Some of us come with a chin wrinkle (photo #1) and others develop one with aging (#2) or overall depletion (#3). While a third group, no matter their age, maintain a smooth jaw (#4). If your chin is undivided today, here’s how to help keep it that way.

As we see in this youth, some people have a horizontal line between the bottom lip and chin due to a naturally protruding or upturned chin. But if your formally even chin is now divided north and south, then fatigue is the culprit, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Keeping an Un-creased Chin Un-creased

For prevention options, let’s examine the underlying causes of an acquired wrinkle. But first, like a scaffold, the teeth and underlying bones help position facial skin. If the upper jaw loses volume and/or shifts with age, then skin sags and wrinkles happen. In addition, an overtaxed kidney system contributes to a wrinkled chin. 

Curiously enough, one defining human characteristic is the slightly protruding bony knob on the lower jaw. In contrast, the lower jaw of apes, crocodiles and other animals sharply slopes backward from the teeth. So it’s actually your kitten’s mandible you’re scratching, not her chin.

Groove Caused by an Upturned Chin

While most chins protrude a bit, there are variations. Some people have a recessed chin, some are flat, and some jut out far enough that, from an early age, the skin above it folds. 

If you have an outie, appreciate its advantages. The seat of our chutzpah is the kidney system, according to traditional Face Reading, an art that I’ve practiced for 50 years. That’s why the chin is one place to “read” or assess overall kidney health. Incidentally, the adrenals and urinary bladder are included in the kidney system.

For example, imagine the fortitude of someone who “sticks his chin out.” He’s not a push over. A witch caricature boasts a significantly upturned chin, and she’s known for charting her own course. So if you have inherent enthusiasm and tenacity, appreciate this strength. You’re blessed with resilience and abundant constitutional kidney energy.

“Retirement Line”

The Chinese maintain that innate kidney strength is a result of genetics plus how your mother’s diet and environment helped form you in utero. So being born with good kidney energy is likened to inheriting constitutional “wealth.”

How we manage this wealth helps determine how quickly we age. If depleted  by chronic stress, illness and/or poor lifestyle choices, one’s overall energy more quickly declines. That’s why the Chinese label an acquired (versus genetic) chin crease as a “retirement line.” 

In plain English, an acquired chin wrinkle visibly cues you to shift gears. It’s time to slow down and pamper yourself. You can still fully enjoy life, but if overextended, it increasingly becomes harder to bounce back. 

I’ll end with suggestions for conserving kidney health based on Chinese Five Element Medicine. You’ll find some of them surprising. But first here’s one cautionary note.

What Not to Do for a Chin Crease

Please, don’t be gullible about the slick ads for dermal fillers or injections. True, chemical intervention temporarily “softens” a chin crease, but it’s a cheap fix. 

Countless Face Reading clients of mine sorely regret the inevitable side effects of invasive treatments. Besides, an elder with a cosmetically younger face is, in the least, incongruent. True beauty is, after all, not reliant on outside intervention. 

Conserve Kidney Vitality to Help Maintain a Smooth Chin

• Enjoy a balanced life of work, relaxation and play
  
• Get adequate sleep
  
• Exercise regularly, but not to exhaustion (swimming and martial arts especially strengthen the kidneys)
  
• Eat a balanced diet of freshly prepared whole foods
  
• Kidney strengthening foods: beans, seeds, nuts, meat, root vegetables, bone stock and seaweed.
  

Tempt a Chin Crease

• Overtax your core energy
  
• Use stimulants or drugs
  
• Sit, lie or stand for prolonged periods of time
  
• Over- or under-consume salt
  
• Eat cold, frozen and raw foods