cortisol face

Cortisol face is a TikTok claim that high stress causes facial puffiness via the hormone cortisol. The science is overhyped, though chronic stress can affect appearance. Worth a gentle chat if your teen is anxious about how their face looks. If your kid uses it constantly, ask them where they first heard it, not to police their speech but to understand which online community they are in.

Cortisol face is a 2023 viral TikTok term claiming chronic stress and cortisol cause facial puffiness. Use only when discussing the trend; the medical claims are largely unsupported in healthy individuals. Formal equivalent: there is none clinically; some refer to it as "moon face," but that is a specific medical condition. Common non-native mistake: treating it as established medicine. Read or listen to the word in context several times before trying it yourself; the right register is harder to learn than the dictionary meaning.