Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSo, “Cortisol Face” Is…?When Is It “Cortisol Face” or Something Deeper?How to Manage Your Stress and Prevent “Cortisol Face”

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

So, “Cortisol Face” Is…?

When Is It “Cortisol Face” or Something Deeper?

How to Manage Your Stress and Prevent “Cortisol Face”

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Here’s a little biology lesson: when your body gets ~stressed~ it releasescortisolaka the stress hormone. “The primary function of cortisol is to regulate the body’s response to stress, as it helps our body handle emergencies,”Dr. Brynna Connor, MD, a board-certified family medicine physician, says. “Elevated levels of cortisol in the body can cause some puffiness and swelling due to stress.”

Anxious about a job interview? Worried about your upcoming appointment with the doctor? Cue facial swelling. Most “cortisol faces” are a stress reaction but sometimes they can be a sign of something deeper.

How do you know if it’s stress causing your puffy face or something underlying? Before you fall down the HealthTok vortex (like me, lol) and self-diagnose yourself, read my expert-backed report that answers all your “cortisol face” questions.

According to Dr. Connor, “cortisol face” is used on TikTok and other social media platforms to describe a condition where your face swells up from additional stress. It’s usually temporary and rarely—if ever—painful.

And then there’s moon facies—a condition similar to “cortisol face” but not quite. When one has moon facies, they suffer from a “buildup of fat or fluid deposits along the side of one’s skull or swelling along the jawline,” Dr. Connor says. These fluids cause a puffed-up-like appearance and facial pain.Moon facies are a symptom of other health conditions like Cushing’s syndrome (more on this later) or corticosteroids and can’t be treated without medical intervention.

The Differences Between “Moon Facies” and “Cortisol Face”

Cushing’s Syndrome

Harmonee Dunbar, 29, also fell down the “cortisol face” rabbit hole on TikTok and realized how swollen her face had gotten because of stress. Since then, she’s started incorporating exercise into her daily routine and implementing practical changes such as “walking to the train instead of Ubering” to reduce her stress and debloat her face.

Mindfulness Always Works

Joy Pate, LCSW, the owner ofTherapy With Joy, recommendsdeep breathing techniques, emotional freedom taping (the tapping of specific acupressure points in your body), and other mindfulness activities to reduce stress. “For something like [cortisol face], people should look intosomatic interventions, which are a combination of addressing how your body and your mind process stress,” she says.

Pate also recommends making a joy list. “Write things that bring you joy like playful and light-hearted activities,” she explains. “[Knowing] what brings you joy is important because joy combats stress.” If you don’t know what brings you joy, Pate suggests asking yourself: “When’s the last time you had a flutter in your chest? Butterflies in your stomach? or Lightness in your body?”

18 Effective Stress Relief Strategies

Get Your Zzzs

Can’t forget about sleep hygiene! Having a solid nighttime routine can reduce stress tremendously. “Go to bed at the same time and do things at night that relax your body,” Pate suggests.Sleep meditation, a warm shower, and a cup of chamomile tea are a few activities that canimprove your sleep.

If possible, avoid drinking coffee late at night and scrolling through your phone. Sorry, but you have to put down TikTok. Your phone’s blue light emits brain stimulation and keeps your neurons fired, which interferes with some much-needed shut-eye.

How Does a Lack of Sleep Affect Your Mental Health?

Takeaways

If you want to eliminate your “cortisol face,” stress reduction is key. There’s no quick fix, of course. But changing your habits and routines and adding more wellness-focused activities is a great start. Try listening to a soothing podcast on your morning commute or practice yoga stretches after work. Go to a happy hour with friends or pick up a new romance book. You can self-care your way out of a “cortisol face.”

2 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Hoenig, L. J. (2018).The “moon face” of cushing syndrome.JAMA Dermatology,154(3), 329–329. doi.org:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5798Pappachan, J. M., Hariman, C., Edavalath, M., Waldron, J., & Hanna, F. W. (2017).Cushing’s syndrome: A practical approach to diagnosis and differential diagnoses.Journal of Clinical Pathology,70(4), 350–359. doi.org:10.1136/jclinpath-2016-203933

2 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Hoenig, L. J. (2018).The “moon face” of cushing syndrome.JAMA Dermatology,154(3), 329–329. doi.org:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5798Pappachan, J. M., Hariman, C., Edavalath, M., Waldron, J., & Hanna, F. W. (2017).Cushing’s syndrome: A practical approach to diagnosis and differential diagnoses.Journal of Clinical Pathology,70(4), 350–359. doi.org:10.1136/jclinpath-2016-203933

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Hoenig, L. J. (2018).The “moon face” of cushing syndrome.JAMA Dermatology,154(3), 329–329. doi.org:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5798Pappachan, J. M., Hariman, C., Edavalath, M., Waldron, J., & Hanna, F. W. (2017).Cushing’s syndrome: A practical approach to diagnosis and differential diagnoses.Journal of Clinical Pathology,70(4), 350–359. doi.org:10.1136/jclinpath-2016-203933

Hoenig, L. J. (2018).The “moon face” of cushing syndrome.JAMA Dermatology,154(3), 329–329. doi.org:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5798

Pappachan, J. M., Hariman, C., Edavalath, M., Waldron, J., & Hanna, F. W. (2017).Cushing’s syndrome: A practical approach to diagnosis and differential diagnoses.Journal of Clinical Pathology,70(4), 350–359. doi.org:10.1136/jclinpath-2016-203933

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