How to Get Rid of Marionette Lines – The Ultimate Guide

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Marionette lines can be very crucial problem for most people who do care about their look and people’s opinions of their real age especially when this happens to you in a young age.
Marionette lines, fine lines or wrinkles happen mostly to women over men and it commonly occurs due to the aging process you’re going through, and it mainly happens because of the lack of collagen and elastin which provide your skin with elasticity, in this guide you’re going to know more about how to get rid of marionette lines using several methods along with more methods to prevent or fight them to maintain a good looking healthy face skin.
Have you ever faced this situation when somebody by mistake guesses your wrong age or does it make you look angry or unhappy because of the marionette lines you have? I guess most of you are worried because of this tiny but very teasing problem.
You keep looking for a solution online to get rid of those lines without performing any expensive surgery, please keep reading til the end while you’ll discover more about those bad looking marionette lines, what they are, what causes them, how to fight or prevent them and eventually how to get rid of them.

What Are Marionette Lines:

Marionette lines are these fine lines that start from the top of the mouth and go all the way to the chin making you look sad or mad which gives a bad expression to your face, it’s called “marionette” lines because it looks like the colored lines that appears on the face of a marionette puppet, Marionette lines and wrinkles are different.
The Difference Between Marionette Lines & Wrinkles:
Marionette lines and wrinkles are two different types of folds or fine lines, yes both of them are a result of the aging process, both make your face look older, but the one major difference is that marionette lines give you that unhappy or mad expression where some people may misunderstand your face expressions just because of marionettes.
What Causes Marionette Lines?
There are many reasons that cause marionette lines, go through each and everyone of them to check if this is you and stop doing it right away:
The Habit of Pursing Your Lips Together:

Let’s start with this one, you may ignore this unfamous or untalked about habit but it does affect your lips and the look of your face, it may cause wrinkles and marionette lines around your mouth as well as showing your lips dry or cracked as Dr. Whitney Bowe says, make sure to stop this bad habit right now if you’re doing it, small things but vital.
Getting Older (Aging Process Effects):

As you get older it’s normal to have this kind of fine lines around your mouth and cheeks, when you get older your face’s collagen and elastic decreases which makes your face’s skin less elastic and start to gain folds and marionette lines.
Smoking:

Smoking is a strong reason to develop wrinkles and marionette lines in long term, smoking in general speeds up your aging process which includes having those marionette lines, smoking doesn’t also affect your face’s skin but also some other areas in your body like your inner arms.
If you look at the image below you will notice two twins (twin a, twin b) the one on the left never smoked a cigarette in her life unlike her twin on the right who have been smoking for a long time, despite that (twin b) doesn’t have marionette lines she does have wrinkles and fat bags under her eyes, see smoking can have major effects on the whole face despite other diseases and bad effects that smoking can do to your body, your main concern here is the marionette lines you start seeing on your face.
source: www.webmd.com
Excessive Sun Exposure:

Sun exposure is one strong reason to have marionettes because as long as spend a lot of time exposing your skin to the sun the ultraviolet light the sun produces penetrates your skin layers which leads to damaged skin, don’t worry with time and the right thing to do you can recover from these damages.
Excessive sun exposure can damage your skin and cause fine lines , sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light causes loss of skin elasticity, thickening of the skin along with sagging and stretching of the skin also give bad looking sunspots.
Lack of Adequate Sleep:

Lack of sleep may cause some fine lines to appear, lack of sleep in general may speed up your aging process, there was a research made by Bensons for Beds showed interesting effects of sleeping for a few hours, the participants were found to have doubled wrinkles and pores after just a 5 days experiment (the participants slept 6 hours for 5 days in a row), while Jodie Kidd a supermodel joined this research and had really obvious change as you can tell from the photo below plus she said that she had a few little extra lines, so make sure to get enough sleep ranging between 7-8 hours a day everyday.
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Improper skin care:

Not taking care of your skin from time to time may be one of the reasons why…
Always make sure to remove your makeup to allow your skin to breathe.
Don’t ignore using a suitable sunscreen to protect your skin from harmful UVA & UVB rays of the sun, this one can really cause fine lines to your face.
Eat healthy food that contains vitamin c, more protein, less sugar.
Make sure to workout or do sports regularly to speed up the circulation process which is responsible for cleansing your body.
Having a good amount of sleep as mentioned above, don’t neglect this point, make sure to sleep an average of 8 hours a day to make your skin feel comfortable and reduce bags under your eyes.
Drinking large amount of water (8 glasses everyday) to hydrate your skin, don’t want to! No problem. You can try eating fruits and vegetables that contain good amount of water like cucumber, watermelon, orange…etc
Pollution:

