Smile lines are the mark of a face that has laughed and lived. Almost everyone has them, so it's no surprise they’re one of the most searched-for wrinkle concerns.
If you’re wondering whether they’re normal, why yours seem deeper than others, or what you can do about them, this is your guide.
Does everyone have smile lines?
Smile lines are a natural feature of the face, present from birth. In younger skin, they often only appear during expression, but over time, as the skin loses volume and elasticity, they can become more visible.
What are smile lines?
Smile lines, also known as nasolabial folds or laughter lines, are the creases that run from the sides of your nose to the corners of your mouth. Over time, these lines become more visible when your face is at rest. Younger skin has enough elasticity and volume to spring back after an expression. As skin laxity increases, so does the likelihood of lines appearing.
Types of smile lines
Understanding the different types of lines found around the lower face can help you identify the right approach:
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Nasolabial folds: The classic smile lines that run from the sides of the nose to the corners of the mouth. These are the most common and tend to appear earliest.
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Marionette lines: Lines that run downward from the corners of the mouth toward the chin, giving the face a downturned appearance.
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Lip lines: Small vertical creases above the upper lip, often associated with repeated pursing movements. These are sometimes called perioral lines or smoker’s lines, though they can appear in non-smokers too.
All three can appear around the same time and are influenced by many of the same factors, but each forms for slightly different reasons.
What causes smile lines?
Smile lines deepen for a combination of reasons. Understanding them makes it easier to know where to focus your efforts.
As we age, the face loses two things: collagen, which keeps skin firm, and the fat pads beneath the cheeks that give the face its lift and volume. As those fat pads shift and shrink, the skin above the nasolabial fold loses its support, and the crease becomes more defined.
Sun exposure plays a significant role as well. UV radiation speeds up collagen breakdown, which is why people who spend a lot of time in the sun often notice deeper lines earlier. Lifestyle factors like smoking, chronic stress, poor sleep, and dehydration all contribute to this over time.
Your skin structure, where you lose volume first, and how quickly it ages is also partly inherited. If prominent smile lines run in your family, you may be more likely to develop them earlier. That doesn’t mean you can’t influence how they look, but it does explain why two people with similar habits can have very different experiences.
Can you get rid of smile lines?
Completely erasing smile lines without clinical procedures like fillers or surgery isn’t possible, and even then, there are no guarantees.
However, with the right combination of daily habits, skincare, and at-home beauty technology, you can support skin repair, boost collagen production, and help smile lines appear softer over time. It takes consistency, but the results are real.
How to reduce visible smile lines naturally
The foundations of good skin health are the same regardless of which lines you’re targeting. Done consistently, they make a real difference to how skin looks and feels.
SPF, every single day
UV exposure is one of the leading causes of premature skin aging and collagen breakdown. Wearing a broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher every day is an effective way to slow the deepening of smile lines over time.
Hydration, inside and out
Dehydrated skin loses plumpness, making folds look more pronounced. Drinking enough water throughout the day, combined with a good moisturizer, helps maintain the skin’s plumpness. Look for ingredients like hyaluronic acid, which draws moisture into the skin and helps it look fuller.
Facial exercises for smile lines
Regularly exercising the muscles around the mouth and cheeks can help tone the area and support the skin above the nasolabial fold. Try pressing your fingertips gently against your smile lines while smiling, creating light resistance. Practised consistently, facial exercises can help to increase circulation and muscle tone.
Eat well, sleep well, stress less
A diet rich in vitamins C and E, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids supports the skin’s natural repair processes. Sleep is when the skin does much of its regeneration, and chronic stress raises cortisol levels, which can speed up collagen breakdown.
How to reduce the appearance of smile lines
While a natural approach can help, active skincare ingredients and at-home beauty devices can take things a step further by working beneath the surface of the skin.
Active skincare ingredients
Retinol, peptides, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin C are all known for their anti-aging benefits. Supporting collagen production, retinol is one of the most effective at-home ingredients for reducing the appearance of lines over time.
Radio frequency
Because smile lines are closely linked to volume loss and skin laxity in the lower face, radio frequency (RF) technology can be a particularly effective option. The CurrentBody Skin RF Radio Frequency Skin Tightening Device uses targeted RF energy to heat the deeper layers of the skin for effective collagen renewal. Over time, this helps tighten the skin around the nasolabial fold and reduce how deep the crease appears.
Red light therapy
Red light therapy devices use specific wavelengths of light, red (633 nm) and near-infrared (830 nm and 1072 nm), to penetrate the skin at different depths, boosting collagen production.
The CurrentBody Skin LED Red Light Therapy Face Mask provides full-face coverage with a flexible silicone design, ensuring light reaches the lower face where smile lines form. Clinical testing has shown that consistent use can reduce wrinkles by 30% and increase plumpness by 57% in 8 weeks.*
For those wanting to go further, combining radio frequency and red light therapy gives you a complete approach: one firming the skin’s deeper layers, the other supporting ongoing collagen renewal at the surface.
You can't get rid of smile lines, but you can soften them
The best approach to softening smile lines is always the same: protect your skin every day, support it from within with good habits and active skincare, and layer in technology like red light therapy or radio frequency to go further.
*Based on a 56-day clinical study of 35 participants using the CurrentBody Series 2 LED Red Light Therapy Face Mask.
