Smile Lines: Why They Form and What Realistically Helps

Smile lines are the natural folds that run from the sides of your nose to the corners of your mouth, and everyone has them. They tend to deepen with age as the skin, fat and supporting tissues of the mid-face change, and sun and smoking can make them more noticeable. You can’t make normal smile lines disappear, but everyday habits like sunscreen, not smoking and good skincare may slow how quickly your skin ages. Below you’ll find what smile lines are, why they deepen, when they’re simply normal, which habits help, where exercises and massage fit, and what medical options exist.

What are smile lines?

Smile lines are the creases between your cheeks and your upper lip, known in anatomy as nasolabial folds. You may also hear them called laugh lines. They sit where the fuller tissue of the cheek meets the thinner, more tightly attached tissue around the mouth, so a fold forms there in every face.

The Cleveland Clinic describes how they often show only when you smile or laugh when you’re younger, then become visible at rest over time (Cleveland Clinic). That is a normal pattern, not a problem that needs fixing.

Smile lines are easy to confuse with two neighbours:

Line	Where it runs	What it is
Smile lines (nasolabial folds)	From the side of the nose to the corner of the mouth	The border between cheek and upper lip
Marionette lines	From the corner of the mouth down toward the chin	Folds beside the chin, often linked to changes along the jaw
Lip lines	Small vertical lines on and above the lips	Fine lines in the skin around the lips

If the softening you notice is mostly along the lower face, our guide to face yoga for jowls covers that area. For the lines running down from the mouth corners, see face yoga for marionette lines. And for the fine lines around the lips, see lip lines.

Why smile lines deepen

Smile lines deepen because several layers of the face change at once: the skin, the fat underneath, the ligaments that hold it in place and the muscles that move it. A 2024 anatomy review describes three main patterns of nasolabial folds (Hong et al., 2024):

• Little volume beside the nose. In some faces the bone beside the nostril sits further back, so there is less support under the fold and the line looks deeper.
• Cheek tissue that settles. The skin below the fold is firmly attached to the muscle around the mouth, while the tissue above it is looser. As the supporting ligaments lose resilience with age, the cheek fat above the line can sag and bulge against it.
• A crease made by the lip muscles. In other faces, the fold is mostly a crease formed by the muscles that lift the upper lip, repeated every time you smile.

Several everyday factors add to this:

• Sun exposure. Ultraviolet light breaks down the skin’s supporting fibres over years, which makes every line more noticeable. The Cleveland Clinic notes that smile lines can become more prominent and permanent with age, especially if you don’t protect your skin from the sun.
• Smoking. The American Academy of Dermatology notes that smoking greatly speeds up skin aging and causes wrinkles (AAD).
• Weight changes. Your face holds fat too. A large change in weight can change how much volume sits in the cheeks, which can make the folds look softer or deeper. Exercising your face doesn’t target that fat, because spot reduction isn’t supported by evidence.
• Sleep position. A review of sleep wrinkles describes how pressing your face into a pillow when sleeping on your side or stomach compresses and distorts the skin, and suggests this may add to facial aging over time (Anson et al., 2016).
• Genetics. Your bone structure, skin thickness and how your face carries volume are largely inherited, which is why two people of the same age can have very different smile lines.

Are smile lines at 20 normal?

Yes, smile lines at 20 are completely normal. Because the fold marks a natural boundary in the face, it is there from childhood. In your twenties it usually shows when you smile, laugh or talk and fades when your face relaxes.

Some people notice their lines earlier than others for simple reasons:

• Expressive faces. If you smile a lot, the crease is visible more of the day. That’s a sign of an expressive face, not damage.
• Face shape. Fuller cheeks or a flatter area beside the nose can make the fold look more defined at any age.
• Lighting and photos. Overhead light, phone cameras and close-up mirrors exaggerate shadows in the fold.

If you’re young and worried, the most useful steps are the habits below. They protect your skin generally and are worth doing whatever your age.

How to prevent smile lines from deepening faster

You can’t prevent normal smile lines, but you can protect your skin from the factors that speed up aging. These habits have the strongest support.

Wear sunscreen every day

Daily sunscreen is the habit with the best evidence. In a randomised trial in Australia, adults under 55 who applied sunscreen every day showed no detectable increase in skin aging over four and a half years, measured on the backs of their hands, while the group using sunscreen as they pleased aged measurably more (Hughes et al., 2013). The AAD recommends a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher on all exposed skin every day, plus shade and protective clothing.

