Do Face Asymmetry Exercises Work? What the Evidence Actually Says
The systematic review found nine studies and not one had a control group. What facial exercises can touch, what they cannot, and what to do instead.
Table of contents
- What does the research actually say?
- What about the JAMA face-yoga study everyone links?
- Why exercises are aimed at the wrong layer
- What actually does respond to training?
- Why your asymmetry looks worse than it is
- What we would actually do with six months
- The bottom line
- Studies referenced
You cover the left half of your face with your hand, then the right, and suddenly the two halves look like they belong to different people. You take a photo, zoom in, and find the video routine before you have even decided what the problem is.
Five results later, every page is selling the exact routine it describes. The evidence is thinner than either side pretends: the muscular layer may give you a little, but not the structural fix the thumbnails imply.
What does the research actually say?
The strongest answer is that the evidence is insufficient, not that facial exercises have been decisively disproved. Van Borsel and colleagues reviewed nine reports: none used a control group or randomisation, most outcome assessments were subjective and unblinded, and authors or participants often judged the results themselves. They concluded that large randomised controlled trials are needed.
The controlled study was small but specific: 18 participants, nine training daily for seven weeks, with a lay panel comparing five facial areas in before-and-after photos.
Only the area above the upper lip showed a significant difference between groups. The authors concluded that facial exercises could not be shown effective—a very different claim from “this routine fixes facial asymmetry.”
If you want the practical companion to this evidence page, read how to get a symmetrical face. It focuses on what can actually move, while this page keeps asking the narrower question: what has been demonstrated?
Caveat: absence of good evidence is not proof that every exercise has zero effect; it is a reason to keep the claim small.
What about the JAMA face-yoga study everyone links?
The JAMA Dermatology paper is real, peer-reviewed, and reported a positive direction. But it was a pilot study of a 20-week face-exercise programme in middle-aged women, not a study of young men trying to correct skeletal asymmetry. Its results cannot carry the broader promise that blog posts often attach to them.
The paper’s conflict-of-interest statement also discloses that one co-author founded the programme used to train participants. That does not make the findings worthless or prove bad faith, but it does call for replication before a six-month prescription.
The honest reading is narrow: one pilot points in a positive direction for one programme and group. It does not establish that massage or facial exercises can reshape an adult mandible, move an orbit, or correct a bite.
Caveat: a pilot can generate a useful hypothesis; it just cannot settle the face-asymmetry question on its own.
Why exercises are aimed at the wrong layer
Facial asymmetry is not one problem. It is a stack of layers, and the routine you found mainly acts on only the third one. The useful reframe is simple: you cannot train a bone, and asymmetry is mostly bone.
- Bone: The mandible, maxilla, and orbits create much of the static geometry. These structures are set in adulthood; rubbing or contracting a muscle does not remodel them into a mirror image.
- Dental and bite: Chewing side, shifted teeth, and bite closure can change how the lower face sits and moves. A routine cannot reposition a tooth.
- Muscular and habitual: Chewing side, sleeping side, a one-sided smile, and clenching can create uneven tension or movement. This is the layer exercises may influence.
- Transient: Swelling, poor sleep, sodium, and a stiff neck can temporarily change how even the face appears. This can improve without “fixing” your face.
Caveat: muscles and habits can alter the way a structural difference presents, so “mostly bone” is not the same as “nothing can change.”
What actually does respond to training?
Training can plausibly affect dynamic asymmetry: the face in motion, under tension, during chewing, smiling, or speaking. It is much less credible as a way to alter static geometry. If you want a short list, these are the reasonable targets:
- Chewing-side balance: Notice whether one side does nearly all the work.
- Jaw clenching and mentalis tension: Reducing bracing may make the lower face look less pulled when relaxed.
- One-sided expressive habits: A smile, squint, lip press, or eyebrow movement can become less pronounced with practice.
- Neck and shoulder posture: A tilted head can make the jawline and eyes appear uneven.
| What facial exercises can plausibly touch | What they cannot |
|---|---|
| Muscle tension and one-sided expression | Adult bone shape |
| Chewing and clenching habits | The position of teeth |
| Some posture-linked presentation | The orbit or maxilla |
| How the face looks in motion | A guaranteed static mirror image |
For a related claim, does mewing work? is worth reading with the same rule: ask which tissue is supposed to change, and whether the evidence supports that scale of change.
Caveat: “plausibly touch” is deliberately modest; it is not a promise that a routine will produce a visible result in a photograph.
Why your asymmetry looks worse than it is
Your asymmetry may be real and visible, but photographs can amplify it into a crisis. Three ordinary mechanisms do most of the damage: the mirror flip, one-sided lighting, and a frozen frame that catches movement at its least balanced moment.
The mirror flip: You know your reflected face from thousands of glances. An un-mirrored photo feels wrong before you have judged it fairly. Mirror vs. photos explains why unfamiliarity can masquerade as a defect.
