Antonia1

i Which. I would strongly recommend you Google Ageless if You Dare and download her $10 book about facial exercise. The change it has made to the contours of my face is staggering and you don't need any gadgets. The exercises take about 10 minutes five or six times a week. I am 58 and not a wrinkle on my face and have been doing these for about a year (I didn't have wrinkles before but want to illustrate the point that, done correctly, facial exercise does not encourage wrinkling.) Regrettably, excess skin due to weight loss doesn't disappear as the result of facial exercise. The lifting of the cheeks, however, can cause it to drape better. It depends on how much excess there is, of course. For more on antiaging issues, you may visit my blog (not associated with the Ageless program in any way, and not selling or advertsing anything) by Googling Middle Ageless blog.

Er...Breeka lolol! That is quite the question. Given the muscles involved I would say it is more likely to cause lines around the mouth (rather like a smoker), but not NL folds. And again...you would have to be doing this as often as most people smoke (a pack a day, at least) in order for the lines to be "formed from habitual expression."

I think part of the issue here is that dermatologists and other medical professionals think of the "old" facial exercises which use no resistance and simply rely on pulling faces, when they hear "facial exercise." I am now regularly being told I "look different" after a few weeks of doing a specific 5-minute a day program. I have noticed a dramatic (yes, no exaggeration there) uplifting of the cheekbone area (which is covered by muscle), firming of the jawline and reduction in the philtral area/upper lip "roll-out" since I began. Nothing short of amazing...

I'm really pleased to see so many articulate and intelligent, well-researched postings here. Clearly, we have been misled over the cause of facial wrinkling for many years (albeit unintentionally). Of course day-to-day expressions cause lines to form. This is because habitual expression is just that: contant and repetitive. This is a far cry from facial exercises, which utilize the facial muscles in an unnatural way, once every day at the very most.

For many years, and after consultation with dermatologists with whom I have worked (I'm a medical journalist) I have believed that facial exercise causes, rather than ameliorates, facial sagging and wrinkling. However, having tried LouLou's exercises as an experiment after seeing a number of raves about them on the boards that I frequent, I have to do an "about turn." Within eight days, my NL folds were significantly "lifted" towards the upper cheek, and my facial fullness had risen to the cheekbone area. Whoever wrote that bit about facial muscles plumping up, by the way, is inaccurate, as they don't actually "plump" but flatten. Although they are not attached to the skin, in the same way as the muscle of the arm attaches to the elbow joint, the flattening and tightening (pulling upwards of the zygomaticus and buccinator muscles) allows the skin to better drape over the cheeks and cheekbones. I have difficulty writing this as it seems really ridiculous the way I have seen results. Others report that it has taken longer to see results, but many are noticing significant building in the cheekbone area in a very short period of time. It's not a case of the Emperor's New Clothes either as my friend commented on it and my 3/4 profile is way different and more youthful. I will happily discuss this with any dermatologist who cares to personally question me about it.