Moon Face / Cushing's Syndrome
That rounded, puffy face isn't just weight gain. It can be cortisol cooking you from the inside.
Grounded in the research on Cushing's syndrome (Wikipedia)
What actually is 'moon face'?
Moon facies is when fat redistributes into your cheeks and around the jaw so your face goes round, full, and flushed. It's the signature sign of Cushing's syndrome: a state of chronically high cortisol. Cortisol is your stress hormone, made by the adrenal glands. Too much of it for too long and your body literally remodels where it stores fat. The face is just the part everyone notices first.
So what's driving the cortisol?
Two routes. Endogenous: your body overproduces it, usually a benign tumor on the pituitary pumping out ACTH (that specific case is called Cushing's DISEASE, named after neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing who described it in 1932), or a tumor on the adrenal itself. Exogenous (way more common): you're taking glucocorticoid steroids like prednisone for asthma, lupus, RA, or transplants. The drug IS the cause. Cortisol then ramps up gluconeogenesis, breaks down protein, and shifts fat to the trunk and face.