Single-source lighting: Light from one side shadows one cheek, deepens one fold, and makes one eye socket look smaller. That describes the light, not your skeleton.
The frozen frame: A smile is movement, but a camera freezes one corner rising first or one eye narrowing. In conversation, people receive a stream of expressions, not that painful frame.
The research supports the broader correction. Langlois and colleagues reviewed eleven meta-analyses and found strong agreement within and across cultures about attractiveness, with raters judging the whole face rather than isolated parts.
If the worry is specifically about whether people notice, see do people notice facial asymmetry and is an asymmetrical face attractive. The healthier question is not “is every pixel even?” but “what impression does the whole moving face create?”
Caveat: some asymmetries are obvious, and reassurance should not require pretending otherwise; the point is proportionality.
What we would actually do with six months
We would not spend six months blindly repeating a YouTube routine. We would first remove reversible noise, then audit habits, then ask whether the remaining issue belongs to a dentist or clinician rather than a mirror and a massage gun.
- Fix the transient layer: Experiment with sleep position, reduce obvious sodium-related puffiness, and address a stiff neck. If swelling persists or seems unusual, talk to a clinician.
- Audit the muscular layer: Notice clenching, one-sided chewing, lip tension, and the side you recruit when smiling. Practice relaxed symmetry, not aggressive repetitions.
- Get the bite examined: If your teeth meet unevenly, chewing feels different side to side, or the lower face shifts on closing, see a dentist. Exercise is not dental assessment.
- Use a fair photo check: Every four weeks, use flat frontal light, the same distance, a neutral expression, and the same camera. Compare trends, not daily mirror feelings.
You can also use a free perceived-appeal test to check the whole first impression. It is not a clinical instrument, but that is a better use of feedback than asking a selfie to diagnose your jaw.
If your concern is the chin appearing to shift only when you smile, why does my chin stick out when I smile is the more relevant question.
Caveat: a controlled photo log can show whether your presentation changes, but it cannot tell you why a structural asymmetry exists.
The bottom line
Do face asymmetry exercises work? Sometimes they may soften a narrow muscular or habitual imbalance, especially in the way your face moves. The evidence does not justify claiming that facial symmetry massage or face exercises can reshape adult bone, correct teeth, or reliably create a static mirror image.
You cannot train a bone, and asymmetry is mostly bone. Start with sleep, posture, tension, and the bite. If the remaining issue is structural, stop punishing yourself with repetitions designed for a different layer.
Give the whole moving impression a fair chance, and get clinical questions answered by a clinician.
Studies referenced
- Van Borsel, J., De Vos, M.-C., Bastiaansen, K., Welvaert, J., & Lambert, J. (2014). The effectiveness of facial exercises for facial rejuvenation: A systematic review. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 34(1), 22-27. doi:10.1177/1090820X13514583
- De Vos, M.-C., Van den Brande, H., Boone, B., & Van Borsel, J. (2013). Facial exercises for facial rejuvenation: A control group study. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 65(3), 117-122. doi:10.1159/000354083
- Alam, M., Walter, A. J., Geisler, A., Roongpisuthipong, W., Sikorski, G., Tung, R., & Poon, E. (2018). Association of facial exercise with the appearance of aging. JAMA Dermatology, 154(3), 365-367. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5142
- Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126(3), 390-423. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.390
Frequently asked questions
Do facial exercises actually fix asymmetry?
Mostly no. A systematic review of facial exercises for rejuvenation identified nine reports, none of which used a control group or randomisation, and most outcome assessments were subjective and unblinded. The one controlled study compared five facial regions and found a single significant difference. That is not proof they fail — it is an absence of evidence that they work.
What about the JAMA face-yoga study?
It is a real pilot study of a 20-week programme in middle-aged women, and its direction was positive. Two things rarely get quoted alongside it: it was a pilot in a population that is not young men worried about asymmetry, and the paper's own conflict-of-interest statement discloses that a co-author founded the face-yoga programme used to train participants.
What actually causes facial asymmetry?
Four layers: bone (mandible, maxilla, orbits, largely set in adulthood), dental and bite factors, muscular and habitual patterns like chewing side and clenching, and transient factors like sleep position, swelling and sodium. Exercise routines act only on the third layer, which is why the ceiling is low. How to get a symmetrical face covers the levers that do move.
Why does my face look more asymmetrical in photos?
Three reasons stack. You know your mirrored face and a photo shows the un-mirrored one, so ordinary differences feel alien. Side lighting exaggerates one half. And a photo freezes one slice of a moving face, often catching one side mid-expression. Compare several frames in flat frontal light before drawing conclusions — see mirror vs photos.
Does anyone else notice my facial asymmetry?
Almost everyone is asymmetrical, and observers judge whole faces rather than auditing halves. The condition under which you found yours — covering half your face, zooming in, comparing mirrored to un-mirrored — is not a condition anyone else views you under. If you want an outside read on the whole impression, the free test gives one, with the honest caveat that it is not a clinical instrument.