Face Yoga Before and After: Realistic Expectations and How to Track Your Own

What does face yoga before and after really look like? In the only well-known study, the measured changes were modest (dermatologists judged a small group of women as looking about three years younger on average after 20 weeks), while most dramatic before-and-after photos online are taken under conditions that change a face far more than exercise does. Your own results can’t be predicted, but they can be tracked honestly. Below you’ll learn what the research measured, the photo tricks to watch for, and a simple way to photograph and judge your own progress.

The honest short answer

Face yoga may bring small, gradual changes for some people, and nobody can tell you in advance whether you’ll be one of them. The research is limited to a few small studies, and the photos you see online are rarely taken in a controlled way.

That leaves you with two useful skills:

• Reading other people’s photos critically, to tell a fair comparison from a change in lighting, angle or editing.
• Taking your own photos carefully, so you can see whether anything really changes.

You won’t find before-and-after photos of real people on this page. That’s deliberate: one pair of photos can’t predict what will happen to your face.

What research measured

The most-cited evidence comes from one small pilot study published in JAMA Dermatology in 2018 by a team at Northwestern University (Alam et al., 2018). Many “results” claims lean on it.

• Who: 27 women aged 40 to 65 enrolled, and 16 completed the program.
• What they did: 30 minutes of facial exercises every day for 8 weeks, then every other day until week 20.
• How it was measured: dermatologists rated standardised photos taken at the start, at 8 weeks and at 20 weeks.
• What they found: improved upper and lower cheek fullness, and the average estimated age fell from about 50.8 to 48.1 years.

Notice what it did not do. It had no control group, so other explanations can’t be ruled out. Its photos were standardised, which most online pictures are not. And it measured cheek fullness and estimated age, not wrinkles, jowls or a double chin.

The wider research is thin too. A 2014 systematic review of facial exercise studies found the evidence insufficient to say whether facial exercises work, and called for larger randomised trials (Van Borsel et al., 2014). Larger controlled studies are still needed. For the full picture, read our review of whether face yoga works.

Why online before-and-after photos mislead

Most face yoga and facial exercises before-and-after photos online compare two pictures taken in different conditions, and those conditions alone can change how a face looks, even when nobody means to deceive you.

Here is what changes a face in a photo, and how to spot it:

Factor	What it does	What to look for
Lighting	Light from above deepens shadows under the eyes and cheeks; soft front light smooths them	Shadows falling in different directions; brighter “after” photo
Camera distance	A phone held close enlarges the nose and centre of the face and narrows the sides	Face filling more of the frame in one photo
Camera height and angle	A camera below the chin heavies the jaw; slightly above and turned flatters it	Different view of the nostrils, ears or top of the head
Head tilt and posture	A raised chin or long neck tightens the jawline; slumping softens it	Different neck length or shoulder position
Expression	A tiny smile lifts the cheeks; a tensed jaw sharpens the jawline	Lips, eyes or jaw held differently
Makeup and hair	Contour, brows and hair framing the face change its shape	Makeup in one photo only; hair up vs down
Weight and water	Weight, salt, alcohol, sleep and hormones change fullness	No dates or context; morning vs evening photos
Filters and editing	Beauty modes and editing apps smooth skin and reshape features	Unnaturally smooth skin; warped background lines

Camera distance deserves a special mention. A 2018 analysis in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery modelled selfies taken about 30 cm (12 inches) from the face and estimated that the base of the nose looks roughly 30% wider than in a photo taken from far away, while a photo from about 1.5 metres (5 feet) showed no such difference (Ward et al., 2018). An arm’s-length “before” next to a timer “after” can change your proportions with no change to your face. A 2018 viewpoint in the same journal also discussed how filters and photo editing have blurred what real faces look like online (Rajanala et al., 2018).

A study of 888 rhinoplasty before-and-after posts on Instagram, nearly all from surgeons’ accounts, rated only about 36% as high quality, meaning no significant photo differences between the two images and a stated time interval (Eskandari et al., 2025). It looked at nose surgery, not face yoga, but casual selfies are unlikely to be more consistent.

How to read other people’s before-and-after photos

A fair before-and-after comparison controls everything except the thing being tested. Before you let a photo pair influence a purchase, run through this checklist:

• Do the two photos match? Same background, same light direction, same distance, same head angle.
• Is the expression neutral in both? Relaxed lips, no smile, jaw resting, eyes looking straight ahead.
• Is the hair and makeup the same? Ideally hair pulled back and no makeup in both.
• Are dates and the time between them stated? No dates means no way to judge how long anything took, or whether it happened at all.
• Is anything else mentioned? Weight change, new skincare, injectables or other treatments during the same period.
• Is it the typical result or the best one? Marketing shows the most striking examples, not the average person.
• Does the claim match the research? Promises to remove wrinkles, a double chin or jowls, or a “facelift” by a certain date, go beyond any published evidence.

