Online influencers claim high stress hormones cause puffy cheeks – but experts say it’s not as common as people think

Does your face get puffy sometimes? Do you occasionally experience the emotion known as “stress”? According to some of the planet’s foremost medical thinkers (TikTok influencers), these are not simply inevitable consequences of existence; they are signs that you may have so-called “cortisol face”.

Cortisol is the body’s main stress hormone. According to hundreds of clips on social media, an excess of stress – and, by extension, an excess of cortisol – results in a round, puffy face. “You’re not ugly, you just have cortisol face,” is a popular refrain in these videos. In posts, users share before and after images of themselves in which they go from having a round, full face to a lean one – all jutting cheekbones and sharp jawlines.