Can face massage lift jowls?

Face massage doesn't lift jowls, and no study shows that it does. Jowls come from changes in your skin, your facial fat and your jaw, and a pair of hands reaches none of them. What massage does is move the fluid that makes your lower face look heavy on some mornings.

You'd see the difference within 3 weeks of trying, so this article sets it out now, together with what has evidence for the part massage can't touch.

What are jowls?

Jowls are soft tissue that hangs along either side of your chin and blurs the line between jaw and neck. Three changes create them, and they usually happen together.

Skin loses elasticity, and elastin is what lets skin spring back after it stretches. Cleveland Clinic dermatologist Amy Kassouf says sun damage is the primary cause of its loss, because UV exposure breaks down the fibers that let skin recover.

Facial fat shifts and settles lower. Rohrich and Pessa (Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2007) dissected 30 half-faces and found that facial fat is split into separate compartments, with jowl fat the lowest of them. They conclude that facial aging is partly a matter of how those compartments change with age.

The jaw changes shape with age. Shaw and colleagues (Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2011) compared CT scans of 120 adults in 3 age groups. Mandible length and height decreased significantly with age, and the mandibular angle increased.

Why can't massage reverse that?

Massage can't rebuild elastin, move a fat compartment or reshape bone. Nothing you press into your face restores a protein that ultraviolet light broke down, and any nudge to a fat compartment lasts as long as your finger is there.

People say massage improves circulation and so firms skin. Circulation does rise locally while you rub any part of your body, and no study shows that becoming structural change.

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What can massage do for your lower face?

Massage can do three small things, and none of them is a lift.

It moves the fluid part. Some of what makes your lower face look heavy on a given morning is fluid and not fat or skin. Light strokes toward the neck take that part down within minutes, and the jaw is one of the two places the effect shows most.

If your jaw looks softer some mornings than others, that difference is fluid, and what helps a jawline covers the layers.

It relaxes a clenched jaw, because many people hold tension in the masseter and along the sides of the neck. Releasing it doesn't change your bone, but it changes how your lower face feels for the day.

It builds the routine around it. You're already at the mirror with clean hands, which is when sunscreen and moisturizer get applied. The measures with real evidence need daily consistency.

What has evidence for skin laxity?

Two home measures have trial evidence, and neither lifts a jowl that already exists.

Cleveland Clinic's article on crepey skin recommends daily sunscreen at SPF 30 or higher and retinol creams. Both work on skin quality over months. A dermatologist or pharmacist can say whether a retinoid suits you.

What do in-office treatments cover?

In-office treatments are where structural change lives, and they're a clinician's territory. Cleveland Clinic's article on crepey skin lists dermal fillers, fractionated laser resurfacing, focused ultrasound, radiofrequency and surgery such as facelifts and neck lifts.

Costs, risks and recovery vary widely between them. Talk to a dermatologist or a qualified surgeon, and not to a before and after grid.

What does a realistic lower face routine look like?

A realistic routine takes about 5 minutes. Wash, then 2 to 3 minutes of light drainage over a few drops of oil, then cool water if you woke up puffy.

Then apply moisturizer and sunscreen every day, including in winter, and keep the salt and alcohol in check before anything you care about.

That routine makes your lower face look lighter on puffy mornings and protects the skin quality you have. It won't give you a new jawline, and nothing at home will. What helps a double chin applies the same logic under the chin.

Nodi is a guided lymphatic drainage app, and we film every session with experts in a professional studio. Its claim is the small one: a face that feels lighter and looks less puffy for a few hours, and a short routine you keep, so you can get the app knowing that.