Facial Sagging After Menopause — Why the Face Seems to Drop All at Once

"Compared with last year's photos, I look like a different person."

limda k-medical clinic (경희림다한의원) is across from the Suyeong Bay Yachting Center in Marine City, Haeundae, and our doctors and all staff speak English, and a Chinese-speaking doctor is on site — no interpreter booking needed.

When women describe how their face changed around menopause, there is one thing in common. They feel it didn't happen gradually — it came all at once, at a particular point. That feeling is not imagined.

It isn't really a skin problem

Oestrogen is involved in collagen production in the skin. Studies have reported that about 30% of skin collagen is lost in the first five years after menopause, with much of that concentrated in the early years. In other words, it is less a gentle slope and more a set of steps.

But what we look at more closely in the treatment room isn't the skin. It's the facial expression muscles.

The face has several layers of muscles that start on bone and attach directly to the skin. When these muscles lose strength, the fat and skin sitting on top of them slide down. It tends to happen in order: the cheeks hollow and the lines from nose to mouth deepen, the corners of the mouth turn down, and the jawline softens. Far more often than not, wrinkles form not because the skin folds, but because what lies underneath has sunk.

What tends to arrive at the same time

A few other things speed up facial change around menopause.

Broken sleep shortens the hours when skin renews itself. Repeated hot flushes leave the facial blood vessels more reactive. Rapid weight gain or loss shows up first in the facial fat layers. So caring for the face on its own has limits — sleep, circulation and weight need to be looked at together.

How we approach it

Facial acupuncture at limda did not start in aesthetics; it comes from facial palsy treatment — waking up the muscles on the affected side and restoring balance between the two sides. The same approach applies to a face that isn't paralysed but has dropped more on one side.

We wake up muscles that have gone slack (muscle pumping) and release the ones that are pulling too hard. At the first visit we take a 3D facial scan, because changes in the face are hard to judge from memory; placing the scans from session 1 and session 5 side by side is far more accurate.

Sessions are once or twice a week, and many people notice a change around sessions 3 to 5. A course is usually 5 to 10 sessions. This varies from person to person, depending on the face and on daily habits.

Cost

Facial acupuncture for aesthetic purposes is not covered by insurance. Fees are posted at limda.co.kr/fee-schedule and confirmed before anything begins.

If you've had cosmetic procedures

Please tell us if you have had Botox or fillers. Where and when they were done changes how we place the needles. If it was recent, it is usually better to wait a while before starting.

On the other hand, if you have never had anything done, you are starting from a good place. Your muscles are still moving the way they always have, which makes them easier to read.

What a scan can show

A woman in her early fifties once looked at her scan on the screen and said nothing for a while.

She had come in thinking her whole face had aged, but the scan showed that only her left cheek had dropped noticeably. When she smiled, only the right corner of her mouth lifted; the left barely moved. She mentioned she had always chewed mostly on the left side.

So instead of trying to turn back the whole face, we set the direction as waking up the left side. That was her case — every face is different.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

Facial acupuncture in Busan — natural lifting, without injections → Acupuncture for period pain and menopause in Busan → Facial Acupuncture in Busan — What to Expect →

Book or ask: WhatsApp +82-10-7925-6248 · limda.co.kr/booking

Written by Dr. Chungrim Kim, Representative Director, limda k-medical clinic (경희림다한의원) · Doctor of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Korean Medicine

limda k-medical clinic (경희림다한의원) — 1F (No. 104–105), Haeundae I'Park Tower 1, 38 Marine City 2-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan, next to Park Hyatt Busan · WhatsApp +82-10-7925-6248 · LINE @533ntugz · Weekdays 10:00–19:00, Saturdays 09:00–17:00, closed Sundays and public holidays. Appointments prioritized, walk-ins welcome.

Originally published by limda k-medical clinic (경희림다한의원) · 2026-10-30 · limda.co.kr/journal/menopause-face-sagging-en