How To Get Rid of a Double Chin? Causes, Exercises & Treatments 2023

Youthful, beautiful faces come in many forms. One standard that many judges themselves on is the state of their chin and jaw, and the accumulation of fat therein.

Having a double chin isn’t the end of the world, but there’s a ton you can do to reduce the appearance of a double chin through diet, facial exercises, and even things like massage therapy. Here’s what you need to know.

What Is A Double Chin?

Basically, a double chin is an excess of fatty tissue deposits underneath and along with the jawline and jaw muscles, around the neck muscles, and in the chin area. It’s also known as submental adiposity^[1], which means submental fat associated with the neck muscles, chin, and jaw.

These stubborn fat cells will often give the face a soft, rounded, and otherwise “doughy” appearance. Some carry a double chin well; others dislike the look of fat accumulation in the face and neck area.

Just like excess fat anywhere else in the body, weight gain in the face can be managed and reduced through a healthy diet, facial exercise, and even clinical double chin reduction. Before getting ahead of ourselves, however, we should focus on the root cause. Once you know what the issue is, reducing chin fat is often a simple matter of lifestyle readjustment.

What Causes A Double Chin?

A double chin can have as many possible causes as extra fat cells anywhere else in the body. What’s got your facial muscles down?

It could be any of the following:

• An unhealthy body weight overall
• A lack of exercise or activity
• Weight loss or gain that happens too quickly
• Some drugs like steroids can cause your face to bloat
• Aging skin, which may cause the jowls to droop
• Reduced collagen production, either as a result of age or other factors
• Your genes may predispose you to the problem
• Alcohol abuse, which is often quite apparent in the face
• Eating too much sugar, which may cause the same effect
• Bad posture, which allows your skin to sag in this area
• The shape of your face and neck themselves might make a double chin more apparent

Any of these factors might be at play. You can lose weight, which is almost certainly going to burn fat in this area and improve your appearance. Aside from this, though, there are more than a few facial exercises you can try to target facial weight gain more precisely.

How To Get Rid Of A Double Chin Without Surgery?

Our recommendation is to try to get rid of a double chin naturally, through your habits, and through other exercises. Here are a few of our favorite ways to streamline your face.

Double Chin Exercises

Chewing gum is one way to get your jaw moving, but it’s not the only exercise that can improve the area underneath your chin:

• Face yoga: Many yoga moves incorporate the muscles of the face by definition, but you don’t need to limit yourself to your usual vinyasa. Clenching, facial stretching, and even eye stretching can all exercise parts of the face that see little movement ordinarily. All of these efforts can help you get rid of your double chin.
• The ball exercise: Press a ball of some sort underneath your chin. Hold and release in succession until you start to feel the blood flow. Repeat two to three times daily for best results.
• Puckering: While looking up toward the sky, pucker your lips until you feel your jaw stretching ahead. Hold for ten, and release, repeating as desired.
• Jutting: Tilt your head back, stretching your neck. Shove your lower jaw forward, ahead of your upper teeth. Count to ten before releasing. Repeat as needed.

Many of these exercises have one important move in common: tilting your head back, allowing the muscles underneath your chin to stretch fully, and improving blood circulation in the area. You can do this in any of the ways described above, as well as with your mouth wide open or with your tongue extended fully.

Weight Loss Diet

Exercise can help you reduce your double chin, but a diet geared toward weight loss is the best way to achieve sustainable, long-lasting results.

Often, this might be as simple as reducing the number of calories you eat every day^[2] and choosing to include more whole foods like fruits and vegetables in your diet. Avoid processed foods, fast food, fried foods, and sugary junk when you can—all of the above can cause extra bloat which would otherwise be easily avoided.

Starting small is easy, and you may feel your dietary inclinations change as the newly-introduced exercise kicks your body into gear. It’s not always easy, but if you can find a healthy plan you love and stick to it, you might see results much sooner than anticipated.

Other Double Chin Treatments

Sometimes, the fastest way to get rid of a double chin is to simply submit to one or more cosmetic procedures, many of which are reasonably non-invasive. Here’s how to get rid of a double chin fast if you have the means.

Mesotherapy For A Double Chin

Mesotherapy once every two weeks was able to help this small cohort^[3] achieve a sharper, more defined chin. What is mesotherapy exactly, though?

Instead of applying a cocktail of substances topically, a provider may be able to help you reduce fat under your chin by stimulating lipolysis by way of phosphatidylcholine or deoxycholic acid microinjections. These microinjections deliver these compounds directly into the problem area, dissolving the fat cells, resulting in a stronger jawline, fast and easy.

CoolSculpting, Or Cryolipolysis

This approach exposes the fat cells under your chin and jawline to subzero temperatures. It takes less than an hour and requires no injections or incisions.

Cryolipolysis may be able to reduce chin fat by up to 0.2mm^[4]. It’s a low-risk procedure and will usually leave you with few adverse side effects to deal with.

Lymphatic Drainage Massage

Lymphatic drainage massage sometimes called manual lymphatic drainage, is used to encourage the drainage of the lymph nodes gently, from the outside.

While the efficacy of this type of treatment is disputed^[5], tons of people employ it in want of a sexier chin and jawline. It’s often a relaxing and therapeutic experience and offers many of the same benefits of facial exercise at home, including a reduction in bloating, swelling, and inflammation in the face.

Liposuction, Facelifts, And Other Forms Of Cosmetic Surgery

We’ll be honest: these aren’t our top picks, especially if the excess fat you’re trying to get rid of does not put your life in danger. Still, thousands of people have found success through plastic surgery, including laser lipolysis and even liposuction for double chins.

If you’re not dangerously obese, however, it’s often cheaper, healthier, and easier on your body to simply increase your levels of physical activity or cut back on your daily caloric intake. Either will usually earn you much more natural-looking and attractive results—you’ll probably end up feeling great, to boot.

Final Thoughts

Can you put a price on beauty? The good news is, you really don’t have to—fruits and vegetables are relatively cheap, and so is a quick jog through your neighborhood at the end of the day.

Health is wealth, and when you take good care of your body, it shows. Try these tips at home for a sleeker jawline. After a couple of weeks, you might not even recognize yourself.

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