I Got Invisalign. I Didn’t Expect A Total Face Glow-Up.

One night about four months ago, I was doing my evening skin care routine and noticed a change in my face so subtle, it could have been an illusion. My jawline appeared more sculpted, my face more symmetrical than usual. I leaned toward my mirror to get a closer look and scanned the contents of my vanity, wondering which product in my regimen could be credited with this sudden glow-up — and, to my confusion, found none.

It took a few weeks of double-checking my reflection before I realized the only variable that had changed in the past several months — and the only thing that could explain it — was my Invisalign treatment. I’d started it eight months before to close a small gap between my teeth that was driving me nuts. Somewhere along the line, however, it morphed into a beauty treatment whose benefits appeared to extend beyond my smile.

Before I got Invisalign, I viewed it as an unsexy task I had to check off my health-related to-do list. Save for my pesky gap, I knew that realigning my bite and giving my teeth a little straighten-up zhuzh would be good for my dental health. After getting my mouth scanned and my clear trays sent over, I dutifully tolerated wearing my aligners for the prescribed 22 hours a day for my seven-month treatment, extra spit and all. It was tedious, often annoying, and definitely not glamorous.

Invisalign didn’t seem like it belonged in the same category as Botox, filler, and facials — beauty treatments that I do consider glamorous, and that deliver an intentional, noticeable glow-up. And yet, when I finished my last tray and graduated to a nightly retainer, the results were just as satisfying. The facial changes I noticed — a sharper jawline and more balanced face — weren’t dramatic, but they were there, and they weren’t something I had expected.

It seemed too good to be true, but then I checked TikTok, where countless creators have shared similar post-Invisalign realizations. Discussions centered around “facial balancing,” sculpted jawlines, face shape changes, and even fuller lips popped up — and each person was surprised.

“What surprised me about my results was how much it improved my jaw alignment,” Lena Escandon (aka @lena_lse on TikTok) tells me. “My lower face is more symmetrical, and my jawline is much sharper on my right side than it was before.” It was such a stark change that she no longer has a preferred side when posing for photos: “I am loving the look of both!” @Macey_Broussard wanted better alignment and to correct crowding issues, and saw her resulting stronger jawline and improved facial symmetry as “an added bonus.” @Mamagriffiths wrote in her video, “Wondering where my round face went since I started Invisalign.” Then there’s @preciosa.arlisia, who claimed her profile changed drastically, her lips appear smaller, and her cheekbones show more since finishing her treatment. In other words: Post-Invisalign facial changes are not niche.

Board-certified orthodontist Sam Lee believes that people underestimate how much their surrounding muscles will be affected when they undergo changes in their teeth. “When you get your teeth into proper harmony and occlusion, everything else starts to balance the way that it should,” he tells Bustle. For instance, if you’re treating an overbite and your lower teeth are set far back, your lip position will become more balanced as things improve. Or, widening your upper arch could change the appearance of the nasal floor, leading to what looks like a slightly different nose.

Lee stresses, however, that these changes are largely not a direct result of Invisalign. “I wouldn’t say Invisalign changes the shape of your face, but by changing the smile, a lot of the times that alters the appearance of how it looks,” he says. Plus, it depends on the patient — everyone’s bone structure and teeth are different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all predictor of how the treatment will affect your appearance. “Unless we’re doing something surgical, we’re not going to notice [facial changes] right away,” Lee adds. “But dental harmony should lead to an overall better facial balance, which some people may see and some people may not notice as much.”

“When you get your teeth into proper harmony and occlusion, everything else starts to balance the way that it should.” — Dr. Sam Lee

At its core, the orthodontic treatment improves your smile. Similar to LED therapy, lasers, and facial massage, Invisalign plays the long game: It requires long-term dedication in order to experience the payoff. Running anywhere from $1,500 to $8,000, it’s an investment — one that offers long-term benefits (provided you wear your retainer nightly once it’s finished).

It’s not cheap but it makes sense when you think about how smiles have become a major fixation in beauty. Since Zoom and selfies became a way of life, people see their facial features staring back at them constantly, and in high-definition. “It’s made more people cognizant of things that maybe they weren’t as happy about and it’s really fed into how people perceive how their smile looks,” says Lee. (See: the veneer boom, which has led to an influx of perfect, unnaturally white teeth on practically every celebrity you see.)

Though I suffered through a metal braces stint in middle school, I neglected to wear my retainer afterward. As a gap slowly took residency in the front of my mouth decades later, I grew insecure about my smile — so much so that I was willing to get braces (albeit a more discreet, convenient variety) again to fix it. I’m glad the gap is gone, but what surprised me most was how Invisalign changed how I feel about my face. It didn’t fully change my features, but the small, quiet improvements gave me a boost of confidence — making it as transformative as any beauty treatment I’ve ever had.