Double Chin Exercises: Do They Work, and What Actually Removes a Double Chin
Contents
Double chin exercises are everywhere online, and the honest answer about them is more useful than the hype. They can strengthen the muscles under the chin and improve how you hold your head, which makes a mild double chin look a little better. They cannot burn the fat that sits there or tighten skin that has loosened, because no exercise can spot reduce fat or rebuild collagen. This page gives you six exercises that are worth doing, explains what they will and will not change, and sets out what actually removes a double chin, from what we see every week at our clinic in Whickham, Newcastle.
The short version
- Exercises tone the muscle and help posture. They do not remove chin fat or tighten loose skin.
- Give them six to eight weeks of daily practice before you judge them.
- If you can pinch a soft roll under your chin, fat freezing from £350 does what exercises cannot. If the skin is loose, HIFU for the chin and jawline is £995.
What causes a double chin
Most double chins are one of three things, and often two at once. The first is a pocket of fat under the chin, which you can have at a healthy weight because where your body stores fat is largely down to genetics. The second is loose skin and a slack platysma muscle, the thin sheet of muscle at the front of the neck, which lets everything drop as collagen falls with age. The third is structure: a small or set back chin makes the area beneath it look fuller even when there is not much fat there. Weight gain, rapid weight loss and hours spent looking down at a phone all make each of them worse.
Do double chin exercises work?
There is no good research showing that facial exercises reduce fat under the chin, and no exercise can tighten skin that has already stretched. What they can do is strengthen the muscles under the jaw and at the front of the neck, which improves muscle tone and the way you carry your head. For someone with a mild double chin and decent skin, that can be enough to notice a difference in the mirror. For a defined pocket of fat or loose skin, you will tone the muscle underneath and the fat and skin will look much the same.
So do them, because they cost nothing and help posture, but judge them honestly at six to eight weeks rather than hoping for a different result at six months.
Six double chin exercises to try
Do these once a day. Keep the movements slow and stop if anything hurts. Most people combine three or four rather than doing all six.
1. The ceiling kiss
Sit or stand with your shoulders relaxed. Tilt your head back until you are looking at the ceiling, then pucker your lips as if kissing it. You should feel the stretch along the front of your neck and under your chin. Hold for five seconds, relax, and repeat 15 times.
2. Tongue press
With your head tilted back, press your whole tongue flat against the roof of your mouth and hold for ten seconds. This works the muscles directly beneath the chin, the ones that go slack with age. Repeat ten times.
3. Straight jaw jut
Look at the ceiling and push your lower jaw forward until you feel a pull under your chin. Hold for ten seconds, bring the jaw back and lower your head. Repeat ten times.
4. Side jaw jut
The same movement with your head turned to the right, then to the left. Hold each side for five to ten seconds and repeat five times each way. This reaches the sides of the neck that the straight version misses.
5. Ball press
Hold a soft ball about the size of a tennis ball under your chin and press down against it with your chin for a count of three. Repeat 25 times. It adds resistance to the muscles that tuck the chin.
6. Chin tucks for posture
Sitting tall, draw your chin straight back as if making a double chin on purpose, hold for five seconds and release. Ten repeats, two or three times a day. This one does the most for the way your jawline looks day to day, because forward head posture folds the skin under the chin every time you look at a screen.
What helps alongside the exercises
If you have weight to lose, losing it will usually reduce the chin as well, although a pocket that has stayed put at a healthy weight rarely goes with diet alone. Keeping your screen at eye level stops the folding that makes a double chin look worse. Daily SPF on the neck protects the collagen you still have. None of these remove fat that is already there, which is where the next section comes in.
What actually removes a double chin
The right treatment depends on whether yours is fat, skin or both, which we work out at a free assessment by pinching and looking at the area with you.
For a pocket of fat: fat freezing
A small applicator cools the fat cells under the chin until they break down, and the body clears them over eight to twelve weeks. One or two sessions are usual, there is no downtime, and the chin is £350 a session. It is the treatment we use most for a double chin. More on fat freezing in Newcastle.
For a heavier chin or a higher BMI: Emerald Laser
Emerald Laser is a cold laser that empties fat cells gradually over a course of ten short sessions, with nothing to recover from. The double chin course starts at £1,850. See Emerald Laser in Newcastle.
For loose skin: HIFU or Exilis
If the skin under your chin has loosened, HIFU for the chin and jawline uses focused ultrasound to tighten the deeper layers and lift the jawline, usually in one session, with the result building over three months. It is £995. For thinner, crepey skin, a course of Exilis Ultra firms it gradually from £775. See HIFU in Newcastle and Exilis Ultra Face.
Our double chin removal and jawline reshaping page compares all of these with prices, and if the chin is large or the skin hangs in folds, our guide to chin lipo explains when surgery is the better answer.
Common questions
How long does it take for double chin exercises to work?
Give them six to eight weeks of daily practice. If the chin is mainly muscle tone and posture you will see a small change by then. If nothing has changed, the cause is fat or skin and exercises will not shift it.
Can you get rid of a double chin without surgery?
Yes, for most people. Fat freezing deals with the fat and HIFU or Exilis with the skin, and many people need one of each.
Does chewing gum help a double chin?
It works the chewing muscles along the jaw, not the area under the chin, so it does not reduce a double chin and can make your jaw ache.
Not sure if yours is fat, skin or both?
Book a free assessment at our clinic in Whickham, Newcastle. We will look at your chin with you, tell you straight what would work, and give you the price before anything is booked. Call 0191 649 8699 or text 07307 201681.
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