A Gentler Session for Skin That Reacts Easily
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
Read bio
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
Read bio
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
Read bio
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
Read bio
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.
Share
The standard session assumes skin that will tolerate ten minutes of probe contact without complaining, and plenty of skin will not.
This article walks through the routine step by step, such as:
- Before you start
- Week one
- Weeks two to four, one variable at a time
- Deciding whether to cross into EMS
- The serum rules
and many more!
If you have a diagnosed skin condition, read the page for that condition first, because this one assumes ordinary reactivity rather than a medical diagnosis.
Key Points:
Week one is one area, two minutes, level 1, and nothing else.
Change one variable at a time: duration first, then area, then level.
Wait two days between early sessions, since some reactions take a day to appear.
Use a serum you have tolerated for months, never a new one.
Three minutes per side stays the maximum however well it is going.
Before you start
Get the barrier into good shape first. If products are stinging, if your face feels tight all day, or if moisturiser seems to vanish, that is a compromised barrier and the device is not the next step.
Two weeks of a plain routine, gentle cleanser, plain moisturiser, sunscreen, and nothing active, before you introduce a device at all.
Do not start a device and a new serum in the same fortnight. If something goes wrong you will not know which caused it and you will probably blame the wrong one.
Week one
One area only: the jawline on one side, away from the central face where reactivity is usually worst.
Level 1. On PureLift, levels 1 and 2 are nanocurrent and microcurrent and do not contract anything, which is the mildest thing the device does.
Two minutes, not ten. Generous serum, reapplied if it starts to drag at all.
Then stop and leave it two days. Not the same evening, and not the next morning, since some responses take a day to appear and you want to see the whole picture before deciding.
Two or three sessions like that in the first week is plenty.
Weeks two to four, one variable at a time
Week two, extend the duration. Same area, same level, four or five minutes instead of two.
Week three, extend the area. Add the other side of the jaw, then the cheeks, keeping the level and duration where they are.
Week four, if all of that has been uneventful, move to level 2.
Changing one variable at a time is slow and it is the only way to know what caused a reaction if one appears. Changing two at once tells you nothing.
Deciding whether to cross into EMS
Level 3 is where the current crosses the motor threshold and the muscle contracts, and it is a meaningful step up in sensation.
You do not have to take it. The low bands are where the skin-level research sits, covering cellular activity, fibroblast signalling and dermal circulation, and staying there is a legitimate way to use the device.
If you do go up, treat it as another single variable: one short session on the jaw at level 3, then two days of watching.
Kavanagh and colleagues measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness over 12 weeks of motor-level stimulation (10.1111/jocd.12007), and that outcome does need the motor band, so it is a real trade-off rather than a neutral choice.
The serum rules
Use one you have tolerated for months. This is not the place for a new product, a sample, or something a friend recommended.
Plain and water-based: hyaluronic acid, glycerin or niacinamide. No fragrance, no essential oils, no exfoliating acids, no retinoid.
Apply more than feels necessary and reapply during the session, since a dry patch is where friction happens and friction is what reactive skin objects to.
What counts as a reason to stop
Redness that has not settled by the next day, stinging during the session, or anything that itches.
New reactivity to products that were previously fine, which points to the barrier rather than the device.
Stop, go back to the plain routine for a fortnight, and restart from week one rather than from where you left off.
If it happens twice, a device may not suit your skin, and that is a reasonable conclusion.
When this page is not the right one
If you have diagnosed rosacea, acne, melasma, or are on a prescribed treatment, those have their own considerations and a clinician's view comes first.
See rosacea-prone skin, acne-prone skin, or melasma, and for the general question, facial stimulation and sensitive skin.