Guy question: Bad result from facial exercise - Permanent?
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Mon Dec 16, 2013 5:18 am

Hi

Firstly i want to say that this site is amazing,,,, personally being a guy, its embarrassing to discuss skin care, so this site is a perfect avenue to research anonymously.

Until now, ive been able to lurk secretly in the background, but recently have had a problem which i need your advice on.

I am 32, asian male, with tanned skin, no wrinkles but over the last couple of yrs starting to look tired.. but everyone i meet thinks i look 25.

I have a problem which has really upset me. I started facial exercises about 3 weeks ago... I did it maybe twice a day at my desk at work for about 1.5 weeks...Things like smiling and applying downward pressure... moderate to aggressive pressure... also doing the rabbit thing with your nose...

2 weeks ago, i woke up and for the first time i noticed my nasolabial lines. They are not creased, but i can see a bump where the skin area from the nose meets the cheek. so far its only strong around the nostril and goes down bout 3cm. This was not there before. Being the stupid paranoid fool i am, i researched more techniques to improve them, and tried everything to get rid of them.. i tried tanaka massage and then pressure point massage. This caused my face to swell up a bit and feel uncomfortable. on top of this my female friend suggested a collagen mask to use at home, so i tried that and had an allergic reaction to it. my skin became all puffy for a few days , and made the appearance of the NL worse.

Last week i saw a Dermatologist, who told me that things will settle and not to touch it, which is what i did.

Since then the puffyness has settled, but the NL are still there. they just wont go away Sad

Its really upsetting me because they were not there before, and im so devastated i have caused permanent damage to my face Sad

I am reaching out to those who did facial exercises and had similar problems?? what did you do to fix it?? was it permanent??

I have a boyish face, and dont have wrinkles so these NL make me look like an old weathered man,,, actually its more like a monkey face now.

Please share your advice or experiences...

ps: i drink plenty of water, eat lots of greens and exercise alot

Thank you

Distressed guy

free skin care · Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:21 am

Okay when you say you have started to look tired, have you been getting sufficient sleep etc?

Now you say you did facial exercises but then name only two things you have done, and mention you did them twice a day. Were you just doing 2 exercises? Were they from a particular system/program? It sounds like you may have done the dreaded ‘spot’ training which so many programs advise against, and I suspect what has happened is that the muscles in those two places have started responding but the surrounding muscles haven’t yet so its created that odd look.

Now with NLs if they are not creased, but they are a bump its likely that this is just where the muscles have bulked up somewhat. How long have you left it not exercising? I see you say two weeks but then mention doing other things. What usually needed here is to stop completely. Its easier said than done, I’ve been there and know you are so desperate you’ll try anything but this seems to slow down the area returning to its former state.

Monkey face I’ve had and its been and gone at several times, usually from overdoing the mouth facial exercises – and like you one time because they were easy I was doing them several times a day and the whole mouth muscle bulked up and puffed out and I had “monkey” mouth. I was advised to stop everything – and felt at the time that this wouldn’t help so like you tried other things. Finally I gave up hope as nothing helped and so stopped and it died down within about 2 weeks of doing nothing (which was tough as I had done facial exercises and massage for a few years up to that point).

Good luck!

Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:27 pm

Dear theresaMary

Thanks so much for your reply.

Well i had not been getting sufficient sleepa few months ago, but during that period i didnt have any issues.

I am sleeping ALOT now, and it is now that i have the problem and its not changing.

you are spot on, i didn't follow any program i just googled cheek exercises and followed a few instructional's videos and guides.

Ive probably left it untouched completely for 5 days... and stopped about 7 days ago.

The thing with my monkey mouth is that it seems like my cheeks are the part that is raised and the area next to my nostrils and around the mouth is flatter?? is that normal from overdoing /spot training facial muscles. is that what you had?

I am pretty depressed about the whole thing, but i will continue to have a little bit of faith and not touch it or do anything. I really appreciate your comments because there is hope that it may return back to normal.

I will let you know how it goes.

Thank you.

free skin care · Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:43 pm

In Flexeffect it says something like this can happen when you begin to raise the muscles: a nasolabial line that was hidden by the sagging muscles is now revealed. Then that skin sloughs off over a few weeks. They see it as one of the signs it's working. Flexeffect staff correct me if I've got this wrong...

I think being male you might get quicker muscle building effects than women and need to just do enough to get a little build, no more than you really want.

free skin care · Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:11 am

Needl wrote:

In Flexeffect it says something like this can happen when you begin to raise the muscles: a nasolabial line that was hidden by the sagging muscles is now revealed. Then that skin sloughs off over a few weeks. They see it as one of the signs it's working. Flexeffect staff correct me if I've got this wrong...

