Social media has a manner of constructing us analyze each little factor about our look. Why is that this eyebrow arching larger than the opposite? Perhaps your left cheekbone is sharper than the suitable, otherwise you’ve obtained a so-called “unhealthy” aspect that’s much less snatched.

Should you’ve ever discovered your self fixating in your “facial asymmetry,” you’ve in all probability stumbled upon a number of TikToks claiming that side-sleeping is accountable. In principle, it type of is smart: Absolutely urgent the identical a part of your face right into a pillow for years may make it extra “squished,” much less outlined, or barely lopsided. The fact is, “All of us are a bit uneven,” Melanie Palm, MD, board-certified dermatologist at Artwork of Pores and skin MD in San Diego, tells SELF—however is it actually due to the way you sleep? We requested consultants to set the file straight about this viral magnificence delusion.

So…why is my face asymmetrical?

For starters, blame genetics—none of us are born completely symmetrical, Prem Tripathi, MD, board-certified facial plastic surgeon at Bay Hills Plastic Surgical procedure in Alamo, California, tells SELF. However in as we speak’s world, the place social media has influenced us to be our personal worst critics, it’s simple to change into hyperaware of each little inconsistency. We’re additionally not used to seeing our faces inverted or flipped, Dr. Tripathi provides, which might make any pure asymmetries seem extra “off” or jarring than they really are.

Past genetics, sure environmental elements can affect your face form. Extra so than your sleep place, consultants say chewing habits play an even bigger position. In reality, some analysis has proven that persistently utilizing one aspect of your mouth to eat can strengthen and develop these muscle tissues, probably resulting in refined imbalances within the decrease half of your face.

It’s additionally pure for our faces to look extra uneven as we age. That’s as a result of, once we’re youthful, “we have now a ton of quantity on our face,” Dr. Palm explains. “We now have far more comfortable tissue, which might disguise small skeletal asymmetries.” Over time, nevertheless, we naturally lose that quantity (notably within the cheeks and eyelid area), making a few of these structural bony variations extra noticeable.

May your sleeping place actually be accountable?

Okay, so what about way of life habits—like the best way we sleep? There isn’t any stable proof to indicate that mendacity in your aspect is the explanation you’re asymmetrical. However in line with Dr. Tripathi, this little TikTok principle probably stems from a well-liked 2016 research, which urged side-sleeping (and that face-to-pillow contact) might contribute to creasing and wrinkles on the a part of your face you snoozed on. Whereas this might theoretically make your face seem uneven, there are additionally a number of essential caveats to contemplate, per Dr. Palm and Dr. Tripathi.

For one, this is only one small, restricted literature overview, Dr. Tripathi factors out—not definitive proof that your pillow is accountable for any lopsidedness. What’s extra, the analysis didn’t single out sleeping place because the solely perpetrator of fantastic traces: Different elements corresponding to uneven solar publicity, as an example, may cause one half of your face to age quicker and seem “saggier,” “looser” or “wrinklier.”