Microcurrent Facial Diagram, Where to Move the Probe and Why
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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Every pass should follow the direction the muscle underneath actually runs, which on most of the face means starting near the centre and working upward and outward.
This article walks through the routine step by step, such as:
- the four zones and the order to work them in
- which muscle each pass is following
- why upward and outward is the rule, and the exception to it
- where people habitually work in the wrong direction
- how long to spend in each zone
and many more!
Read this once with a mirror and you will not need a diagram again.
Key Points:
Jawline passes follow the platysma and the depressor muscles, running from the chin outward toward the ear.
Mid-face passes follow the zygomaticus muscles, running from beside the nose up toward the cheekbone and temple.
Forehead passes follow the frontalis, which runs vertically, so the pass runs from the brow upward.
Around the eye the orbicularis oculi is a ring, so work on the bone around it rather than sweeping across the lid.
Three minutes per side in total, weighted toward wherever your own face has changed most.
Why direction matters at all
A facial muscle has a direction of pull, running from where it anchors on bone to where it inserts into skin or another muscle. Working along that line asks the muscle to do what it is built to do, while working across it mostly moves skin about.
This is also why the same number of minutes produces different results for two people. Someone following the muscle is training it; someone sweeping horizontally is giving themselves a pleasant massage.
The general rule on the face is upward and outward, because most of the muscles that hold the mid-face and jaw run in roughly that direction, and because the change people want to reverse is downward.
Zone one, the jawline
Start with the probe near the chin, sitting just under the jawbone rather than on it, and move slowly out toward the angle of the jaw below the ear.
You are following the platysma, the broad sheet running from the jaw down into the neck, along with the depressor muscles that pull the corner of the mouth downward. Both contribute to the softening that people notice first.
Lift off at the ear and return to the chin to start again, rather than dragging back along the same line. The return stroke does nothing and doubles the friction.
This zone usually deserves more than its share of your three minutes, because it is where a changing face shows first.
Zone two, the mid-face
Place the probe beside the nostril and move up and out toward the top of the cheekbone, finishing near the temple.
That line follows the zygomaticus major and minor, which run from the cheekbone down to the corner of the mouth and are the muscles that lift when you smile. Kavanagh and colleagues measured cheek muscle thickness in this region specifically, finding an 18.6 percent increase across twelve weeks of motor-level stimulation.
Keep the passes overlapping rather than spaced out, and resist the temptation to sweep straight across the cheek toward the ear, which crosses the muscles rather than following them.
Zone three, the forehead
The frontalis runs vertically, from the brow up to the hairline, which makes this the simplest zone to get right: start at the brow and move straight up.
Work in short overlapping passes across the width of the forehead rather than in one wide sweep, and keep the probe moving rather than holding it in one spot.
If you have had botulinum toxin in this area, follow your injector's timing before working over it, which we cover in combining the two.
Zone four, around the eye
The orbicularis oculi is a ring of muscle around the eye socket rather than a strap, which is why sweeping across it in one direction makes little sense.
Work on the bone around the orbit rather than on the lid itself: along the brow bone above, and along the upper edge of the cheekbone below, at the lowest level you use anywhere on the face.
Okuda and colleagues used CT imaging to measure change in the orbital muscle, which is unusually direct evidence for an area most brands describe vaguely.
A brief eyelid flutter as you pass is ordinary. A flutter that continues after you have moved on means the level is too high for this zone.
Where people go wrong
Sweeping horizontally across the cheek, which crosses every muscle in the mid-face rather than following one.
Working downward along the jaw from ear to chin, which is the direction gravity is already taking the face.
Moving too fast. A pass that takes two seconds delivers far less to any given point than one that takes six.
Spreading the three minutes evenly across the whole side out of a sense of fairness, rather than spending it where the face has changed.
Pressing harder to compensate for a drying serum layer, which increases friction without increasing delivered current.
This article sits inside our full map of the category, where we set out all 33 devices we track, what each one carries and what each brand publishes: Nine Technologies on One Dial, What the Rest of the Market Actually Carries.