corner sits the depressor anguli oris, a thin, flat muscle that runs from the lower jaw up to the corner of the lips. It draws the corner down and out, the movement behind a frown. It lies just beneath the skin, and when it is very active it can give the face a sad, tired or cross look (Yi et al., 2023). That downward pull may be one reason the mouth corners turn down over time.

Many facial muscles attach to the skin, which is how they move your expression (StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf), so repeated frowns and pursing crease less elastic skin more readily.

Fat, bone and ligaments shift

The fat under your facial skin is divided into separate compartments, and plastic surgeons Rohrich and Pessa suggested that these don’t age as one block: neighbouring compartments can shift relative to each other over time (Rohrich & Pessa, 2007). Around the mouth, ligaments hold some areas of skin firmly in place while neighbouring tissue loosens, and the lower jaw slowly loses some bony support, as the Hong review describes. The result is a fold running toward the chin, often beside a softening jawline. Our guide to face yoga for jowls covers that neighbouring area in detail.

Skin, sun and habits

Skin loses firmness with age, and Cleveland Clinic lists sun exposure without protection and smoking as factors that can bring marionette lines on sooner, alongside frequent lip pursing (Cleveland Clinic). Genetics matter too: the Hong review notes that facial structure differs between people and populations, which changes how the mouth corners age.

5 face yoga exercises for the mouth corners

These five moves take about three and a half minutes and focus on lifting the corners gently and relaxing the chin rather than squeezing. Sit tall with relaxed shoulders and use a mirror at first. Holds and reps are suggestions.

Two cues for every move: keep your chin soft, and don’t purse your lips hard.

Safety first: stop any move that causes pain, clicking or strain, and check with a doctor or dentist before starting if you have jaw joint (TMJ) problems, recent dental work, or recent facial surgery or injectables in the area.

1. Mouth-corner lift (about 40 seconds)

1. Rest the tips of your index fingers lightly just above each mouth corner.
2. With lips closed and teeth apart, slowly draw the corners up and slightly out toward your fingers, as if starting a small smile.
3. Hold for about 5 seconds, keeping your chin and forehead relaxed.
4. Release slowly and repeat 5 times.

Common mistake: grinning so wide that the cheeks bunch up. Keep it small.

2. Lip roll smile (about 40 seconds)

1. Roll both lips lightly in over your teeth, so only a thin line shows.
2. Without pressing them together hard, lift the corners into a soft smile.
3. Hold for about 5 seconds, then relax your lips completely.
4. Repeat 4 to 5 times.

Common mistake: clamping the lips. Keep the contact light.

3. O-Shape Pump (about 40 seconds)

1. Shape your lips into a relaxed O, as if saying “oh”, without pushing them forward into a pout.
2. Keeping the O, slowly lower and raise your jaw.
3. Continue in a slow, even rhythm, feeling the stretch around the mouth.

Common mistake: wrinkling the forehead. If your brows move, slow down.

4. Chin soften and glide (about 40 seconds)

1. Let your jaw hang slightly open and notice any tightness in your chin.
2. With a drop of oil, place two fingertips on the centre of your chin.
3. Glide slowly up toward each mouth corner, then lift off.
4. Repeat 5 to 6 times, breathing out as you glide.

Common mistake: pressing hard. This is a relaxing glide.

5. Sky Smile (about 35 seconds)

1. Tilt your head back gently and look toward the ceiling.
2. Smile with closed lips, lifting the corners as far as feels comfortable.
3. Notice the stretch along the jaw and down the front of your neck.
4. Hold for a few breaths, relax, and repeat 3 or 4 times.

Common mistake: crunching the neck. Tilt only as far as feels easy, and skip it if looking up makes you dizzy.

If you want more for the area just above, our facial exercises for smile lines cover the cheeks and upper lip, and our jawline exercises cover the jaw and neck just below.

Gentle massage and gua sha sequence

A short massage is a calm finish and may make the lower face look less puffy for a while. Use fingers or a gua sha stone, plenty of oil and light pressure, always stroking up or out.