I think being male you might get quicker muscle building effects than women and need to just do enough to get a little build, no more than you really want.

Needl I've heard that explanation but I beg to disagree. I'd love to see a demo of where this occurred. In other words, I'd like to see a photo where someone had a "hidden" nasolabial line which was then revealed by a lift in the cheeks.

IMO once cheeks sag, or deflate, there will be hangover that is nasolabial lines. They do not ever get hidden so that exercise will now reveal them. If they are there, they will be obviously there, not hidden.

Now there is a case where exercises can make wrinkles look wider. This is where muscles tone up and grow and push up on skin opening up the wrinkles making them look wider on the way to flattening. This can happen on the forehead as shown here where they look huge:

And over time they flattened:

I think the real explanation of why nasolabial folds appear after people start doing face exercises is some muscles build at the expense of others. So like if you build cheek muscles, to lift cheeks and don't work other muscles, you create a difference between the tone and size of the cheek muscles vs say the mouth muscles. That difference will make a "cliff" appear between the bigger cheek muscles and the flatter muscles around the mouth giving pronounced lines.

Just like if you use the Facial Flex gadget and only that, you build the mouth muscles and not the cheek ones, so you end up with monkey mouth as those muscles stick out more, and you indeed get lines around your mouth framing the bulging mouth muscles.

There has to be this delicate balance that addresses all the muscles of the face in a way that none get overdeveloped at the expense of others. And with facial anatomy being so complex, your best bet is to find a comprehensive program and work all the muscles so you don't neglect any essential ones. Of course the program has to be one that has nailed the balance issue so every essential muscle gets toned:

I do think also that it is easy to stretch skin and create lines where none rxisted. So like if you were to pull on your face so you slacken the cheek muscles without somehow counteracting that with something else, you can get N/L lines as the sag you create causes hangover.

Needl when I developed N/L lines where none existed, the theory you heard was told to me too, but it so doesn't apply to nasolabial lines. There is no way anyone can say there were nasolabial lines hidden in this face:

...waiting to be revealed by a lift in my cheeks. My cheeks were as high as they could possibly be for crying out loud! And my face was smooth and firm and could not be smoothed out anymore than this.

I got nasolabial lines because in four months my face bulked up and I developed large heavy cheeks that hung over my mouth and the fold you see is the hangover of the heavy cheeks (I even felt the weight of the cheeks when I smiled!):

There was no lift that anyone could claim opened up hidden N/L lines. I actually lost the tone and lift my cheeks had and was flabby and soft. My cheeks were no longer as lifted as before but were hanging and creating a fold.

free skin care · Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:49 am

DevastatedDude for what it's worth, your problem can be fixed. You have already been given good advice about the not spot training but rather doing a complete program. Also taking a break to let your face settle is a good idea. And you can use this time to do your research. There is a sticky in the DIY section of this forum and the second post is a list of threads on face exercises. So indulge yourself... (Here's the link for your convenience. If it works right, it should take you directly to the post itself.)

But whatever program you decide to do, it is important that you talk to the trainers or program founder and let them know exactly what you were doing before (send photos) as it will help them know if you should perhaps lay off some of the exercises in the program. Also keep in touch during your training sending updates so they can monitor your progress and tweak your program if need be. The feedback they will give will also be encouraging as they can sometimes see improvements you may miss.

I know this is a very trying time but you probably are more aware of the issues than anyone else. Plus in a year or so, you'll be wiser and will probably be well versed in a new program and feeling much better about your face. But when you do start a new program, do not obsess about seeing change. Just commit to it and stay in touch with the pros who know the program best. And make a point of checking progress only every 3 months or so only, by taking a pic and sending it to the trainers to get feedback and make sure everything is coming along as it should. I say not to check for results except after a few months because it is when you aren't checking for results on a daily basis that huge improvements occur. And the delayed surprise is like Christmas coming early.

Best wishes....

free skin care · Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:40 am

I didn't think it was an NL line they spoke of, but do remember reading that Deb says a line gets exposed as the cheeks lift out. Need to find my book, its here somewhere and read, but I'd be curious to know what any of the flexeffect staff or even Deb has to say too!

Needl wrote:

In Flexeffect it says something like this can happen when you begin to raise the muscles: a nasolabial line that was hidden by the sagging muscles is now revealed. Then that skin sloughs off over a few weeks. They see it as one of the signs it's working. Flexeffect staff correct me if I've got this wrong...

I think being male you might get quicker muscle building effects than women and need to just do enough to get a little build, no more than you really want.

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