Does Facial Massage Help Wrinkles? What the Studies Measured

Facial massage hasn't been shown to get rid of wrinkles. A handful of small studies suggest it can relax facial muscles and change how full or firm the face looks, and it's safe when done gently.

You may have been massaging your face most nights for months, hoping the lines on your forehead or around your eyes would soften. They look about the same. That doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. It means the studies behind the promise mostly measured other things, and where wrinkles were rated, they rarely changed.

Does Facial Massage Help Wrinkles?

Probably not much, and nobody has tested it well. The most recent overview is a 2025 systematic review in Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum. It pooled 12 studies of 321 women aged 30 to 70 who tried massage, facial exercise or muscle training.

Only two or three of those studies tested manual massage (the review's own counts differ), with up to 93 people between them. They ran for 3 to 15 weeks. They looked at expert ratings of aging, how women felt about their bodies, and a few facial measurements. None of them reported a wrinkle outcome.

The authors rated the overall risk of bias as moderate, mostly because the studies lacked control groups. Many were run by nonclinicians in low-impact journals, and none followed people for long. Their conclusion: the techniques' popularity likely reflects that they're cheap, easy and noninvasive, "rather than robust clinical evidence."

The same review found the techniques "consistently safe," with no complications reported. So massage is a low-risk habit with a thin evidence base, not a wrinkle treatment.

What Did the Facial Massage Studies Measure?

The studies usually quoted for facial massage measured cheek fullness, contour, muscle tone and skin bounce. Here's what the best-known ones tested, and on whom.

• Facial exercise, 2018. In a JAMA Dermatology study, 27 people aged 40 to 65 enrolled, and 16 women finished. Their upper and lower cheeks looked fuller after 20 weeks.
• Gua sha and roller, 2025. A randomized trial of 34 women aged 20 to 50 (33 finished) compared two tools over 8 weeks. Both trimmed facial contour measurements by about 2 to 3 mm.
• Muscle training. In the 2025 review, the one study that reported fewer forehead, frown and eye-area wrinkles tested myofunctional therapy, a type of muscle training. It included 44 patients. Two other muscle-training studies, with 57 people, found no significant improvement.

The JAMA study is older, but the 2025 review still includes it, and it's one of the few face-exercise trials scored by blinded physicians. Women practiced 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks, then every other day until week 20. Their estimated age, judged from photos, fell from about 50.8 to 48.1 years.

It had no control group, and 11 of the 27 women dropped out. No other physician-rated measure changed significantly. Physicians also rated forehead lines, frown lines and crow's-feet, and none of these improved significantly. It was also exercise, not massage, so it can't tell you what rubbing your face does.

In the 2025 trial, women used their tool for 10 minutes, five times a week. Gua sha mainly loosened the jaw's chewing muscle (the masseter), while the roller raised two skin elasticity scores by about 8%. There was no group that skipped massage, and wrinkles weren't measured. The tools compared goes through each one.

Why Can't Massage Erase Set-In Lines?

Set-in wrinkles come from changes inside the skin that massage hasn't been shown to reverse. Mayo Clinic says that with age, skin becomes less elastic and drier, with less fat and collagen in the deeper layers.

Sunlight speeds that up, and so do smoking and air pollution. Repeated expressions such as frowning and squinting add fine lines on top. A few minutes of pressure on the surface doesn't undo years of sun or lost collagen, and no trial has shown it does.

It helps to sort your lines by type, because different lines respond to different things. This is where massage fits, and where it doesn't.

• Lines that deepen when you frown or squint. Mayo Clinic says Botox works well on frown lines between the eyebrows, forehead lines and crow's-feet. The effect usually lasts a few months.
• Fine lines and sun spots. Prescription retinoids are used to reduce fine wrinkles and splotches. Mayo Clinic says UV light speeds skin aging, so daily sunscreen limits further damage.
• Deeper creases and folds. Mayo Clinic says fillers plump and smooth lines and creases. Repeat injections are needed after about six months.
• A tight jaw. This is where massage has the most plausible role, since gua sha loosened the main chewing muscle in the 2025 trial.

Mayo Clinic adds that retinoids can take a few weeks or months to show improvement. They can cause a rash, burning or dryness, and they aren't for use in pregnancy. How to use retinol on darker skin covers starting slowly.

How to Do Facial Massage Gently

Five minutes with clean hands and something slippery is enough. The goal is relaxed muscles and skin that isn't pulled or rubbed raw.

