Does Face Yoga Work? What the Research Actually Shows

Does face yoga work? A few small studies suggest it may bring modest changes, such as slightly fuller-looking cheeks, but the evidence is limited, mostly uncontrolled and far from conclusive. What face yoga does reliably offer is a low-risk, relaxing daily habit. Below you’ll find exactly what the main study found, what the other research says, why results are so hard to measure, and how to test face yoga on yourself fairly.

The short answer

Face yoga is promising but unproven. The best-known study found improvements in a small group of women, but it had no comparison group, and earlier research that did use one found little effect.

Here is the honest summary:

• Some small studies suggest modest changes. The headline result is that dermatologists rated participants as looking a little younger, on average, after 20 weeks of practice.
• The evidence is thin. The studies are small, often lose many participants, rarely compare against people who didn’t exercise, and rely on judging photos.
• It is low-risk. For most people, gentle facial exercises cost nothing but time. Skip moves that hurt and check with a clinician if you have jaw, neck or skin problems or recent facial treatments.
• It can be a pleasant habit. Many people simply enjoy a few calm minutes of paying attention to their face, and that is a valid reason to do it.

So if you’re asking whether face yoga actually works the way social media suggests, the answer is no: nobody has shown that it erases wrinkles or reshapes a face. If you’re asking whether it might help a little and is worth trying with realistic expectations, the answer is maybe.

The study everyone cites (JAMA Dermatology, 2018)

Almost every article about face yoga results points to one paper: a small pilot study from Northwestern University published in JAMA Dermatology in 2018 (Alam et al., 2018). It is worth reading closely, because what it found is more modest than the headlines.

How the study worked

• Participants: 27 women aged 40 to 65 enrolled. Only 16 completed the study.
• Programme: 30 minutes of facial exercises every day for 8 weeks, then every other day from week 9 to week 20.
• Measurement: dermatologists rated standardised photos of the participants’ faces taken at the start and during the programme.

What it found

The dermatologists saw improved fullness in the upper and lower cheeks. When they estimated each participant’s age from the photos, the average estimated age fell from about 50.8 years at the start to 48.1 years at the end, a difference of roughly three years. The authors suggested that the exercises may have made the cheek muscles slightly larger, which could make the mid-face look fuller.

What it can’t tell us

• No control group. There was no group of similar women who didn’t exercise. Without one, you can’t rule out other explanations, such as participants taking better care of their skin or sleeping more during the study.
• Small and with many dropouts. 16 finishers is a very small number, and 11 of the 27 women who started did not finish. People who stick with a programme may differ from those who drop out.
• A narrow group. All participants were women aged 40 to 65 who volunteered, so the results may not apply to men, younger adults or older adults. If you’re over 50, our guide to face yoga over 50 adapts the routine for mature skin and joints.
• Photo-based age estimates. Guessing age from photos is subjective, even for experts, and small changes in a photo can shift a guess.
• A big time commitment. Half an hour a day for two months is far more than most routines people actually follow.

The study is a reasonable starting point for research, not proof. Its own design means larger, controlled studies are needed before anyone can say face yoga works.

What other research says

The wider research on facial exercises is small, mixed and mostly low quality. Here are the studies that matter most and what each one actually found.

A 2014 systematic review: insufficient evidence

A team led by John Van Borsel reviewed the published research on facial exercises for facial rejuvenation in Aesthetic Surgery Journal (Van Borsel et al., 2014). They found nine reports. All nine described positive results, but none used a control group with randomisation, and most assessments were subjective and not blinded. Their conclusion: the evidence was insufficient to say whether facial exercises are effective, and large randomised controlled trials are needed.

A 2013 control group study: one small difference

The same research group ran one of the few studies with a comparison group (De Vos et al., 2013). Eighteen people took part; nine did daily facial exercises for 7 weeks and nine did not. A panel of lay raters compared before-and-after photos of five areas of the face. Only one area showed a significant difference: after training, the upper lip photo of the exercise group was more often picked as the younger-looking one. The authors wrote that it could not be concluded that facial exercises are effective.

A 2025 study of intensive face yoga: muscle properties changed

A newer pre-experimental study in Medicina looked at muscles rather than appearance (Effect of Intensive Face Yoga on Facial Muscles, 2025). Twelve women with an average age of about 50 did face yoga for 8 weeks: two days a week with a supervisor and five days a week at home. A handheld device measured muscle tone, stiffness and elasticity before and after.

• Tone and stiffness decreased in the forehead muscle (frontalis), the muscle between the brows (corrugator supercilii) and the muscles around the eyes and mouth (orbicularis oculi and orbicularis oris).
• Tone and stiffness increased in the cheek muscle (buccinator) and a muscle under the jaw (digastric).
• Elasticity increased in all the muscles measured.

This suggests face yoga can change how some facial muscles behave, with some relaxing and others getting firmer. But the study had only 12 participants and no control group, and it measured muscle properties, not how anyone’s face looked. It can’t tell you whether those changes are visible.

The bottom line on the research

Taken together, the research is encouraging in places but weak overall. The uncontrolled studies tend to find benefits; the one small controlled study found almost none. Face yoga deserves a proper randomised trial, and until there is one, any claim that it is “clinically proven” goes beyond the evidence. For a study-by-study table, see our face yoga research roundup.

Why results are hard to measure

Faces look different from day to day for reasons that have nothing to do with exercise, which makes face yoga results very hard to judge. This is also why online opinions, including the many threads asking whether face yoga works on Reddit, swing between “life-changing” and “did nothing”.

