We often notice flaws in our appearance more than others do—facial asymmetry is one of those perceived flaws. If you’ve been wondering, “Why are my eyes uneven?”, you should know that some facial asymmetry is completely natural and adds to your unique charm. However, if you’d like to train the less dominant side of your face and incorporate new steps into your face yoga routine, there are a few exercises you can try.

But Don’t We Find Symmetrical Faces More Attractive?

There’s been many studies measuring the attractiveness of faces, providing different results. So, which one should you believe? A recent meta-study found that people prefer symmetrical faces only when shown two identical faces, one artificially manipulated to be more symmetrical. However, when participants were presented with an array of natural faces with varying degrees of symmetry, they showed no particular preference for more symmetrical ones. In the real world—not in a computer-generated symmetry world—your uneven eyes can be something that attracts rather than repels people! Being exposed to a whole stream of heavily-filtered videos of celebrities and influencers can make you think there’s something wrong with you when in reality, it’s the filtered images that are unnatural (and you’d likely get scared if you saw one in real life!).

When Should I Worry About Having Asymmetrical Eyes?

If you’re still wondering why one of your eyes is smaller than the other, the most likely reason is genetics—you can probably notice a similar kind of unevenness in one of your parents. It’s a perfectly natural genetic variation and nothing to worry about! Some medical conditions may cause uneven eyes – the main concern there should be a sudden change. If one eye suddenly becomes smaller than the other or if you develop crooked eyes after trauma, you should seek medical attention. While most people’s biggest worry is having a stroke, there are several other, less dangerous conditions, that can lead to uneven eyes, such as Bell’s palsy (which can go away by itself), sinusitis (very common and treatable), or Graves’ disease. In these cases, the best way to fix uneven eyes is to treat the underlying condition. Depending on the results of the treatment, some doctors may recommend eye surgery or Botox to even out the appearance.

So Facial Asymmetry is Completely Out of My Control?

Not entirely! Besides medical conditions, some lifestyle choices can cause uneven eyelids or exacerbate the naturally occurring unevenness of your eyes. Smoking often causes droopy eyelids, which, in turn, can make your natural facial asymmetry more pronounced. Continuous exposure to the sun on one side of your face (think long-distance drivers) will inflict more sun damage on the side that is exposed, which might lead to one eye settling lower than the other. Quitting smoking and using plenty of sunscreen are long-term solutions to prevent facial asymmetry, not to mention numerous other health benefits!

Why Is One Eye Bigger Than the Other on This Side Specifically?

Another cause of some asymmetry in the eyes is our natural propensity to use one side of our bodies more than the other. Think of it as being right-handed or left-handed: usually, one hemisphere of our brain dominates, causing us to move one side of our body more. The same “handedness” manifests on our faces: we tend to wink with one eye more often than with the other or lift one eyebrow more. It’s only natural that one side of our face accumulates more muscle tension, causing one of our eyes to “close off” more. Sleeping on one side throughout the night might cause more lymph to flow towards the side of the face that’s lower, resulting in more puffiness and making one eye smaller than the other. It usually evens out throughout the day, or, if you’d like to expedite the process, some lymph-draining facial massage will help.

Is There Anything I Can Do to Fix Uneven Eyes Naturally?

Again, there’s probably no need to ‘fix’ anything—what you perceive as a ‘flaw’ is most likely not noticeable to others. Still, there are face yoga and massage exercises that boil down to three essential techniques:

• Training the less dominant side of your face.
• Relaxing the muscles in the more dominant side of your face.
• Training your facial muscles to move together.

Basically, the exercises of how to fix uneven eyes naturally aim to ‘even out’ how your facial muscles work. After figuring out which side of your face is dominant (which eyebrow is easier to raise? Which eye is easier to wink with?), you can identify exercises that are most comfortable for you. Additionally, it may be helpful to sit quietly and reflect on where your face holds more tension simply by feeling from the inside out.

How to Fix Uneven Eyes: A Simple Face Yoga Routine

If you have one side of the face that is clearly dominant, you can start by training the other. 1) “Frame” your dominant side with your forefinger above the eyebrow and your thumb under the eye. This will prevent your dominant side from ‘taking over’ while you try to move the other one.

Try lifting your less dominant eyebrow individually, hold it for 10 seconds, and release. If you can’t lift it at all, use your fingers to gently push it up. Repeat for a few rounds. Even after a few days of this exercise, you should see results—if one of your eyes was bigger than the other, you should see them starting to even out. After taking care of the less dominant side, it’s time to release tension from your temples—the muscles on the side of your head often keep your more dominant side clenched, creating unevenness and more wrinkles. 2) After moisturizing your palms well, put the bases of your palms on your temples (a spot outside your eyes where there’s a bit of a dip). Keep them there for a few seconds, then slowly drag your palms outwards and upwards way into your hairline—a convenient way to do this is to lower your head into your palms.

Now let’s focus on strengthening your eye muscles and ‘teaching them’ to move together. 3) Put your pinky fingers along your eyebrows. Make sure that they’re symmetrical and gently pull your eyebrows away from each other. Press gently into the forehead muscles and while holding your eyebrows away, open your eyes wide and keep them open for 5-10 seconds. This will strengthen your eye muscles, reduce the work of the forehead, and prevent drooping eyelids.

Scalp Massage recommended by Jillian Osborne, a face yoga expert. Scalp tension overall can have a significant impact on the symmetry of the eyes. When the scalp muscles are tense, it can lead to increased pressure and strain on the surrounding tissues and muscles, including the eyes. This could lead to a noticeable imbalance in size or positioning. Scalp tension can also inhibit blood flow to facial muscles affecting the glow of your skin, the balance of the eyes and face overall, as well as energy or mental alertness. It is extremely beneficial to introduce relaxation techniques for the scalp, and can be as easy as a gentle simulation of washing your hair, tapping all over the head, or performing acupressure on some of the many trigger points found all over the cranium.

Bottom line

In short, having one eye bigger than the other is normal, and as for how to fix it naturally—lead a healthy lifestyle, train your less dominant side, use face massage to relax your dominant side, and train your eye muscles. And don’t forget that your natural charm is far more precious than artificial symmetry! If you want to find out more exercises for assymetrical face, check our article.