Which Face Muscles Does a Microcurrent Device Work
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, Physiotherapeut, Doktor der Physiotherapie
Doktor der Physiotherapie (DPT), Lizenzierter Physiotherapeut (PT)
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Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile ist Doktor der Physiotherapie sowie CEO und Gründer von Xtreem Pulse LLC. Er erwarb seinen Doktortitel in Physiotherapie am Daemen College und bringt über zwei Jahrzehnte klinische und unternehmerische Erfahrung in der pädiatrischen Physiotherapie, Craniosacraltherapie und medizinischen Geräteinnovation mit. Sein tiefes Verständnis der menschlichen Anatomie, Muskelphysiologie und therapeutischen Technologie bietet einen wissenschaftlich fundierten Ansatz für Gesichtsverjüngung und Anti-Aging-Lösungen.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Medizinischer Direktor, Anti-Aging-Regenerationsmedizinische Klinik | Facharzt | Dartmouth Medical School
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Dr. Bertica M. Rubio ist eine zertifizierte Ärztin und medizinische Leiterin der Anti-Aging-Regenerationsklinik in Redlands, Kalifornien. Sie erwarb ihren Bachelor of Science an der Loyola Marymount University und ihren Doktortitel in Medizin an der Dartmouth Medical School (Geisel School of Medicine). Ihre Facharztausbildung in Pädiatrie absolvierte sie am UC Irvine Medical Center.
Mit jahrzehntelanger klinischer Erfahrung spezialisiert sich Dr. Rubio auf Altersmanagement, regenerative Medizin, Wundheilung und Wachstumsfaktor-Therapien. Ihre Praxis verbindet evidenzbasierte medizinische Wissenschaft mit fortschrittlichen ästhetischen und regenerativen Behandlungen, um Patienten zu optimaler Gesundheit und jugendlicher Vitalität zu verhelfen.
Dr. Rubio ist leidenschaftlich daran interessiert, Patienten über die Wissenschaft hinter Hautpflege, Gesichtsverjüngung und nicht-invasiven Technologien wie EMS (Elektrische Muskelstimulation) zur Gesichtstonung aufzuklären. Ihre Artikel für PureLift LAB verbinden fundiertes medizinisches Wissen mit praktischen Anleitungen für echte, nachhaltige Ergebnisse.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Facharzt für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde und Kopf-Hals-Chirurgie | Fellow des American College of Surgeons | Assistenz-Professor für Klinische Medizin, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS, ist ein von der Ärztekammer zertifizierter Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Arzt und Kopf-Hals-Chirurg bei ENT and Allergy Associates in West Nyack, NY. Er erwarb seinen medizinischen Abschluss an der Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, absolvierte seine Facharztausbildung in Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde am New York University Medical Center und ist Assistenzprofessor an der Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Er ist Fellow sowohl des American College of Surgeons als auch der American Academy of Otolaryngology.
Dr. Grinbergs Perspektive als Kopf-Hals-Chirurg bietet den Lesern von PureLift LAB eine erweiterte klinische Sichtweise — er verbindet die EMS-Anwendung zu Hause mit der zugrunde liegenden medizinischen Anatomie mit derselben wissenschaftlichen Genauigkeit, die wir auf jede Gerätespezifikation anwenden.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Lehrstuhl für Angiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg | Klinikdirektor, Universitätsklinik für Angiologie, Brandenburgisches Klinikum | Ehemaliger Oberarzt, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
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Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann ist Lehrstuhlinhaber für Angiologie an der Medizinischen Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane (MHB) und Klinikdirektor der Universitätsklinik für Angiologie am Brandenburgischen Universitätsklinikum. Er absolvierte seine medizinische Ausbildung an der Universität Hamburg, war Max-Planck-Gesellschaft-Stipendiat am Max-Planck-Institut für Herz- und Lungenforschung und hatte leitende Oberarztpositionen an der Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Campus Virchow inne, bevor er 2016 zum Lehrstuhlinhaber an der MHB berufen wurde.
Prof. Buschmann ist einer der führenden europäischen Experten für Arteriogenese – das durch Fluss angetriebene Wachstum und die Umgestaltung von Blutgefäßen – mit mehr als 150 begutachteten Veröffentlichungen und mehreren US- und EU-Patenten für Geräte, die das Wachstum von Kollateralgefäßen durch kontrollierte Scherkräfte-Therapie stimulieren. Seine Forschung verbindet mechanische und elektrische Stimulation mit vaskulärer Anpassung, Mikrozirkulation und Gewebeperfusion.
