by Marilyn Lindblad

Created on: February 22, 2011

Do you know someone who's never had plastic surgery, but she always looks young? Her jawline is firm, her eyes are bright and her glowing skin radiates confidence. Her secret just might be facial exercises. Doing yoga for the face can tone your muscles, increase blood circulation and restore a youthful, glowing look to your skin. "Skip the Botox. Try facial yoga," suggests Time Magazine.

Achieve a natural look

Watch a few prime time television shows and you'll notice the duck lips, frozen brows and stretched eyes of actresses who've had facial surgery. Too many of them are expressionless zombies with permanent smiles. Facial exercises make your face look fresh and young without the implants, incisions and injections that appear so artificial. Exercising your facial muscles gently builds muscles that naturally lift the sagging skin and smoothe the wrinkles. 

Don't run the risk

Every surgical procedure carries risks that facial exercises don't involve. Anesthesia can result in breathing problems and nausea. Surgery sometimes causes excessive bleeding and infection. A face lift can damage the nerves that control your facial muscles and cause paralysis and numbness. Facial surgery patients can also suffer problems such as swollen tissue, scarring, changes in skin color and asymmetry. A facial exercise program carries none of these risks.

Get the look for less

According to CNN Money, facial surgery can cost anywhere from $1,000, for injectable fillers that wear off in a few months, up to $15,000 for a full-scale face lift. A thread lift, where doctors pull your skin up with implanted threads and anchor the ends to tissue, costs about $2,500 and lasts about a year. Health insurance doesn't cover cosmetic surgery, and medical expenses for elective facial surgery are not tax deductible. In contrast, facial exercises are free. They require no special equipment or recovery time.

Three uplifting facial exercises

(1) Close your eyes, relax, and "look" through your eyelids to a point bewteen your eyebrows. Hold the look for 60 seconds.

(2) Pump up your cheeks with air, and hold the pose for 60 seconds.

(3) Open your eyes as wide as you can and lift your eyebrows as high as possible. Hold the pose for ten seconds, then relax. Repeat three times.

Facial exercises are best

Expensive facial surgery can have unexpected results. Even if everything goes well, surgery is expensive and requires downtime for recovery. Not so with facial exercises. You can do them while you watch TV or relax. Facial exercises are inexpensive, easy and convenient. They beat facial surgery, hands down.

References:

"Time" Magazine: Facial Yoga Photo Essays

Medline Plus: Facelift

CNN Money: Forever Young

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