A woman has gone viral after sharing a controversial method to alleviate jaw pain, which has allegedly slimmed down her face – taping her mouth up before sleep.
Devon Kelly, 31, first started the bizarre practice five years ago and claims it has “completely changed” her face.
A video on TikTok that explains why she places sticky tape across her lips, has over two million views.
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The clip also has over 140,000 likes, with Devon sharing pictures of her face in 2016 compared to now, showing the difference in her jawline.
Devon claims it has a similar effect to injectables like Botox.
“It only takes me about 10 seconds to tape my mouth,” Devon, a brand marketing strategist and content creator, from New York, US, told What’s The Jam.
“I spend a few seconds rubbing the tape in to make sure it adheres well and doesn’t come off while I’m sleeping.
“I do it every night unless I’m feeling sick and have a blocked nose.
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“I used to have frequent tension headaches and a very sore jaw, which have completely gone away.
“Combining mouth taping with face massage helped slim down my face thanks to releasing tension, which was a result I hadn’t expected.”
In the video, Devon can be seen applying a facial kinesiology tape to her mouth.
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She cuts thin strips of tape and places them diagonally across her mouth.
She says this keeps her mouth closed while easing the tension from her jaw.
The taping method is far cheaper than Botox, with Devon estimating she spends just $15 a year on one roll, which lasts for the duration.
She started using tapes after reading about the helpful effect it could have for temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD) sufferers.
The disorder occurs when the temporomandibular joint connecting the lower jaw to the skull becomes inflamed or painful – something Devon suffers from due to clenching her teeth at night.
She said: “I found a solution in taping my mouth shut.
“It allows me to sleep with my mouth closed but relax my jaw muscles rather than overexert them to keep my mouth closed.
“I can’t remember how I heard about it, but I knew it was a good option for me.
“Before learning about mouth taping, I was trying to sleep with my mouth open to avoid clenching my jaw – but I soon learned that mouth breathing comes with its own problems, so that wasn’t the best solution.
“Taping my mouth at night has been instrumental in eliminating my jaw pain from TMJD.
“But it was not just a cosmetic issue – I clenched my teeth all day and all night, and my jaw was constantly in pain.
“And since then, I have slimmed down my face and melted away my jaw tension completely naturally.”
WHAT THE DOCTOR SAYS:
Dr Daniel Gartenberg, sleep health advisor at CPAP.COM told What’s The Jam: “It’s true that breathing through your nose at night has several benefits.
“[But] more studies need to be done before we fully understand the full effects of mouth breathing versus nose breathing.
“Mouth taping can help to encourage nose breathing for some people, but it should not be used to treat serious sleep-related breathing disorders like sleep apnea.”
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