Don’t smoke

If you smoke, stopping is one of the most meaningful things you can do for your skin. The AAD notes that smoking greatly speeds up how quickly skin ages and causes wrinkles, so quitting helps your skin everywhere, including around the mouth.

Keep skincare simple and consistent

A gentle cleanser, a moisturiser and sunscreen in the morning cover the basics. Moisturiser helps skin look smoother and more comfortable, which can soften how fine lines around the mouth look, though it doesn’t change the fold itself. If you want to go further, ingredients like retinoids are best discussed with a pharmacist or dermatologist, especially if your skin is sensitive. Gluvy’s skincare lessons walk you through routines step by step.

Sleep on your back if it’s comfortable

Sleeping on your back keeps most pillow pressure off your cheeks. If you can’t sleep that way, a soft pillowcase and changing sides now and then are reasonable alternatives. Good sleep also helps your face look less tired in the morning.

Keep smiling

Smiling uses the muscles that shape the fold, but trying not to smile won’t protect your skin in any meaningful way, and it isn’t worth the cost to your expression. Smile lines are part of a face that shows feeling.

How to reduce smile lines: can exercises or massage help?

Exercises and massage can work the muscles around your smile lines and may make the area feel more relaxed and look fresher for a while, but there is no good evidence that they reduce nasolabial folds. The folds are shaped mostly by bone, fat, ligaments and skin, which exercise doesn’t change.

The research on facial exercise in general is small. The best-known study is a 2018 pilot in JAMA Dermatology: 27 women aged 40 to 65 enrolled and 16 completed it, doing face exercises for 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks and then every other day until week 20 (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. There was no control group and the sessions were long, so larger controlled studies are needed. It didn’t measure smile lines specifically. Our article on whether face yoga works goes through the rest of the evidence.

What a short routine can realistically give you:

• Muscle work and relaxation. Slow holds for the cheeks and lips, plus stretches that release tension around the mouth and jaw.
• A fresher look for a while. Gentle massage may make the mid-face look less puffy, especially in the morning. The effect is temporary.
• A calm daily habit. A few minutes a day that pairs naturally with your skincare.

If you’d like to try, our step-by-step guide to facial exercises for smile lines has six moves, form cues and a gentle gua sha sequence in a 7-minute routine. Keep it gentle: there’s no reason to squeeze the fold into a deep crease for minutes at a time. For strokes on the rest of the face, see our full gua sha routine.

Medical options for smile lines (overview only)

Medical treatments for smile lines exist and are carried out by licensed clinicians such as dermatologists and plastic or cosmetic surgeons. This section only describes what they are; whether any of them is right for you is a conversation for a qualified professional.

• Dermal fillers. Injectable gels placed under the skin to add volume in or near the fold.
• Thread lifts. Absorbable threads placed under the skin to reposition tissue; the 2024 review cited above discusses them in detail (Hong et al., 2024).
• Skin resurfacing and energy-based treatments. Procedures such as lasers or chemical peels that act on the surface and texture of the skin.
• Surgery. Surgical procedures on the mid-face, done by plastic surgeons.

The Cleveland Clinic advises talking to a dermatologist or cosmetic surgeon if you’re considering treatment, and notes that treatments can’t stop the signs of aging altogether. A clinician can explain the options, risks, costs and recovery for your face. Exercise and these treatments are different things and aren’t substitutes for each other.

See a doctor if a fold appears suddenly on one side, or if you notice drooping, numbness or weakness on one side of your face. That is not a smile-line question and needs prompt medical attention.

Look after your smile-line area with Gluvy

If you’d like a guided routine, Gluvy’s face yoga video workouts include a cheeks plan and a lips and mouth plan, with follow-along videos and a timer on every step, as part of 3-week plans of 5–10 minutes a day. The gua sha courses for the area around the mouth guide you through gentle strokes, and the guided sleep sessions can help you wind down at night. You can follow guided cheek and mouth routines in Gluvy on iPhone. To see every area-by-area guide, browse our face exercises hub.

Sources

• Cleveland Clinic. Nasolabial Folds.
• Hong, et al. Why Do Nasolabial Folds Appear? Exploring the Anatomical Perspectives and the Role of Thread-Based Interventions. Diagnostics, 2024.
• American Academy of Dermatology. 11 ways to reduce premature skin aging.
• Anson G, Kane MAC, Lambros V. Sleep Wrinkles: Facial Aging and Facial Distortion During Sleep. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 2016.
• Hughes MCB, Williams GM, Baker P, Green AC. Sunscreen and prevention of skin aging: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013.
• Alam M, et al. Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging. JAMA Dermatology, 2018.