Face yoga before-and-after threads on Reddit share real experiences, but they are personal impressions with the same photo problems. Jawline face yoga before-and-after photos are especially sensitive to head tilt and neck posture. For what jaw moves can and can’t change, see our guide to jawline exercises.

How to take your own before photos

Your own photos are only useful if you can repeat them exactly. Set up once, write the setup down, and copy it every time.

1. Choose your spot and light

Face a window in daylight or a lamp in front of you at face height, with a plain wall behind you. Avoid overhead lights and direct sun, which create harsh shadows.

2. Pick a fixed time

Take your photos at the same time of day, for example after your morning routine. Faces tend to look puffier on waking and change through the day, so mixing morning and evening photos adds noise.

3. Fix the camera distance and height

Prop your phone at eye level, about 1.5 metres (5 feet) away, and use the self-timer. If your face looks too small, use the phone’s zoom lens rather than moving closer. Mark where the phone and your feet go with tape so you can return to the same spots.

4. Prepare your face

Clean face, no makeup, hair pulled back so your hairline and jawline show, and the same simple neckline each time.

5. Hold a neutral pose

Stand or sit tall with your shoulders relaxed, chin level and eyes looking into the lens. Close your lips gently, keep your teeth slightly apart and don’t smile. Take a breath out before the timer fires.

6. Take three angles

• Front: facing the camera straight on.
• 45 degrees: turned halfway to each side.
• Profile: turned fully to each side, chin level.

7. Switch off the extras

Turn off beauty modes, filters, portrait effects and flash. Don’t edit or crop the photos beyond saving them.

Keep the most neutral shot of each angle. That first set is your baseline.

What to compare and when

Retake your photos every two to three weeks with the same setup, and compare the newest set with your baseline, not last week’s selfie.

When you compare:

• Line photos up side by side at the same size, angle by angle (front with front, profile with profile).
• Look at specific areas rather than your whole face: how relaxed your forehead and brows look, how tense your jaw looks at rest, puffiness around the eyes.
• Ask someone else. Show a friend two photos without saying which is newer. If they can’t tell, any change is small.
• Check how you feel, not just how you look. A looser jaw or less frowning are real outcomes too.
• Keep other things steady. If you start a new skincare product, change your weight noticeably or have a cosmetic treatment, note it, because you won’t be able to separate its effect from face yoga.

Judging face yoga before and after 30 days is tempting, but one month is short and noisy: treat it as one checkpoint in a longer record. Our research review suggests at least 8 to 12 weeks of steady practice before drawing conclusions, and even then, no visible change doesn’t mean the habit isn’t worth keeping.

Keeping a journal

A short note next to each set of photos explains most of the differences you’ll see. Puffiness and fullness change with everyday things, so record them:

• Sleep: hours and quality the night before.
• Salt and alcohol: a salty dinner or a few drinks the evening before often shows up as morning puffiness.
• Stress and screen time: stress often shows up as a clenched jaw or tight brow.
• Cycle and health: hormonal changes, allergies and illness affect water retention.
• Practice: which days you practised and roughly for how long.
• Skincare and treatments: anything new you started or stopped.

If a “bad” photo lines up with a short night and a salty dinner, you’ll know why. For gentle ways to manage morning puffiness, see our guide on how to debloat your face.

Stop any exercise that causes pain, and check with a doctor, dentist or physiotherapist before starting if you have jaw joint (TMJ) problems, a neck condition, or recent facial surgery or injectables.

Track your own progress with Gluvy

Gluvy’s face yoga video workouts guide you through 3-week plans of about 5 to 10 minutes a day, drawn from more than 200 guided video exercises with a timer on every step. The app’s progress journal lets you save selfies privately as you go, so your baseline and every retake sit in one place for side-by-side comparison, and reminders help you keep both your routine and your photo days on schedule.

If you’re not sure which moves to start with, browse our face yoga exercises or begin with the 5-minute face yoga routine for beginners. For the bigger picture, our complete guide to face yoga covers the basics, and you can download Gluvy for iPhone when you’re ready to start your own record.

Sources

• Alam M, et al. Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging. JAMA Dermatology, 2018.
• Van Borsel J, et al. The effectiveness of facial exercises for facial rejuvenation: a systematic review. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 2014.
• Ward B, et al. Nasal Distortion in Short-Distance Photographs: The Selfie Effect. JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, 2018.
• Rajanala S, et al. Selfies: Living in the Era of Filtered Photographs. JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, 2018.
• Eskandari S, et al. Quality and Consistency of Rhinoplasty Photos on Social Media: Prevalence of Potentially Misleading Before-and-After Images. Facial Plastic Surgery & Aesthetic Medicine, 2025.