Pollution that comes from cars’ smoke and polluted air especially in cities may damage your skin and collagen as we mentioned the importance of collagen to your skin’s elasticity which may lead to marionette lines and wrinkles.
Facial expressions:

You may be surprised to know this but yes facial expressions can cause fine and marionette lines, facial expressions like frowning, laughing or when you shout or argue with someone else about any topic can cause fine lines around your eyes, lips and forehead.
So make sure to calm down most of the time to avoid having these lines and make sure to hydrate daily to reduce the effects of your expressions, focus more on the eyes because the skin around them is thinner and more susceptible to fine lines.
Poor Diet:

Poor protein diet can lead to having bad looking fine lines because it causes lack of collagen which is essential for your skin’s elasticity, make sure to have balanced diet that doesn’t destroy your skin when aiming at just losing weight.
Focus on vitamin c & protein rich foods, stay away from high sugar and fat rich foods.
Doctors also recommend eating dark chocolate for a more healthy skin.
Eat fiber rich grains and low fat dairy products.
Try to limit having processed foods which have more fat,salt or sugar.
How To Prevent Marionette Lines:
Sure we can’t prevent marionette lines from happening but at least you can delay them, but don’t worry we can still fight marionette lines with some of the methods you’ll see below.
As mentioned above some of the obvious reasons to have marionette lines are sun exposure and smoking along with the natural aging process, sure we can’t stop or control the aging process but we can control those bad habits that destroy our skin and body in general, let’s see how we can recover from some of these habits.
Sunglasses:

Wearing the right type of sunglasses that have UV filters can protect the fragile skin around your eyes from the sun’s UV light that cause wrinkles or marionette lines.
What type of sunglasses to wear? In addition to the UV filters, the sunglasses must have an eye-sun protection of 50+, also make sure that the glasses cover the most of your face and make sure to choose the ones with the bigger frame, sunglasses with polarized lenses tend to perform or protect much better than the other types of normal sunglasses as they give you better visibility and are used by athletes and fashion people, last but not least stay away from the ones the have metal frames as they may get hotter in the sun and hurt your skin so make sure to choose the ones with plastic frames or any un-metal frames.
High Quality Sunscreen:

Sunscreen is famous for keeping us away from sunburns and skin cancer but the new thing is that according to this post by Allure, a new study in the journal Dermatologic Surgery shows that sunscreen, can’t only protect your skin but also reverse common signs of skin aging, like wrinkles and marionette lines.
Sunscreen has been found to reduce wrinkles on your face, spotting and loss of skin elasticity caused by exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet light.
Lotions & Moisturizers:

Moisturizers boosts hydration in your skin, you’ll have more soften and elastic skin and look younger…
Make sure that the moisturizer you’re using contains SPF 15 sunscreen or higher.
Make sure to choose the right moisturizer for your skin whether you have dry or oily skin to gain the most benefits of it.
Use it everyday as if it’s one of your daily routines.
Use moisturizers right after you shave, exfoliate or take a bath.
More Water Less Coffee & Alcohol:

Drinking water has been known as an important thing to do to stay healthy and fresh, drink more water to stay hydrated, stay away from coffee and alcohol as they dehydrate you although coffee isn’t as much dehydrator as alcohol.
Water can be a perfect replacement for some anti-aging treatments, water itself is a very good and natural hydrator to your skin which can help your face be more fresh and delay the aging signs because it somehow fights wrinkles and marionette lines, so make sure you drink large amounts of water everyday to keep your face’s skin hydrated, focus on drinking from 5 – 8 glasses of water everyday to keep your skin hydrated.
Hydrating Face Masks:

Hydrating Face Masks are commonly used to cleanse your skin and make your face glow, it also makes it less oily, cleans your face’s skin and moisturizes it which is good for your epidermis, you can use face masks to reduce marionette lines, fine lines and brown spots if you have those ones too, there are some types of face masks you can use to increase collagen production which is your main concern as collagen is responsible for the elasticity of your skin.
How To Get Rid of Marionette Lines:
Rebuild Your Lost Collagen:
If you read the whole article from the beginning you will notice that I mention collagen a lot because of its importance for your face’s skin elasticity and youthfulness, thus lack of collagen will damage your beauty, here’s how to replenish your skin’s collagen…
Foods:

Eat foods that contain amino acids, lysine and proline…
Foods That Contain Amino Acids: Lean Meat, Poultry and Seafood, Eggs and Dairy, Plant-Based Protein Sources.
Foods That Contain Lysine: Tempeh, Seitan, Lentils, Black Beans, Quinoa, Soy milk, Pistachios, Pumpkin Seeds.
Foods That Contain Proline: Meat, Jelly, Shark cartilage, Fish, Chives, Cabbage, Cucumber, Beans… click here for the whole list.
Vitamin C:

Make sure to provide your body with vitamin C rich food like: Orange, Strawberries, Acerola Cherry, Papayas, Kiwi, Guava, Melons, Broccoli and Tomatoes.
Your Diet Misses Protein!

