Double Chin Exercises, Massage and Devices: What They Can and Cannot Do

You have come across a video promising a more defined neck in a few minutes a day, or an ad for a chin strap to wear at night. Before trying a double chin exercise or buying an accessory, two questions help sort through the promises: what creates this fullness in your case, and what does the method target?

Working a muscle, moisturizing the skin and reducing fat are three different results. An exercise can strengthen a neck muscle without the fullness under the chin decreasing as a result. So judge each home method by what it actually changes, and where.

The term “double chin” describes what you see, not a specific tissue. Fat under the chin, sagging neck skin and muscle bands can contribute to this bulge, sometimes together. To understand your contour, the doctor also needs to distinguish, during the assessment, between the tissues, the shape of the chin and jaw, the position of your head and your weight history. These are factors to assess in your case, not reasons to set yourself a target weight.

Neck bands come from the platysma, a muscle attached to the skin and deeper tissues over its entire surface. Exercising it works a muscle, not a pocket of fat or a bone. If you are thinking more about the jaw, ask for these bands, the masseter and the bony projection of the chin to be considered separately during the assessment: these elements must not be confused when choosing an exercise or a treatment.

Over the years, the face and neck can lose the definition of their contours. Heredity, gravity, the environment and stress contribute to this. A photo or the number on the scale is no substitute for the examination, during which the doctor determines what creates the fullness in your case; so weight loss is not a result to be promised for your chin.

If the line running from your chin to your ear is what mainly bothers you, and not the fullness under your chin, the question is no longer the same: the jawline is assessed in its own right.

Practised for twenty weeks, facial exercises combined with face yoga made the upper and lower cheeks fuller. For the neck, the change was not clear enough to conclude that there was an effect, and fat under the chin was not measured. This result comes from a small group of middle-aged women followed without a comparison group: it concerns the cheeks and guarantees nothing for your neck.

This is the point that matters for the area under the chin. A change in the cheeks does not tell you what happens lower down, and the name of a practice, whether face yoga or facial workouts, is no substitute for a result seen in the area you are concerned about. An exercise presented as being “for women” raises the same question: what did it change under the chin?

The effectiveness of techniques that work the face through movement or pressure remains uncertain. For both exercises and face yoga, fuller cheeks are a possible change, but not an answer about the area under the chin. Fat reduction in that area, firming of sagging skin, a change in the jaw and a posture-related benefit have not been established. Working a muscle is not enough to conclude that these other elements are changing.

Strengthening the neck to lose a double chin seems logical: you can feel the muscle working under the chin. Practised for eight weeks by healthy young adults, exercises targeting the muscles under the chin increased their strength and activity. The measurements covered these gains and the ability to swallow; fat and the appearance of the chin were not among them.

Feeling a muscle work and gaining strength do not mean that the fullness under the chin is decreasing. The gains after eight weeks involved swallowing exercises in healthy young adults, with no measurement of appearance or fat. They provide neither a cosmetic program for you to replicate at home nor proof of an effect on sagging skin, the jaw or your posture.

How long does it take to lose a double chin with exercises? There is no established time frame for this result. Twenty weeks for a change in the cheeks and eight weeks to gain strength under the chin are not enough to predict when this fullness will decrease in your case. The result you are looking for matters more than the number of days spent on the method.

Better-moisturized skin, a stronger muscle and decreasing fullness are different changes. When faced with a promise of quick results, ask which one is being claimed and how it was measured under the chin. A promise spanning several months is no more reliable if it does not answer this question.

A face and neck massage uses pressure and movement on the skin. Its cosmetic effectiveness remains uncertain: under the chin, drainage, fat reduction or a lifting effect has not been established, and its effects on the muscles, jaw and posture remain to be clarified. Gua sha, a traditional Chinese medicine practice that involves scraping the skin with a smooth-edged tool, raises the same open questions for fat, sagging skin, muscles, the jaw and posture under the chin. A change in another area of the face does not answer these questions.

