This simple face massage makes you look younger in 90 seconds

More than a decade ago, exercise physiologist Sue Hitzmann developed a quick self-massage series on the face and neck to help clients with chronic jaw tightness. It came with an unexpected bonus.

“It also gave the skin a bit of a boost,” says Hitzmann, best known as the founder of a manual-therapy program, the MELT Method.

A 47-year-old Upper West Sider with nary a wrinkle, Hitzmann says that the special massage helps increase blood flow to the face, lifting eyelids and lessening the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

“We slap $350 cream on ... but it’s more important to stimulate the superficial fascia to keep the collagen supple,” she says of the procedure. It’s been dubbed the “90-second face-lift” and is a vital part of her full-body MELT classes at fitness studios across the city.

You can also do it in your own home. Hitzmann uses a soft rubber ball she designed (available as part of the hand and foot ball set, $49.99 at MeltMethod.com). But you can do it without one. “Use the heel of your palm on the pinky side,” she says.

Step 1

Place your left hand, or the ball, behind your earlobe at the base of your skull. Using gentle, uniform pressure, move the ball or your hand in small circles for about 10 seconds (roughly 15 circles). Stop and press the area gently, like you’re squeezing fluid out of a sponge. Hold for two breaths, and release.

Step 2

Keep your head tilted and place the ball, or your hand, under the cheekbone at the temple mandibular joint. “If you open and close your jaw and you’ll feel [the joint] swing forward and back,” she says. Move the ball or your hand in small circles for about 10 seconds. Press and hold for two breaths, and release.

Step 3

With your head still tilted, move up to the temple. Move your hand or ball in small circles for about 10 seconds. Press and hold for two breaths, and release. Hitzmann advises extra-gentle pressure here. “Inside the temple is the sphenoid bone, which is actually pretty mobile, so you don’t want to shove the ball or your hand deep in there,” she says.

Perform the same techniques again at the jaw, and the base of the skull. Repeat all on the opposite side.

Step 4

Use the tips of your fingers to create feather-light sweeps to “rinse” your face and neck. Do three or four sweeps in each area.

– Brush from your collarbone downward a few inches toward the chest.

– Sweep downward from the outside of the throat toward the inner collarbone, making a letter V.

– Start from behind the ears and sweep to make a horseshoe shape on the side of the neck.

-Brush your fingers from underneath the eyes toward the jaw. Then sweep from the forehead out toward the temples. Continue the same motion, moving down from the forehead to collarbone.

– Finish by brushing the front of your face between the brows, over the nose, lips and chin, and down the center of your throat.

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