If you’re on a diet make sure your diet has protein in it as it supports the growth of collagen, if you don’t know already what type of protein rich foods to consider here’re some: Seafood, White-Meat Poultry, (Milk, Cheese, and Yogurt), Eggs, Beans, Lean Beef, check the sourceof this list for more information.
Creams That Contain Retinol:
Retinol can be used to heal the collagen breakdown, make sure to look for those types of creams that contain retinol when you’re in a drug store, here’s a list of some creams to consider.
LED Light Therapy Treatment:

LED light therapy treatment can be used to increase collagen production, it can be also used to treat acne, wrinkles, fine & marionette lines, don’t worry it won’t hurt you because it’s mainly painless, you just feel a little warm at the beginning and then feel relaxed as patients who really tried it said it did.
Red light wavelengths are used to stimulate collagen production in your skin, treatment takes minutes to be completed.
LED light therapy can be easily found at resort spas, it’s recommended to take four to eight sessions twice a week to taste the full effect of it.
Treatment cost: $50 – $300
Risks of using LED Light Therapy Treatment:
Although LED treatment is painless and effective, according to www.mayoclinic.org it does have some side effects like…
Eyestrain
Headache
Nausea
Irritability or agitation
Mania
Euphoria
Hyperactivity
Agitation associated with bipolar disorder
But don’t worry these effects go away in just days so you don’t have to think about it too much,also make sure to choose light boxes that have UV filters because it may cause damage to your eye and skin, also don’t forget to talk to the doctor before you do this treatment if you have any health conditions related to sensitivity to light.
Face Lift Treatment:
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Face lift surgery involves lifting sagging skin while the surgeon tightens your facial tissues and help you get rid of marionette lines, you’ll eventually look younger and more youthful, before deciding to go for a face lift surgery you should first consult a qualified cosmetic surgeon to see if it’s right for you, you may check this tool by ABCS to find any surgeons near you.
Are you a good candidate to go for a face lift surgery? According to www.plasticsurgery.orgyou must be the following in order to do this kind of surgery or treatment:
You must be a healthy person who doesn’t have any medical conditions that may weaken the healing.
You must be a nonsmoker.
You must have a positive and realistic expectations.
Remember face lift surgery won’t stop the aging process it’ll only give you an acceptable appearance for a while.
The average cost of a face lift treatment is: $7,048
Anti Aging Creams:

Anti aging creams contain retinol, sunscreen, antioxidants, vitamin c which are essential to fight marionette lines and other kinds of folds, there’re a lot of creams out there that promise you with youthfulness and a radiant skin so you must be wise when you choose one or more of these creams.
Side Effects of Anti Aging Creams: (source)
When using creams, some products may have some side effects like:
Skin irritation
Rashes
Burning or redness
These creams are not as effective as expensive surgeries or treatments, so don’t expect too much after using it but even though you can still find some good creams to treat your marionette lines, let’s take a look at some of these creams…
The creams below have been reviewed by dermatologists so you can feel comfortable when choosing any of them on your skin.
Best Marionette Lines’ Creams to Consider: (source)
Olay Pro-X Deep Wrinkle Treatment:
source
Cream Description:
This cream deep wrinkles or in our case (marionette lines) treatment hydrates and treats the deepest of marionette lines and helps skin to produce collagen to give it a smoother look. (source)
Check price on Amazon
Dr. Doris Day from New York City is the one who reviewed this cream and the reason she loves it is because it contains retinyl propionate which renews the surface of the skin with less irritation.
SkinMedica TNS Recovery Complex:
source
Cream Description:
The cream contains amino acids and antioxidants that prevent free radical damage and signs of premature aging. (source)
Check price on Amazon
Dr. Sabrina Fabi mentions why she loves it, she says that it contains “Growth Factors” which increases collagen production in your skin and thickens it.
Aveeno Absolutely Ageless Daily Moisturizer SPF 30:
source
Cream Description:
A daily moisturizer which fights the signs of aging while nourishing skin, in just 1 week it’s proven to improve your skin’s fine lines appearance and give you smooth texture and finally strengthens skin’s natural moisture barrier to maintain a healthy look for your skin. (source)
Check price on Amazon
Dr. Joshua Zeichner says that when it comes to this type of products the key is consistency to gain the full benefits of the cream, it gives you no irritation, it also contains blackberry and dill extracts which stimulates the elastic in your skin and it also has a SPF 30 to protect your skin from future damage done by sun.
These are just some of 9 anti aging creams which have been reviewed by dermatologists, you can find the rest on this page.
Dermabrasion and Chemical Peels:
Dermabrasion:
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Dermabrasion is simply done by removing layers of skin using rapidly rotating device to scrape the outer layers so the skin can grow back smoother with fewer wrinkles, marionette lines and less discoloration, you need up to 10 sessions of treatment to see some good results, healing or recovery time takes from 7 to 10 days.
Cost: It costs $100 for a spot treatment and up to $4000 for a more in-depth treatment including the anesthesia and the surgeon’s fee. (source)
Side Effects of Dermabrasion:
Dermabrasion has some side effects like…
Scarring
Redness
Swelling
Acne flare-ups
Loss of skin color
Tissue damage caused by excessive freezing
Infection
Enlarged pores
Acne
It’s highly recommended to consult your doctor before you perform this kind of operations.

