Face Yoga Side Effects: Can It Cause Wrinkles or Jaw Pain?

For most people, face yoga side effects are minor and avoidable: the main risks are a strained jaw or neck, irritated skin from pressing or dragging, and, in theory, more creasing if you scrunch the same expressions hard and often. None of these is common when you keep the pressure light, the moves slow and stop at pain. Below: each risk, who should check with a professional first, and a safe form checklist.

The short answer: is face yoga bad for you?

Face yoga is generally low risk, but it isn’t risk-free. A 2025 systematic review of conservative facial techniques, covering 12 studies with 321 women, found the evidence for results insufficient, and the included studies reported no adverse events (ASJ Open Forum, 2025). That’s reassuring, but the studies were small, so “no adverse events reported” isn’t proof that nothing can go wrong.

The issues worth knowing about are:

• Jaw strain, including flaring up existing jaw joint (TMJ) problems.
• Neck strain from tilting the head back too far or rolling it too fast.
• Skin irritation from dry fingers, hard pressure or a gua sha stone dragged across the skin.
• Possible expression lines from repeated, exaggerated scrunching (more on the evidence below).

Its real disadvantages are thin evidence and the time it takes. Our article on whether face yoga works covers the research in detail, and our guide to the benefits of face yoga sets out what it can realistically offer.

Can face yoga cause wrinkles?

Nobody knows for sure: there’s no good evidence that face yoga causes wrinkles, and none that it can’t. What is known is how expression lines form. The American Academy of Dermatology explains that each expression contracts the muscles underneath, and contracting the same muscles over and over for many years can make those lines permanent; it suggests sunglasses to reduce squinting for the same reason (AAD).

Face yoga has never been studied for this. The best-known trial, a small 2018 pilot in JAMA Dermatology, found improved cheek fullness in the 16 women who completed 20 weeks of exercises, rated from photos by dermatologists, and didn’t report new wrinkles (Alam et al., 2018). But it had no control group and wasn’t designed to look for harm, so larger controlled studies are needed before anyone can say either way.

Until then, the sensible approach is to avoid the moves that look most like the habits dermatologists warn about:

• Skip exaggerated scrunching. Hard, repeated squinting, frowning or nose wrinkling folds the skin along the same lines you probably want to soften.
• Prefer holds and smoothing. Moves that stretch or hold a position, often with fingers lightly supporting the skin, fold it less than fast, forceful grimaces.
• Watch your forehead. If it creases while you work on your cheeks, eyes or mouth, slow down and relax it. A mirror makes this easy to spot.
• Keep the basics. Sunscreen and not smoking matter far more to how skin ages than any exercise. Our guide to forehead wrinkles explains how expression lines and sun damage interact.

Jaw pain and face yoga TMJ concerns

Jaw moves can strain the joint and chewing muscles, especially if you already clench, grind or have a jaw joint problem. Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) can cause pain around the jaw, ear and temple, clicking or popping, and difficulty opening the mouth (NHS). Exercises that ask you to open very wide, chew hard or push the jaw forward and sideways can aggravate it.

To keep jaw work comfortable:

• Open only as far as is easy. Never force your mouth wider to feel more stretch.
• Keep your teeth apart between moves. Clenching while you hold a smile or a lift adds load the move doesn’t need.
• Go slowly and do fewer reps. Jaw muscles tire quickly; a few controlled repetitions are enough.
• Skip chewing gadgets. Jaw trainers and very hard gum load the joint again and again without good evidence of benefit.

If your jaw already feels tight, gentle relaxation suits it better than strengthening. Our jaw tension relief guide has a slow routine built for that.

When to see a dentist or doctor

Stop jaw exercises and get checked if you have jaw pain that doesn’t settle, clicking with pain, a jaw that locks or catches, trouble opening your mouth, or pain that spreads to your ear, temple or neck. A dentist or doctor can look for causes such as TMD or teeth grinding (Cleveland Clinic). Face yoga isn’t a treatment for jaw joint problems.

Neck strain: tilts and circles

Some face yoga moves tilt the head back or roll the neck, which can strain it if you go too far or too fast.

