Social media is rife with advice on how to improve your looks, health, and mental well-being. If you want gorgeous, thick hair, just do a scalp massage every day and train your hair to produce less oil by washing it less frequently. If you feel bloated, do a gut cleanse and detox all the bad gunk from your body. If your neuroses are getting the best of you, peel and eat an orange in a hot shower and it'll fix your anxiety. However, the truth is that these beauty and wellness hacks are just myths — anecdotal advice people who have no medical credentials tout on social media as real scientific facts and offer questionable treatments for. The newest fad in the beauty field is conquering "cortisol face" — face puffiness or the appearance of a so-called "chronically round face" caused by the stress hormone cortisol. But is cortisol really to blame here? Bored Panda decided to delve deeper into the phenomenon of "cortisol face," morning puffiness, Cushing's disease, and self-diagnosing on social media. We consulted nurse practitioner Michaela Robbins, DNP, AGNP-BC, and cardiologist and internal medicine specialist Dr. Asim Cheema, who told us more about cortisol, why your face might be puffier than usual, and what we should do about it. macniak / Magnific (not the actual photo) It all begins with cortisol — the cheeky stress hormone blamed for our faces looking all puffy and bloated. Makeup guru Mirta Miller's video on TikTok with pictures before and after she "fixed" her "cortisol face" has over 2 million views. "Cortisol face is real," the caption reads. Another video by fitness influencer Laura Coen claims that "stress makes you puffy" and walks her audience through the steps of how she "lowered her cortisol" and "got her jaw back." But what even is cortisol? Bored Panda asked two medical professionals what this hormone is and how exactly it affects our appearance and well-being. "Cortisol is the body's primary stress hormone," Dr. Michaela Robbins, a doctor of nursing practice and board-certified adult nurse practitioner, tells us. "It is a hormone that controls body daily functions such as the sleep-wake cycle, blood pressure and transient stress episode response, produced by the adrenal gland," Dr. Asim Cheema, cardiologist and internal medicine specialist, adds. wayhomestudio / Magnific (not the actual photo) Both specialists say cortisol can cause fat deposits in our face, but there's a huge difference between temporary puffiness that goes away during the day and a "moon-face" that's one of the symptoms of a real medical condition, Cushing's Syndrome. As part of our circadian rhythm, cortisol naturally rises in the morning. That's what helps us wake up and is not related to excessive stress — it's a normal part of day-to-day stress most of us experience. If we notice any facial swelling in the morning, it usually goes down during the day and returns to baseline, Dr. Cheema says. With Cushing's Syndrome, fat deposits may form in the jaw, causing the appearance of “Moon Face.” When we experience excessive amounts of stress and cortisol reaches abnormal levels, cortisol deposits fat into the lower cheeks and jaw. “These cortisol-induced changes result from months to years of chronically high levels of cortisol, which is typically caused by a tumor or someone taking long-term steroid medication,” Dr. Michaela Robbins explains. kroshka__nastya / Magnific (not the actual photo) A moon face is a result of years of elevated cortisol levels. “Clinical moon face is an entirely different beast,” Dr. Robbins says when we ask her to compare it to “cortisol face.” “It results from the body being chronically and continuously exposed to high levels of cortisol that are high enough to actually physically alter the face over time.” The condition is usually caused by a tumor or long-term steroid use. Moon face also usually presents with many other symptoms, too. According to Dr. Robbins, they might include “purple stretch marks across the body, easy bruising, a constantly red face, and weakness in the thigh and shoulder muscles." Dr. Robbins says moon face should not be mistaken for “cortisol face,” which is what people call “a brief hormonal blip." "Moon face is the result of prolonged overexposure to cortisol that alters tissues in the body." Magnific / Magnific (not the actual photo) People usually notice that their face is more bloated in the morning. There can be different reasons for that, but both Dr. Robbins and Dr. Cheema mention the three most common: lots of salt in a diet, a lack of sleep, and the gravitational effect of lying in bed in a horizontal position. "When you eat a salty meal or eat late at night, the body tends to hold on to water, which typically bloats the face first," Dr. Robbins explains. "When you don't get enough sleep or have sleep apnea, the body tends to hold fluid in the head when you're lying down overnight which combines with alcohol consumption." She names jaw clenching as another possible and more common reason for facial puffiness than what people often blame on "cortisol face." "People tend to clench their jaw or teeth grind, which over time builds up the jaw muscles, making the face look more wide and square underneath, which people tend to interpret as chubbiness." Humphrey M / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Both experts that Bored Panda reached out to agree that "cortisol face" is not a term medical professionals use. The facial bloating and puffiness that people observe in their own bodies is most likely caused by one of the less-nefarious lifestyle choices listed above. A true "moon face" can only be diagnosed by doctors and includes more symptoms. Dr. Robbins notes that Cushing's Syndrome is rare, and affects only a few individuals out of a million each year. People can't diagnose it just from a picture or a set of symptoms. Doctors perform proper lab tests and administer a treatment plan accordingly. "I do take seriously that women feel distressed over having cortisol face from an aesthetic perspective, but the solution can vary per person and the wrong solution can lead to the wrong results," Dr. Robbins cautions. Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo) On TikTok and Instagram, people advise battling "cortisol face" by taking ashwagandha or making "cortisol cocktails" with magnesium powder, coconut water, and other supplements. But taking them without testing yourself can do more harm than good. According to Dr. Cheema, coconut water, potassium, and magnesium can be dangerous for renal patients, and ashwagandha may cause liver damage. Dr. Robbins adds that studies on ashwagandha were focused on lab values, not someone's face. "I do use it in practice at specific doses that are patient-specific for certain stress-causes," she says. However, she also adds that "there is no evidence to suggest any of these supplements can reverse fat on your face." Self-diagnosing and self-administering treatments based on what we see and read on social media is the new reality. But medical professionals ask people to be cautious and always consult a medical practitioner before starting any supplements, medications, or alternative treatments. https://www.eastxwestmed.com/ Dr. Michaela Robbins, DNP | Nurse Practitioner, AGPCNP-BC, DNP at East x West Med "Self-diagnosing can cause a lot of unneeded anxiety over something that is actually lifestyle-related and just a response to acute triggers (which we can still address), or second, it can become your new focus and take your attention away from something that actually needs your attention, whether that's a rare tumor that produces hormones or more commonplace things like sleep apnea, uncontrolled diabetes, PCOS, heavy drinking, or even obesity, which can all elevate cortisol and have their own care," Dr. Robbins tells Bored Panda. "If you are actually concerned about your hormones, the proper thing to do is to see a clinician and get properly tested, not try to treat it with a TikTok hack," she says.
