Mewing has become a viral beauty trend. But there’s still confusion about the entire process and what it does. One of the most notable questions we’ll tackle in this article is exactly what mewing does to the cheekbones.
Mewing can improve your cheekbones. But this requires mewing for at least a couple of years. If mewing does not improve your cheekbones, you can also get dermal fillers and buccal fat reduction.
Today, high cheekbones are attractive to a lot of people. High cheekbones are seen as alluring because of the angles and definition that they give the face. In both men and women, high cheekbones paired with the hollow cheeks are a great combination. You can see many celebrities sporting this look.
Nevertheless, achieving that level of definition is mostly chalked up to great genes and low body fat levels. Sometimes, some people just aren’t born with those conventionally beautiful features. Instead, most of us have to work for that ideal cheekbone look. Mewing is one of the ways that you can improve your cheekbones and cheek hollows. It is a simple process but requires dedication and hard work.
What Does an “Improved” Cheekbone Look Like?
We need to raise the all-important question of what good cheekbones actually look like. A great primer for this is the Looks Theory episode on cheekbones:
Generally, great cheekbones are prominent and high up on the cheek. You can see this type of feature in many models and Hollywood celebrities. That said, having good cheekbones does not automatically mean your features should look sharp. There are tons of models out there with full cheeks.
A great example of this is Gigi Hadid. Her face is beautiful, yet she doesn’t have that signature sharp cheekbone that most models sport. She still has high cheekbones, but it is paired with her fuller features. On the other hand, her sister, Bella Hadid, is the model figure known for the sharp and exclusive look. Regardless, both girls are beautiful. The idea of ideal cheekbones depends on what fits your face the best.
Here is a photo of them side by side to illustrate it better.
It is important to know your face well and what works best for it. Then you can decide which course of action to take with your appearance. Just because something is trendy does not automatically mean that it would look good on you.
Mewing for Better Cheekbones
If you want that higher cheekbone look, then mewing will help you with that. If you are familiar with how mewing works, you should know that mewing exerts an upward force on the roof of your mouth. This force is not limited to rotating the maxilla upward and forward, nor is it limited to the mandible following that pattern. It also exerts a force that pushes your cheekbones upward and outward. This force gives your face that chiseled, angular shape that you may be looking for. This method is only the first of the ways mewing can help with improving your cheekbones.
Another way mewing can help is with chewing. Many people who mew also chew gum to go with it. Even Dr. Mike Mew advocates for chewing gum along with mewing. Studies show that because of development in agriculture and food, people’s ways of consuming and chewing food transformed. In recent centuries, this resulted in smaller dental arches and weaker jaws.
So, why is chewing important in mewing? Well, because properly chewing gives more definition to your jaw and improve your teeth’s overall state. Proper chewing will reduce teeth crowding and maybe even widen the dental arch. This creates extra space in the cheek area, stretching the skin over it and “hollow” it out.
These aren’t the only effects, though. Chewing properly also involves the masseter muscles. These muscles are the ones that assist in chewing food. They are important because these muscles exert a lot of force. If you look at the connection between the teeth and the cheekbone area, you will see that they are connected. As the teeth and the masseter muscles exert their forces in chewing, this pushes the cheekbones outward.
But that’s not all. Mewing also does a great deal for your cheek hollows. Though cheek hollows are not exactly your cheekbones, when they are hollowed-out, your cheekbones will look higher and more pronounced.
When you mew, it is imperative that you also implement proper swallowing technique. Proper swallowing makes full use of your tongue and not your cheeks. Over time, when you use your cheekbones less and less, they will atrophy and become smaller. The muscles that are involved in this process are the buccinator muscles. When they are no longer used much in chewing and swallowing food, they will shrink, and your cheeks will look more hollowed-out. The effect of this is an improved, more prominent cheekbone.
Other Options to Improve Cheekbones
Of course, mewing is not the final answer to everything, and it takes years to work. If it doesn’t seem to be working for you, it’s not the end. There are many other procedures that you can get to improve your cheekbones. The different procedures have different costs and effects, so you have to gauge your options when deciding carefully.
One method to improve your cheekbones is through dermal fillers. These fillers are noninvasive and are growing more common in recent years. The filler’s composition is hyaluronic acid, which is something that our bodies naturally produce.
Derma fillers are getting popular for their use in battling skin aging. This study by Reuther et al. (2010) concluded that hyaluronic acid helps with skin elasticity. That’s not the only use for it, though.
Even though there are many dermal fillers, the HA ones are getting all the hype, and rightly so. It has given many people great results, they are very low risk, and a doctor can easily undo its effects by dissolving the fillers in-office. If you are looking for a low-commitment procedure, go for this one. The downside to this is that you would have to keep redoing it to maintain the results. HA fillers only last for up to half a year, which isn’t that long. The cost of constantly redoing it can add up.
Another option is buccal fat reduction. The buccal fat pad is an area in your cheeks that gives your cheeks that plump look. There is too much buccal fat in some people, and it can look like they have chipmunk cheeks. If you have tried everything from losing weight to fillers, and none of them seem to work, your buccal fat pad could be the issue.
Getting it removed is not a very complicated process. The doctor will make an incision on the inside of your cheek (no outside scars!) and then perform the reduction. One downside to this is that there is still little conclusive research on its long-term effects. But we know that the buccal fat pad decreases with age, so an experienced surgeon should be careful not to overdo it and take too much fat out.
Any of these procedures can cause some discomfort for the patient. Make sure to do your research and only get a board-certified surgeon to work on your face. Prepare yourself adequately and consider factors such as your budget and commitment.
