'Facial stretches' trimmed years off women's looks in small study
Murad Alam
"The scientists looking at appearance changes found that the upper and lower cheeks were full after the study " said study author  Dr. Murad Alam   vice chair in the department of dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
"Patients themselves found even greater benefits  and noticed that 18 of the 20 areas and features of the face that were studied got better over the course of the study "  Alam  said. "In general  the appearance benefit was that the contour of the face became smoother  fuller and firmer."
The findings were published in January in the journal JAMA Dermatology.  Alam  noted that none of the researchers had a financial interest in the facial yoga exercise program.
As for whether men or perhaps younger women might achieve a similar benefit   Alam  said  "we would expect to see an effect. But until we study it we won't know if it is a little more or a little less."
Still  exercise alone may not be enough "to replace the tried-and-tested methods of improving facial appearance" that can be achieved with fillers  lasers and the like   Alam  acknowledged. Instead  exercises might best serve to enhance such interventions   he  said.
But  Xu  said that facial exercise "makes a lot of intuitive sense."
Why? "Facial aging is so much more than just seeing more wrinkles on the face " said  Xu . "It's a complex process  and includes thinning of the upper layers of the skin  loss of collagen and elastin in the deeper layers of the skin  and loss of fat and muscle.
"The scientists looking at appearance changes found that the upper and lower cheeks were full after the study " said study author  Dr.  [TGT]    vice chair in the department of dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
"Patients themselves found even greater benefits  and noticed that 18 of the 20 areas and features of the face that were studied got better over the course of the study "  Alam  said. "In general  the appearance benefit was that the contour of the face became smoother  fuller and firmer."
The findings were published in January in the journal JAMA Dermatology.  Alam  noted that none of the researchers had a financial interest in the facial yoga exercise program.
As for whether men or perhaps younger women might achieve a similar benefit   Alam  said  "we would expect to see an effect. But until we study it we won't know if it is a little more or a little less."
Still  exercise alone may not be enough "to replace the tried-and-tested methods of improving facial appearance" that can be achieved with fillers  lasers and the like   Alam  acknowledged. Instead  exercises might best serve to enhance such interventions   he  said.
But  Xu  said that facial exercise "makes a lot of intuitive sense."
Why? "Facial aging is so much more than just seeing more wrinkles on the face " said  Xu . "It's a complex process  and includes thinning of the upper layers of the skin  loss of collagen and elastin in the deeper layers of the skin  and loss of fat and muscle.