Nose to ears: lymphatic drainage for the cheeks

How to do it

Position. Fingers flat on either side of your nose, on the upper part of your cheekbones.

Direction. Move the skin outwards across your cheeks to just in front of your ears, in short stages.

Reps and rhythm. 10 times (between 5 and 15), in 4-second cycles.

Your flat fingers glide slowly and very lightly over the skin in the direction of drainage. At the end they lift off gently and return through the air to the start. They never glide back the other way.

The main face move

The NHS head and neck leaflet describes it like this: from the bridge of the nose outwards, across the cheeks, finishing in front of the ears, starting at the tip of the nose.¹ In front of the ears are the lymph nodes that collect lymph from this area.¹ The Royal Devon leaflet repeats the same route at nose level, after the mouth.²

Because it covers the whole cheek, in “Fresh face” it gets more time than the other face moves: 45 seconds.

In short strokes, from the inside out

Start with your fingers next to your nose, on the top of your cheekbone. Move the skin outwards a short way, lift your fingers, come back through the air and carry on a little further, until you reach the front of your ear. Every stroke ends there.

For a puffy face in the morning

Swelling after sleep usually goes down on its own within a few hours.³ This move, within the routine, is a way to help it along: what you can expect is a fresher-feeling face, and it is temporary. The why and the full routine are in the guide to puffy face in the morning.

Common mistakes

• Squinting or scrunching your face. Your face is relaxed; your fingers do the work.
• Pressing on the cheekbone. You move the skin, you do not massage the bone.
• Coming back towards your nose with your fingers down. The way back is through the air.

Questions

With a jade roller or gua sha?

You can use them in the same direction with almost no weight, but they do nothing your fingers cannot. If the roller is cold, much of the effect is the cold.

Why do my fingers come back through the air?

Because if they came back touching the skin they would move it the wrong way, towards your nose. The stroke always goes outwards.

The cues, step by step

They are the ones shown on screen in the Rinpa guided version, in time with the move.

“Fingers flat on either side of your nose.”

“Move the skin out across your cheeks to your ears.”

“And release.”

“Very gently.”

In these routines

Sources

1. 1.WSH head and neck · from the bridge of the nose, across the cheeks, to the front of the ears.
2. 2.Royal Devon · at nose level.
3. 3.Cleveland Clinic (2024). Facial swelling.