• Use slip. Apply your usual moisturizer or a facial oil so your fingers glide. Dry skin drags, and dragging is the habit to avoid.
• Keep pressure light to moderate. You should feel the muscle underneath, without the skin bunching or stretching ahead of your fingers.
• Forehead. Rest three fingers flat above your brows. Slide slowly up to your hairline, pause, and repeat a few times.
• Around the eyes. Use your ring fingers with very light pressure, sweeping out toward your temples. Never press on the eyeball.
• Cheeks. Use flat fingers or palms and sweep slowly from the corners of your mouth toward your ears.
• Jaw. Press slow circles into the muscle just in front of your ears, the one that bunches when you bite down.

Stroking upward and outward is a sensible habit, since it stops you dragging skin down. No study has shown that the direction changes wrinkles. If you'd rather use a tool, how to use gua sha on your face correctly covers angle and pressure.

Is Facial Massage Safe for Darker Skin?

Yes, if you keep it gentle, because skin injury, including rough rubbing, can leave dark marks that last for months. That pigment change is called post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH).

A 2024 systematic review in the Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery looked at PIH treatment in skin of color. It lists mechanical trauma among the outside causes, and says PIH tends to be "more prominent and enduring" in darker skin. Acne was the most common cause across the studies it pooled.

The American Academy of Dermatology says a product that irritates your skin can cause dark spots. A spot a few shades darker than your skin usually fades within 6 to 12 months. Pigment that sits deeper can take years.

The 2025 review also called for future studies with people from a range of ethnic backgrounds. It reported no data on skin tone. So the trials can't say whether massage works differently on brown or Black skin.

In practice, that means plenty of slip, no scraping, and stopping if your skin turns red or sore. Daily sunscreen matters too, since sun exposure often worsens PIH. Gua sha on dark skin goes further on tool marks.

When Should You Skip Facial Massage?

Skip it, or ask first, when your skin is inflamed, broken or recently treated.

• Rosacea. The AAD advises patients to avoid rubbing, scrubbing, or massaging skin with rosacea. Wash with your fingertips and pat dry instead.
• After Botox. Mayo Clinic's aftercare advice is clear: do not rub or massage the treated areas for 24 hours.
• After filler, peels or laser. Ask the clinic that treated you when massage is safe again.
• Active breakouts. Acne was the most common cause of PIH in the 2024 review, so don't add pressure to inflamed spots.
• Retinoid irritation. If a retinoid has left your skin burning or flaky, leave those areas alone until they settle.
• Broken or infected skin. Wait until it has healed.

When to See a Dermatologist

Mayo Clinic suggests a dermatologist if you're concerned about how your skin looks. A dermatologist can build a skin care plan and talk through wrinkle treatments, including laser and peels.

Mayo Clinic notes that people with brown or Black skin have a higher risk of long-term color changes from chemical peels and laser. If that's you, look for someone experienced with lasers across a range of skin colors.

A nightly massage is also a good moment to notice changes. The AAD says skin cancer in darker skin tones is often advanced by the time it is diagnosed. Book a visit for a bump, spot or mole that's growing, bleeding, itching or changing.

The same goes for a sore that doesn't heal, or heals and returns, and a rough, scaly patch that won't go away. Also see a doctor for new skin darkening you can't explain. Easy bruising after light pressure is worth a doctor's visit too, especially if you take blood thinners. What happens to your skin in your 30s and 40s explains which changes are normal.

How Long Does Facial Massage Take to Show Results?

No study has shown that the glow straight after a massage lasts. Longer changes, where studies found them, took weeks to months of steady practice.

• 8 weeks: the 2025 tool trial found small contour and elasticity changes at this point, with practice five times a week.
• 20 weeks: the JAMA exercise study found fuller cheeks, with daily practice at first.
• Weeks to months: Mayo Clinic's timeline for retinoids to start improving fine wrinkles.

If you enjoy massage, keep it as a calm few minutes that eases your jaw. For the lines themselves, sunscreen and a retinoid have far more evidence behind them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Facial Massage Make Wrinkles Worse?

No study has shown gentle massage causes wrinkles, and the 2025 review found no complications. Rough rubbing is a different matter, since friction can irritate skin and leave dark marks, especially on darker skin.

How Often Should You Do Facial Massage for Wrinkles?

The two trials described here used 10 to 30 minutes, three to seven times a week, for 8 to 20 weeks. A few minutes most days is a realistic habit, as long as you don't expect lines to disappear.

Is Face Yoga Better Than Facial Massage for Wrinkles?

Face yoga has a few more studies behind it, mostly for cheek fullness rather than wrinkles. The 2025 review found too little solid evidence to back either one for facial rejuvenation.