1. Chemical Peels:
   source
   Chemical peels are used to improve the look of the skin using a chemical solution that’s applied to the skin to makes it exfoliate and eventually flake or peel off, the new skin is usually smoother and has less fine lines than the old one and more sensitive to the sun light for a short period of time. (source)
   Types of chemical peels:
   Superficial peel
   Medium peel
   Deep peel
   Cost: The cost of chemical peels’ treatment depends on many factors although light chemical peels cost about $150 while deep chemical peels cost about $6000. (source)
   Side Effects of Chemical Peels:
   Just like dermabrasion, Chemical peels also have some side effects which include…
   Temporary or permanent change in skin color especially for women on birth control pills.
   Scarring
   Redness
   Reactivation of cold sores
   Heart, kidney or liver damage (due to deep treatment)
   Injectable Fillers:
   source
   Injectable fillers help you to soften facial creases, marionette lines, restore volume and fullness of the face, you may need several syringes to see good results, results usually last from several months to 1 or 2 years.
   Cost: Prices below are according to 2016 statistics from the ASPS , and the prices shown are the cost of one syringe only…
   Calcium hydroxylapatite: $687
   Fat: $1,930
   Hyaluronic acid: $644
   Polylactic acid: $773
   Polymethyl-methacrylate microspheres: $859
   Injectable Fillers’ Side Effects:
   Before you decide to go for an injectable filler treatment make sure to consult your surgeon first if you expect specific results, just like the above treatments injectable fillers have some side effects and includes… (source)

Acne-like skin eruptions
Asymmetry
Bruising
bleeding from the injection site
Swelling
Infection at the injection site
Lumps
Palpability of the filler under the surface of the skin
Skin rash with itching
Skin redness
Under- or over-correction of wrinkles
Blindness
Skin necrosis

Laser Skin Resurfacing:
source

Laser skin resurfacing treatment involves removing skin layer by layer carefully and precisely and after healing the new skin cells gives it a much tighter and younger looking surface, first make sure to consult your plastic surgeon to see if you’re a good candidate, treatment last from 30 minutes to 2 hours for a full face treatment.
Cost: According to 2016 statistics from the ASPS the average cost of laser skin resurfacing treatment is $2,330 for ablative treatment and $1,031 for the non-ablative.
Side Effects of Laser Skin Resurfacing:
The side effects of a laser skin resurfacing treatment may include… (source)
Swelling
Itching or stinging
Redness
Acne
Scarring
Changes in skin color
Turning of the eyelid
Infection
Botox:

Botox is the most popular cosmetic treatment in the US, it can be also used to treat marionette lines by injecting the face precisely using tiny needles followed by small pain.
You must first ask your doctor if botox treatment will be beneficial for you before you do it, it takes a few days to see its effect that usually lasts for like 3 to 6 months
Cost: Between $300 and $1000.
Side Effects of Botox:
To avoid as much risks as possible make sure to choose a really good and experienced cosmetic doctor to perform this kind of treatment but as any treatment you have seen above botox has some side effects which include… (source 1, source 2)

Mild pain
Minor swelling
Malaise
Headache
Nausea
Fatigue
Dry mouth
Double vision
Numbness
Rashes
Wheezing

I tried to gather a lot of information in this article to help you know more about marionette lines and how to treat them,sure there’re a lot of info out there more than just this, I also tried to mention some of sources I used in my research, If I see more support and engagement I’ll try to add more content to this article to even know more about marionettes, please share your thoughts below in the comments section and tell me if I missed anything to add it above.