What I read a lot recently is that expression lines, the ones we try to eradicate with Botox, come from stiff, tense, and dehydrated fascia. I combed through the medical databases to find out whether that is really true.

What I found is that the scientific evidence to prove a connection between wrinkles being the cause of fascia tension is fairly weak. In fact, what a lot of beauty influencers do not consider is that the fascia in the face has a different architecture than in the rest of the body.

While inflammation and emotional stress tense the fascia in the body and can cause painful muscle restriction, the same isn’t true for the face. Anatomists and plastic surgeons all over the world have dissected thousands of people to identify the position and presence of tissue layers in the face.

What they found is that the deep fascia that is covering the skeletal muscles in the body, is in the face beneath the mimetic muscles. This means that tension and dehydration in the deep fascia doesn’t tense the muscles that create facial expressions. And this also means, the deep fascia in the face has hardly any impact on expression lines.

The absence of deep fascia above mimetic muscles has an important social purpose. It allows humans to have the widest range of emotional expressions among all animals.

Despite the absence of deep fascia, mimetic muscles are encased with loosely woven superficial fascia. This less dense fascia has string-like extensions that connect facial muscles to the skin. Without these string-like fascia connections, the muscle movements would not be visible on the face.

You can imagine the superficial facia like whiskers all over your face. But instead of extending outwards, they are on the inside and connect the skin to the facial muscles. Like strings on a puppet. The puppeteer is the muscle, the puppet is the skin, and the strings are the perpendicular arranged fascia walls that make the translation of the command possible.

This network of mimetic muscles and superficial fascia is also called the SMAS. Kris Jenner had a SMAS lifting two years ago, and while this took 30 years off her face, she would tell you it did not replace her Botox injections.

That doesn’t mean the fascia doesn’t impact expression lines at all—it does, just not in the way a lot of influencers are describing.

The superficial fascia in the face has two more roles:

1. The first is to create a stabilizing anti-gravity network.

This means that when the fascia loses its density through collagen and elastin loss, the fascia descends and with it the face. This of course exacerbates dynamic wrinkles.

2. The second role is to provide a force transmission buffer.

Muscle movement is energy and this is directly translated by the skin as facial expression. The fascia and fat tissue in between dissipates that energy. The bouncier and intact the soft tissues, the more harmonious this energy translation. In an older face where the fascia and fat tissue thins, dehydrates and shifts, the force transmission becomes more concentrated and the wrinkle rippling intensifies.

The Verdict

The main players that cause expression lines are facial muscles and the nervous system. However, all facial tissues, including muscles, fascia, fat tissue, and the skin belong to a biomechanical system. No single tissue works in isolation, nor is any of the tissues meaningless in dynamic wrinkles. When muscles move, the superficial fascia moves as well. When the fascia is not in a good shape because it is dehydrated, stiff or thin, it will intensify the wrinkles.

Let’s break down natural strategies for healthy fascia.

1. Collagen & Elastin Balance

Functional fascia means a healthy balance of collagen and elastin fibers in the Goldilocks principle—not too much and not too little.

The collagen gives the stability and the elastin the recoil ability. The recoil allows the soft tissues to return into their resting position after smiling or frowning. The natural decline in stability and snap-back capacity that contributes to persistent expression lines cannot be stopped entirely but partially mitigated if you provide your body with enough amino acids to build new elastin and collagen.

On the other hand, too much collagen stiffens the fascia and compromises the flexibility. Therefore, look at your stress and inflammation levels. These two factors create unwanted collagen overgrowth.

2. Tissue Hydration

According to fascia experts Dr Carla Stecco and her brother Antonio, dehydration lies at the core of fascia dysfunction. When the fascia compresses, the water-binding molecule hyaluron that keeps everything hydrated starts to bind to itself instead of water. This clumps the tissue, compromises the sensory perception, and changes the pressure load. Fortunately, this isn’t permanent. Movement, stretch and massage, restores fascia dehydration because motion drains old fluid and makes space for more and fresh one. Slow sustained pressure and the warmth that is generated through massage friction brings the clumped hyaluron back into more fluidity. Researchers at the NYU School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins proved for the first time via MRI how manual pressure restores the moisture content in the fascia.

3. Motion

Movement is really the key-player in fascia health. Facial motion is an automated built-in system considering how much we move when we speak and chew. When we think about how speaking is involved in social interaction, it makes sense why longevity experts consider friendships, relationships and connection as an important youth factor. And the hydration of the fascia is not the only reason why movement is so important.

New research found that the SMAS has a richer blood network than originally thought and the age-related blood flow contributes heavily to aging. In order to invigorate the blood-flow, face massage daily while you apply your moisturizer isn’t the only rejuvenating step. Whole body exercise impacts the face just as well. Ever witnessed how good you look after a brisk walk?

Keeping the tissues moving also clears any inflammatory substances that can stiffen the fascia.

4. Relaxation

But as the body needs balance, relaxation after all that action is just as important. Massage, stretching and yoga isn’t just so effective because of the force applied to the tissues. Experts believe it is the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) that melts fascia like candlewax under the slow, gentle and deep touch, rather than the mechanical pressure itself. The Ruffini receptors in the deep skin and superficial fascia is what facilitates the response to this type of touch by taking a detour through the nervous system. Your skin will also thank you for gentle treatment as it preserves the delicate elastin, which doesn’t like overstretching and brute force.

Because of the impact of the parasympathetic activation, nervous system regulation with breathing techniques add another meaningful component.

5. Acupuncture

The fascia also loves acupuncture. Fascia expert Thomas Myers believes that fascia lines are equivalent to the meridians in traditional Chinese medicine. We already learned that our nerve cells generate electricity. Fascia can do that too! The collagen fibers have a polarity (a minus and a plus pole), which enables them to produce piezoelectricity. This was discovered by Japanese physicist Eiichi Fukada and orthopaedic surgeon Iwao Yasuda. Our fascia is constantly generating piezoelectricity, when we stretch, exercise, and lift heavy loads. This activates our self-healing response and is why movement feels so good. The self-healing response from piezoelectricity after the insertion of acupuncture needles along meridian lines is the principle acupuncture is based on. Yoga has a similar effect to acupuncture, as you squeeze the meridians when you bend to hold certain poses.

You may notice, the methods don’t involve any intense interventions, modern devices or a big budget.