Instead of plastic surgery
Doctors have found a cheap and safe way to rejuvenate your face.
What you will learn in the article
- How Northwestern University dermatologists studied facial exercises as an alternative to cosmetic and surgical procedures
- What the 20-week facial exercise program involved for women aged 40 to 65
- How photographs before, during and after the experiment were used to assess visible age changes
- Why independent dermatologists estimated a lower average age after the exercise program
- Why the authors called the results encouraging but noted the exploratory nature of the study
Table of Contents
Dermatologists from Northwestern University in Illinois (USA) have found a way to rejuvenate the face without the help of expensive cosmetics and plastic surgeons. It is enough to do half an hour a day of mimicry exercises. The work of researchers published in the journal JAMA Dermatology (Alam et al., Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging).
Specialists compiled a 20-week program of “facial exercises”. Together with instructors, 16 women aged 40 to 65 years mastered a set of 32 exercises for facial expressions. For the next 20 weeks, the participants trained their facial muscles at home for half an hour a day.
Changes were recorded in photographs before, during and after the experiment. Dermatologists who knew nothing about the study estimated the average age of these women at 50.8 years from the first photos. Analyzing the most recent photos, the reviewers changed the estimate to 48.1 years.
The results were encouraging to the researchers, even though the study was exploratory and the results need to be tested on a larger group of participants.
“If the results are confirmed, we will have an inexpensive and safe way to rejuvenate. <…> Subcutaneous muscles, becoming larger, make the skin firmer and give the face a more voluminous shape,” noted the study’s lead author Murad Alam).
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Key takeaways
- The article describes a 20-week “facial exercises” program published in JAMA Dermatology
- Women aged 40 to 65 learned 32 facial expression exercises with instructors
- Participants trained facial muscles at home for half an hour a day during the study period
- Reviewers estimated average age at 50.8 years in the first photos and 48.1 years in the final photos
- Lead author Murad Alam noted that larger studies are needed to confirm the findings
Published
June, 2024
Duration of reading
1-2 min
Category
Aging and youth
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