The First 30 Days, and Why You Should Expect Very Little
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, PT, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Licensed Physical Therapist (PT) | CEO and Founder, Xtreem Pulse LLC
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Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the CEO and Founder of Xtreem Pulse LLC, the engineering company behind PureLift. He earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Daemen College and is a licensed physical therapist.
He brings over two decades of clinical and entrepreneurial experience across physical therapy, craniosacral therapy and medical device innovation, built on a working knowledge of human anatomy and muscle physiology.
For PureLift LAB he reviews how current is delivered across all ten levels, from sub-sensory nanocurrent and skin-level microcurrent to motor-level EMS, and how the Infuse pass fits into the same ten-minute routine.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Board-Certified Physician, Dartmouth Medical School | Medical Director, Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic
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Dr. Bertica M. Rubio is a board-certified physician and Medical Director of the Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic in Redlands, California. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her pediatrics residency at UC Irvine Medical Center.
With decades of clinical experience, she specialises in age management medicine, regenerative medicine, wound healing and growth factor therapies, and her practice integrates evidence-based medical science with advanced aesthetic treatment.
For PureLift LAB she reviews articles for medical accuracy across the whole dial, from the gentle nanocurrent and microcurrent settings through to muscle-level EMS and the Infuse pass.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Board-Certified Otolaryngologist | Head and Neck Surgeon | Fellow, American College of Surgeons | Mount Sinai
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS is a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at ENT and Allergy Associates in West Nyack, New York. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He completed his otolaryngology residency at New York University Medical Center, serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
For PureLift LAB he brings a wider clinical lens, connecting at-home facial stimulation from microcurrent to EMS to the anatomy underneath, with the same rigour we apply to every device specification.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Chair of Angiology, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg | Clinic Director, University Clinic for Angiology
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Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann is Chair of Angiology at the Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane and Clinic Director of the University Clinic for Angiology at the Brandenburg University Hospital.
He trained at the University of Hamburg, was a Max Planck Society Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, and held senior consultant posts at the Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin before his appointment as Chair in 2016.
One of Europe's leading authorities on arteriogenesis, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications and US and EU patents, he reviews for PureLift LAB how the evidence on electrical stimulation is read and where its limits lie.
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Thirty days is a third of the way through the window the research used, so at the end of month one you are looking at an unfinished process.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- What will have happened
- What will not have happened
- Week three, where people stop
- The day 30 photograph
- What to judge in month one instead
and many more!
This page is about what to expect rather than what to do; the technique is covered separately.
Key Points:
The same-day drainage effect starts on day one and does not accumulate.
The cumulative muscle work produces nothing visible in month one, which is normal.
Week three or four is when most people conclude it is not working and stop.
Photograph at day 30 and expect the comparison to look almost identical.
If you are within a returns window, judge on comfort and fit rather than on results.
What will have happened
You will have had the same-day effect after every session: a fresher, slightly tighter face for a couple of hours, largest in the morning when overnight fluid is at its peak.
That is drainage. It is real, it is the same on day 30 as it was on day 1, and it does not build.
You will have learned the technique, which is worth more than it sounds. Serum timing, probe speed, where your level sits, and which slot in the day you will actually keep.
And you will have done somewhere between sixteen and twenty sessions, which is a third of a protocol rather than a completed one.
What will not have happened
A visible change in contour. Kavanagh and colleagues measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness after 12 weeks of motor-level facial stimulation across 108 women (10.1111/jocd.12007), and that measurement was taken at the end rather than at a third of the way through.
Chang and colleagues ran a double-blind sham-controlled trial over a comparable span (10.3390/ijerph17113783).
Nobody will comment on your face. Anybody promising a transformation in thirty days is describing a drainage effect or something that did not happen.
Week three, where people stop
The pattern is predictable enough to name in advance. Week one the immediate effect is striking. Week two it becomes ordinary. Week three you stop noticing it and conclude the device has stopped working.
Nothing has changed. The fast, visible half is doing exactly what it did on day one, and the slow half has not arrived.
Knowing that in advance is most of the defence against it, which is why this page exists rather than a page promising early results.
The day 30 photograph
Take it in the same light, at the same distance, with the same expression and head position as your baseline, and compare the two.
Expect them to look almost identical. That is the correct result for day 30 and it is not evidence of failure.
If anything, look at the jawline at a three-quarter angle rather than head-on, since that is where a change shows first and where it shows least head-on.
Do not compare against the mirror this morning, which is measuring last night's salt.
What to judge in month one instead
Whether the routine fits your life, since adherence decides the outcome more than anything else on this page.
Whether your skin is tolerating it. New reactivity, tightness or stinging means reducing the cadence rather than pushing on.
Whether the level is comfortable. A level you dread is a level you will skip in month two.
Whether you are actually seeing the contraction in the mirror at your working level, because if not you are below level 3 and not doing EMS at all.
If you are inside a returns window
Judge on comfort, fit and whether the habit has taken, not on results, because results are not available yet and no honest reading of month one produces them.
If the device is uncomfortable at usable levels, or the routine has not fitted into your week, those are real reasons to return it now.
If it fits and you are keeping the habit, the decision is about whether you will still be doing it in March.
What month two and three look like
Weeks five to six remain quiet. Weeks seven to twelve are where something starts showing, usually along the jawline and usually to you before anyone else.
Then a plateau, and maintenance at two or three sessions a week.
For the first seven days in detail, see your first week, and for the full timeline, when to expect visible results.
Two related questions come up often alongside this one, and we have answered both in full: the five questions to ask before buying anything, and what the twelve weeks actually look like.