1. Prepare (15 seconds). Warm a few drops of oil in your palms and press them over your lower face and neck.
2. Mouth corner to cheekbone (45 seconds). From just beside the mouth corner, glide slowly up and out toward the cheekbone. Repeat 4 to 5 times per side.
3. Chin to mouth corner (30 seconds). From the centre of the chin, glide lightly up to each mouth corner, along the line of the crease rather than across it.
4. Along the jaw to the ear (40 seconds). Fit the notched edge of the stone, or your bent index finger, along the jawbone and glide from the chin to just below the earlobe, 3 to 5 times per side.
5. Down the neck (40 seconds). From below the ear, sweep down the side of the neck toward the collarbone. Keep it extra light over the front of the throat.

Hold the stone almost flat and lift it at the end of each stroke. Mild pinkness that fades within minutes is normal; marks mean too much pressure. Skip areas with breakouts, irritation, sunburn or recent cosmetic treatments. For the whole face and neck, see our step-by-step gua sha routine.

Resting-expression awareness

How your mouth rests between expressions is how your face spends most of the day. Many people let the corners drift down while reading or concentrating without realising it. Try this quick check a few times a day:

1. Notice. Catch your reflection in a dark screen. Are the corners turned down or your lips pressed together?
2. Soften. Let your lips rest lightly together with your teeth slightly apart, and rest your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
3. Reset. Make a tiny, closed-lip lift at the corners, just enough to feel neutral rather than downturned, then let it settle.
4. Breathe. One slow breath out, shoulders relaxed.

Pair it with something you already do, like unlocking your phone. This isn’t about forcing a smile, just noticing tension and letting it go.

Habits and medical options

Everyday habits carry more weight than any exercise, and clinical treatments are a separate path to discuss with a licensed professional.

• Daily sunscreen. In a randomised trial in Australia, adults under 55 who used sunscreen every day showed no detectable increase in skin aging (measured on the backs of the hands) over four and a half years, while the group using it as they pleased aged measurably more (Hughes et al., 2013). Apply broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher to your whole face, jaw and neck.
• Not smoking. Smoking is one of the factors Cleveland Clinic links to earlier marionette lines, and stopping helps your health as well as your skin.
• Moisturiser. It helps skin look smoother and makes massage glide.

A note on weight: you may read that face exercises slim the lower face. Spot reduction of fat isn’t supported by evidence; exercising a muscle doesn’t burn the fat on top of it.

If you’d like a bigger change, the Hong review lists clinical options such as dermal fillers, botulinum toxin, thread lifts and surgery. These are medical procedures with their own risks, for licensed clinicians only. Botulinum toxin is a prescription treatment, and face yoga is exercise with limited evidence; they are different things, not substitutes.

Practise a mouth and jaw routine with Gluvy

To follow along instead, Gluvy’s face yoga video workouts turn moves like these into short guided videos with a timer on every step, as part of 3-week plans of 5–10 minutes a day. The lips and mouth plan and the chin and jawline plan focus on this part of the face, and the Lip Revitalizing Morning Routine is a short way to start the day. For the massage, the jawline gua sha courses in the app’s gua sha video courses guide you through the strokes. Ready to start? Follow a guided mouth and jaw routine in Gluvy, or browse more face exercises by area.

Sources

• Alam M, et al. Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging. JAMA Dermatology, 2018.
• Cleveland Clinic. Marionette Lines.
• Hong GW, et al. Why do marionette lines appear? Exploring the anatomical perspectives and role of thread-based interventions. Skin Research and Technology, 2024.
• Yi et al. Novel anatomical proposal for botulinum neurotoxin injection targeting depressor anguli oris for treating drooping mouth corner. Anatomy & Cell Biology, 2023.
• “Anatomy, Head and Neck: Facial Muscles.” StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf.
• Rohrich RJ, Pessa JE. The fat compartments of the face: anatomy and clinical implications for cosmetic surgery. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2007.
• Hughes MCB, Williams GM, Baker P, Green AC. Sunscreen and prevention of skin aging: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013.