Keep in mind: there’s a lot of facial cupping content online. How-to reels, videos, blog posts—the Internet is positively brimming with them. You might have even seen celebrities with cupping marks on their backs—so it’s totally understandable you’d worry that these might appear on your face.
Does Facial Cuping cause bruises, marks, or broken capillaries?
Written by
Sakina Di Pace
Boy, do I get this question often! And I totally understand why. The truth? If you’re applying the right amount of pressure, facial cupping should not cause any marks, bruises, or broken capillaries.
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What a facial cupping session will do is bring blood closer to the surface of the skin. This may cause some temporary redness known as acute local active hyperemia. But don’t worry. This simply refers to the increased amount of blood in the local area. This is temporary, completely normal, and is even a sign that it’s working.
Fortunately, face cupping is a different process which doesn’t create or leave any marks, bruises, or broken capillaries when done the right way. And it’s possible to do facial cupping in a way that doesn’t create the same marks you might expect from body cupping.
👋 Hi, I’m Sakina
Learn how to get younger & brighter skin with my facial cupping starter kit.
Are cupping marks the same as bruises?
Nope! They sometimes look the same, but here are a couple of key differences:
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Bruises come from bodily injury, usually damage to the tiny blood vessels called capillaries, which tend to hang out near the surface of your skin. When these capillaries bleed, the blood needs a place to go. That’s often directly under the skin. That’s where the red or purple colouring you see comes from.
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Cupping creates marks known as YINZI or simply “marks” in traditional Chinese medicine. You’ll see a visible shape where the cupping took place. You may even find this results from impurities brought to the surface for elimination. A fairly dark mark can signify the pain or tension you’ve relieved. A lighter mark may mean there wasn’t so much waste to release.
Want to know something funny? Ironically, cupping can help bruises heal naturally! So no, they’re not the same thing.
Body Cupping vs Facial Cupping
What’s the difference between body and facial cupping?
Both are based on the same principles. The techniques, however, are different. The face is a uniquely sensitive area, and it requires special protocols. So even though you’ll use cups for both, the face will require:
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Different styles of cups. Body cupping uses large cups, often made of class. These are left static, directly against the skin. Oftentimes, fire is often inserted inside the cup, creating suction and drawing the skin upward.
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Unique techniques. Because body cupping is static and facial cupping is dynamic, with frequent movement, there’s less time for facial cupping to create a “mark.”
First, let’s explain body cupping. Body cupping. is an ancient healing therapy, using large cups directly against the skin. Typically, these cups will go toward problem areas. Have a lot of pain and tension in a spot? It’s a prime target for cupping!
The cup creates suction, drawing the skin upward. This does some remarkable work inside you. The connective tissues and muscles in that area can decompress. This can lead to enormous health benefits, such as:
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Encouraging lymphatic stimulation.
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Increasing blood circulation.
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Supporting the healing process (through improved circulation).
But here’s the thing. If you do it to your back, you probably won’t care about a temporary mark. You’ll wear something over it while it returns to normal.
With your face, though—you need something different.
Second, let’s explain facial cupping. Facial cupping is much more non-invasive:
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Rather than larger, glass-based body cups, you’ll use smaller and more sensitive face cups.
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Gentler suction results in more tightly controlled stimulation.
Use the right techniques, and there can be all sorts of facial benefits. Stimulating your skin’s natural healing processes, for one. Stimulating collagen and fibroblast production. Cell regeneration. Promotion of oxygen-rich blood circulation.
And all without leaving a mark.
👋 Hi, I’m Sakina
Learn how to get younger & brighter skin with my facial cupping starter kit.
A toolkit for avoiding marks on your next facial cupping session
Want to stimulate your face’s natural healing and circulation—but without the drawbacks? You need to know how to do it right. Consider this your toolkit and checklist for a great facial cupping session:
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Apply the oil first. This is super important. Apply plenty of oil to your décolleté, neck, and facial areas before you begin the session. This reduces friction, which, in turn, reduces irritation.
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Keep the cup moving. No matter the technique, keep the cup moving. This isn’t necessarily intuitive. After all, we apply the opposite method to body cupping. But since the goal here is to reduce marks, spreading the movement around will ensure you don’t overstimulate one area. Think of it like a high-quality pan that evenly spreads the heat as you cook.
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Customize your cup style to your skin need. If you’re unsure what to use just yet, go with something lighter and flexible. This is super-versatile and should fit most skin types. From there, you may want to experiment with other cup styles to see what best fits.
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Choose one of three techniques. For more on this, see below.
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Be intentional. Facial cupping is an opportunity. An opportunity to discover yourself. A time to find which areas feel more sensitive. So customize everything to yourface. Go light on the sensitive areas. If something feels off, stop. Follow your instincts. No one knows your face better than you.
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Work with two sets of cups. Use a small one and a larger one. The larger cup can handle wider surface areas, like your cheeks. The smaller cup is better for sensitive areas like the eyes and your orbicularis oculi muscle (the muscle around your eyes). You can use this smaller cup for more precision work to ensure an even cupping session.
What were those three main techniques we talked about? Let’s briefly explore them here:
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Dynamic Cupping: Squeeze, slide, then release the cup in one smooth motion.
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Flash Cupping: Flash cupping lightly squeezes the cup over an area of the face. You then release immediately—in a flash!
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Flash Cupping with Rotation: A light squeeze, a gentle rotating movement, then the release. This is great for addressing scars or getting more intense tension releases over problem areas.
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The truth about facial cupping
Facial cupping won’t produce the large marks you might have seen on celebrities’ backs after long sessions of body cupping. Instead, facial cupping uses different cups and techniques to approach the face with more sensitivity. If you’re just getting started with facial cupping, make sure you follow a step-by-step protocol that explains how to use the cups the right way to get the best results.
Don’t expect it to leave any marks. But if you do have questions about face cupping before your first session, reach out with any questions you might have.