• Lighting. Light from above deepens shadows under the eyes and cheeks; soft light from the front smooths them. The same face can look years apart in two lights.
• Camera angle and distance. A phone held slightly below the chin, or too close to the face, changes the apparent shape of the jaw and nose.
• Expression and posture. A relaxed jaw, lifted chin or tiny smile changes the cheeks and jawline in a photo. People who practise face yoga often hold their face differently afterwards, without noticing.
• Weight changes. Gaining or losing even a little body weight can change how full the face looks.
• Water retention and sleep. Salt, alcohol, hormones, sleep and allergies all affect morning puffiness.
• Skincare and sun. Starting a new moisturiser or using sunscreen more often at the same time as face yoga makes it impossible to tell which one helped.
• Expectations. If you expect to see a difference, you’re more likely to notice one. That’s normal, and it’s exactly why studies need control groups.
• Editing and filters. Many “before and after” images on social media are filtered, edited or taken in different conditions, and they show the best results, not the typical ones.

None of this means face yoga does nothing. It means you need careful comparisons before you can say it did something.

What face yoga may realistically help with

Face yoga may help you relax your face, notice your habits and build a steady self-care routine, and it may bring modest changes in how full your cheeks look.

• Releasing habitual tension. Slow stretches and massage moves can ease the tightness that builds up from frowning, squinting at screens or clenching your jaw. The 2025 study’s finding that forehead and eye muscles became less stiff fits with this, though it is small.
• Body awareness. Practising in a mirror shows you how often you raise your brows or tense your jaw. Once you notice, you can let go during the day.
• A consistent ritual. A few minutes of face yoga pairs naturally with skincare and can become a calming start or end to your day.
• Possibly modest fullness changes. Based on the 2018 pilot, regular practice may make the cheeks look slightly fuller in some people. That is a “may”, not a promise.

If you’re new to it, a short face yoga routine for beginners is the easiest place to start, and our face yoga guide explains the basics in more detail.

What it will not do

Face yoga is exercise for a handful of small muscles, so there are clear limits to what it can change.

• It won’t remove deep wrinkles. Deep lines come largely from sun damage, collagen loss and years of movement. No study shows exercise erasing them.
• It won’t change your bone structure. The shape of your cheekbones, jaw and chin is set by your skeleton. Our guide to jawline exercises explains what moves for that area can and can’t change.
• It won’t reduce fat in one spot. Spot reduction isn’t supported by evidence. In one randomised trial, six weeks of abdominal exercises didn’t reduce belly fat, even though muscle endurance improved (Vispute et al., 2011). There is no reason to expect the face to work differently. Our article on the face fat myth explains puffiness versus fat in more detail.
• It won’t replace medical or cosmetic treatments. Face yoga is not equivalent to fillers, injectables, lasers or surgery, and it isn’t a treatment for any skin or medical condition. Our face yoga vs Botox guide explains the difference. For at-home devices, see face yoga vs microcurrent. Daily sunscreen and a simple skincare routine still matter more for your skin than any exercise.

How to test it on yourself

The fairest way to find out whether face yoga works for you is a simple, careful self-experiment: consistent photos, a steady routine and nothing else changing. It won’t be a scientific study, but it will be far more reliable than comparing random selfies.

1. Take baseline photos

Before your first session, take a set of photos you can repeat exactly:

• Same light. Face a window in daylight at the same time of day, or use the same lamp every time. Avoid overhead light.
• Same distance and height. Hold the camera at eye level and arm’s length, or prop it on a shelf. Mark where you stand.
• Same angles. Take one photo from the front and one from each side.
• Neutral face. Relax your jaw, keep your lips gently closed and don’t smile. Pull your hair back.
• No makeup, no filters. Turn off beauty modes and portrait effects on your phone camera.

2. Keep everything else the same

Keep your skincare, sunscreen and general routine as steady as you can during the test. If you start a new serum in week 3, you won’t know what made the difference. Note any big changes in weight, sleep or health.

3. Practise consistently for 8 to 12 weeks

Pick a realistic routine, such as 5 to 10 minutes a day, and stick to it. The 2018 study checked faces at 8 and 20 weeks, so a few days or weeks is too short to judge. Keep a simple log of the days you practised.

4. Retake photos and compare

Every two to four weeks, retake your photos under the same conditions. At the end, put the first and last sets side by side. Better still, ask a friend to pick which photo looks fresher without telling them which is which. That gives you a small taste of the blinding that the research mostly lacks. Our guide to face yoga before and after photos goes deeper on taking fair photos and reading other people’s.

5. Judge by more than photos

Ask yourself how your face feels, too. Is your jaw less tight? Do you notice when you frown? Do you enjoy the routine? These are real outcomes even if the photos show little change.

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

Run your own test with Gluvy

Gluvy gives you a structured way to run this experiment. Gluvy’s face yoga video workouts include more than 200 guided exercises for the forehead, eyes, cheeks, jawline and neck, organised into 3-week plans of about 5 to 10 minutes a day with a timer on every step. The app’s progress journal lets you save selfies as you go, so your photos sit in one place for side-by-side comparison, and reminders help you keep the routine steady.

Gluvy helps you practise consistently; it cannot promise results. If you’d like to run your own 3-week test with a guided plan and photo journal, you can download Gluvy for iPhone. You can also add gentle massage with our gua sha routine, or compare options in our roundup of the best face yoga apps.

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.
• De Vos MC, et al. Facial exercises for facial rejuvenation: a control group study. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 2013.
• Effect of Intensive Face Yoga on Facial Muscles Tonus, Stiffness, and Elasticity in Middle-Aged Women: A Pre-Experimental Clinical Trial. Medicina, 2025.
• Vispute SS, et al. The effect of abdominal exercise on abdominal fat. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2011.