“Double chin device” refers to a sales category, not to how a device works. Without knowing the device, its settings and how it is used, it is not possible to say whether it targets the skin, a muscle or fat. Nor can a change in the jaw or posture be inferred from its name. The effect of a home device therefore remains to be verified for each of these elements; a result obtained with a device used in a clinical setting does not carry over to an accessory for home use. Ask what the device does exactly and what change was measured under the chin, rather than relying on a promise of slimming.

A mask can soothe the skin or add moisture, depending on its ingredients. This can meet a skin care need, but fat reduction, a neck-lifting effect or a change in muscle, bone or posture has not been established for the area under the chin. A mask can also irritate the skin: if it causes itching, burning or stinging, remove it right away and rinse. These sensations can signal irritation or an allergy. Irritating ingredients or applying a mask too often can leave the skin in worse condition. “Natural” does not guarantee that your skin will tolerate it.

A chin strap for a double chin and a face wrap are often presented as support accessories. Their names are not enough to tell how they work, how much compression they apply or what would remain after they are removed. For both, lasting slimming and an effect on sagging skin, muscles, bone or posture have not been established. After a neck lift, a dressing around the face and neck can limit swelling and bruising; however, it is used as part of surgical care and in accordance with the instructions for that surgery. This postoperative role does not justify attributing the same benefit to a chin strap or face wrap worn on its own, or recommending how long to wear one.

A good moisturizer can make the skin plumper and fine lines less visible. This effect is temporary. A cream or lotion cannot, however, lift sagging skin: it does not penetrate deeply enough to do so.

If a double chin cream claims to tighten the neck, distinguish plumper skin from sagging skin that would actually be lifted: a cream or lotion does not produce that lift. Fat reduction, a change in muscle or bone and a correction of posture have not been established; moisturizing proves none of these results. For your skin, also ask what to do if a cream irritates it, rather than assuming that you will tolerate it well.

A photo can illustrate what you notice; it does not, on its own, measure fat loss. Comparing images without taking into account head position, distance and lighting is not enough to attribute the difference to an exercise. This is a limitation of the comparison, not a test for deciding which tissue has changed.

A difference in posture or angle between two photos does not show that an exercise has reduced fat. To find out what is due to the position of your head rather than your tissues, show the doctor what you notice. The effect of correcting posture on the fullness under the chin has not been established; it must not be presented as fat loss or as a lift.

When faced with a video, an ad or a device, four questions help you sort things out:

• Where was the change seen? Fuller cheeks do not answer a question about the area under the chin.
• What changed? Moisturized skin, a stronger muscle, a different photo and decreasing fat are distinct results.
• Compared with what? Without a group that did not follow the method, there is no way to know whether the change came from it.
• What does the time frame mean? The length of a program is not a promise of results for you.

Without clear answers to these questions, a promise remains a promise, regardless of the number of days claimed.

Swelling at the front of the neck must not be assumed straight away to be a double chin. It can come from the thyroid, a small gland in the neck that produces hormones. Swelling of the thyroid is not usually serious, but it needs to be examined by a doctor.

Also seek medical advice if you notice pain at the front of the neck or a feeling of pressure, a hoarse voice that persists, or a lump that is new, growing, or becoming painful, red or warm. These signs have many possible causes: on their own, they do not tell you what is going on. Have swelling or a lump in the neck examined rather than trying to make it go away with exercise or massage.

If your jaw becomes painful during the exercises and this gets worse or worries you, seek medical advice. Before you start, ask what to do if your jaw or neck hurts. Also ask what to do if a cream causes a reaction; for a mask that itches, burns or stings, remove it and rinse right away. Skin that remains irritated warrants medical advice.

If home methods do not address what bothers you, first clarify what you want to change: fullness under the chin, skin that has sagged, bands in the neck or the jawline. The options for double chin treatment depend on this answer, and each one has its limitations.

CARE MD, in Sainte-Thérèse on Montreal’s North Shore, offers a Global Aesthetic consultation to discuss this. The assessment is an opportunity to see what creates this fullness in your case before discussing a treatment, and you can then decide not to go ahead with anything. Mention what you have already tried at home and what you expected from it: this is useful information, not a failure you need to justify.

Ask the CARE MD team your question.