As people age, their faces change. However, there are a few things that can speed up the aging process. In a video with 6.4 million views, a skincare and beauty guru encourages her 6210,000 followers to stop biting the inside of their cheeks as it can age the face faster.
TikTok user Dani (@danicolexx) demonstrates by biting the inside of her cheek in the video. “POV cheek biters find out you can develop jowls,” she wrote in the text overlay.
Dani warned in the caption, “This is your sign to stop.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Dani via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment. Viewers in the comments section had mixed feelings about developing jowls.
“Bruh I don’t care anymore aging is in and beautiful. if I get jowls then imma rock them jowl,” one viewer said.
“Been biting my cheeks for as long I can remember. 36 and no jowls,” a second remarked.
“This explains why I have them I would always bite them when I had bad anxiety,” one user commented.
“I was doing it, but when I saw the video, I stopped,” a second stated.
However, one viewer asked, “What is jowls? I always bite my cheek.”
@danicolexx This is your sign to stop 🥲 #skincare #koreanskincare #skincaretips #skintok #jowls ♬ original sound – Funny Sound Effects
What are jowls and how do you develop them?
Jowls develop when the skin around the jaw, neck, and chin becomes loose.
The most common way to develop jowls is by aging. The older you get, the more collagen and elasticity your skin loses. Genetics also plays a factor in how one ages.
So jowls are inevitable for some. However, some factors that can speed up the development of jowls are sun damage and smoking.
Can biting the inside of your cheek cause jowls?
Although there isn’t much information about the correlation between cheek-biting and jowls, cheek-biting is proven to cause wrinkles around the mouth. In addition, cheek-biting can cause damage to the inside of the mouth, resulting in infection, swelling, sores, ulcers, and progression of present oral cancer.
What causes cheek biting?
According to Healthline, chronic cheek-biting (morsicatio buccarum) “is considered to be a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) similar to hair pulling (trichotillomania) and skin picking (excoriation).”
Chronic cheek-biting typically stems from anxiety and stress. Other cheek-biting reasons include subconscious habits and a coping mechanism.
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