• Tilt back only as far as is comfortable, and keep the movement smooth.
• Make neck circles small and slow, or swap them for gentle side tilts.
• Skip these moves if you have a neck condition, and stop if you feel dizziness, tingling or pain down your arm.

Skin irritation and gua sha side effects

Most skin problems come from friction: pressing too hard or dragging fingers or a tool over dry skin. That can leave redness, irritation or, with gua sha, small red spots or bruising. Cleveland Clinic notes that gua sha can leave red marks and that the evidence for its facial benefits is thin (Cleveland Clinic).

To protect your skin:

• Start clean. Wash your hands and face, and clean your stone after each use.
• Use slip. A few drops of facial oil or moisturiser let fingers and tools glide instead of pull.
• Keep pressure light. Gentle pressure is enough on the face. Bruising means it was too much.
• Hold tools almost flat and move in slow strokes, lifting between them rather than scrubbing back and forth.
• Avoid problem skin. Skip areas with active acne, broken skin, rashes, infections, sunburn or a recent treatment. The AAD also advises against touching and picking at acne-prone skin (AAD).

Our step-by-step gua sha routine shows the details.

Who should check with a professional first

If you have a medical condition affecting your face, jaw, neck or skin, ask a professional before you start. That includes:

• Facial palsy or nerve problems, such as Bell’s palsy. Exercises for facial weakness should be guided by your doctor or a specialist physiotherapist.
• Recent fillers, Botox or other injectables. Ask the clinician who treated you when pressure and massage are safe again. Our comparison of face yoga vs Botox explains how different they are.
• Recent facial, dental or jaw surgery, or eye surgery. Wait for your surgeon’s go-ahead.
• Skin conditions such as rosacea, eczema, active acne or infection in the area.
• Jaw joint (TMJ) or neck conditions.
• Swelling with a medical cause. Face yoga and massage aren’t the right tool for swelling from an allergy, infection or other illness. In pregnancy, sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet can be a sign of pre-eclampsia and needs urgent medical advice (NHS).

One red flag needs emergency help, not a routine appointment: if one side of the face suddenly droops, or you can’t smile or lift your arms properly, call emergency services, because these can be signs of a stroke (NHS).

Safe form checklist

Good form prevents most face yoga side effects. Before and during each session:

1. Gentle effort. Aim for a light stretch or soft contraction, never strain.
2. Breathe. Slow breaths through the nose keep the moves relaxed and stop you holding tension in your jaw and shoulders.
3. Use a mirror. Check that your forehead stays smooth and your shoulders stay down.
4. Light pressure, slippery skin. Use oil or moisturiser for any move that glides, and keep fingers soft.
5. Short holds. Hold positions for a few seconds at a time rather than locking an expression for long.
6. Small jaw and neck ranges. Open, tilt and roll only as far as is easy.
7. Stop with pain. Pain, clicking, dizziness, tingling or redness that doesn’t fade are reasons to stop that move.
8. Don’t overdo it. A few minutes a day is plenty. Our guide on how often to do face yoga suggests a sustainable schedule.

If you’re new to all this, the gentle 5-minute face yoga routine for beginners is a good place to practise these habits.

Learn safe form with Gluvy

Form is easier to copy than to read. Gluvy’s face yoga video workouts show each move in a follow-along video, with a timer on every step so holds stay short and you don’t have to count. The 3-week plans keep sessions to about 5 to 10 minutes a day, built from more than 200 guided video exercises.

If you add gua sha, the app’s Guasha Introduction article course includes a Gua Sha Tips & Precautions lesson alongside about 34 gua sha and facial-massage video courses. For everything else about the practice, from the research to the basics, read our complete guide to face yoga.

Sources

• Efficacy of Conservative Techniques for Mechanical Facial Rejuvenation: A Systematic Review. Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum, 2025.
• Alam M, et al. Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging. JAMA Dermatology, 2018.
• American Academy of Dermatology. 11 ways to reduce premature skin aging.
• American Academy of Dermatology. Acne: habits to stop.
• NHS. Temporomandibular disorder (TMD).
• Cleveland Clinic. Temporomandibular disorders (TMD).
• Cleveland Clinic. Why gua sha might be good for you.
• NHS. Pre-eclampsia: symptoms.
• NHS. Stroke: symptoms.