Die Beiträge von Prof. Buschmann bieten den Lesern von PureLift LAB eine gefäßbiologische Perspektive, die unsere bestehenden Autoren aus den Bereichen Klinik, Physiotherapie und chirurgische Anatomie ergänzt – und erklären, wie EMS-Stimulation nicht nur die Gesichtsmuskeln, sondern auch die Mikrozirkulation, die sie versorgt, aktiviert und warum eine intelligente Anwendung auf der Ebene des Blutflusses ebenso wichtig ist wie die Muskelkontraktion.
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A handheld device reliably reaches about eight superficial facial muscles, and roughly thirty others are either too deep, too small, or ones you should deliberately avoid.
This article sets out what to check before you start, such as:
- the eight muscles a device actually reaches
- the three you should deliberately leave alone
- why facial muscles behave differently from body muscles
- which muscle produces which visible result
- how to work each region in a ten minute session
and many more!
Knowing which muscle sits where turns a vague face massage into a session with a purpose.
Key Points:
Facial muscles are unusual because most of them attach to skin rather than to two bones, which is why toning them changes the surface rather than moving a joint.
The eight a device reaches are the frontalis, orbicularis oculi, zygomaticus major and minor, buccinator, masseter, depressor anguli oris, mentalis and platysma.
Three of those should be left alone or worked carefully, the masseter if you clench, the depressor anguli oris because it pulls the mouth corner down, and the corrugator between the brows.
The strongest published result in this field, an 18.6 percent increase in muscle thickness over twelve weeks, was measured at the cheek rather than at the jawline.
Deep muscles, the ones responsible for chewing power and deep expression, are out of reach of any device applied to the skin surface.
Why facial muscles are different
Most muscles in the body run from one bone to another across a joint, so contracting them moves a limb. Facial muscles mostly do not work that way.
They attach to skin, not bone
The majority of facial muscles have at least one attachment into the underside of the skin rather than into bone, which is why a contraction moves the surface of your face rather than a joint.
That anatomy is what makes facial expression possible, and it is also why toning these muscles changes how the skin above them sits.
It is the mechanical basis for the whole category, and it is a genuine difference from a bicep rather than a marketing analogy.
They are small, thin and superficial
Many facial muscles are only a few millimeters thick, far thinner than the muscles people train in a gym.
Thin and superficial is good news for a surface device, because the stimulation does not have far to travel before it reaches the muscle.
It also means the margin between too little and too much is narrower, which is why level control matters more here than anywhere else.
They fatigue and recover quickly
Small muscles fatigue faster and recover faster than large ones, which is why a facial session lasts ten minutes rather than an hour.
Maffiuletti and colleagues in 2018 reviewed the methodology of neuromuscular electrical stimulation and the principles that govern dose and recovery, and the same principles apply at this smaller scale.
Three minutes per side is the maximum on all our models for exactly this reason.
The eight muscles a device reaches
Frontalis, the forehead
A broad flat sheet across the forehead whose only job is to raise the eyebrows, and every contraction creases the skin horizontally.
This is the one muscle where more activity is the problem rather than the solution, which we set out in full in our article on forehead lines.
Pass over it gently at a low level for circulation rather than working it for tone.
Orbicularis oculi, around the eye
A ring of muscle circling the eye, closing the lid and tightening when you squint or smile.
Toning the ring firms the tissue around the socket, and a brief lid flutter means you have found the right level for the area.
Stay on the orbital bone and never on the lid itself, covered in our article on crow's feet.
Zygomaticus major and minor, the lift
These run from the cheekbone down to the corner of the mouth and are the muscles that lift when you smile.
They are the most useful target on the whole face, because better tone here raises the midface and improves how everything below it sits.
Kavanagh and colleagues in 2012 measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness over twelve weeks, and this is the region that measurement came from.
Buccinator, the deep cheek
A flat muscle in the cheek wall that pulls the cheek against the teeth, used in chewing and in blowing.
It sits deeper than the zygomaticus and is reached less reliably, but it contributes to the fullness of the mid cheek.
Work it as part of the general cheek pass rather than targeting it separately.
Masseter, the jaw angle
The thick chewing muscle at the angle of the jaw, and the strongest muscle in the body relative to its size.
If you clench or grind, this muscle is already overworked and building it widens the lower face, which is usually the opposite of the goal.
We set out why in our article on jaw clenching.
Depressor anguli oris, the downturn
Runs from the jaw up to the corner of the mouth and pulls that corner down, which is the expression of sadness.
Strengthening it deepens exactly the downward pull behind marionette lines, so this is a muscle to avoid rather than train.
Full reasoning is in our article on marionette lines.
Mentalis, the chin
A small paired muscle in the chin that raises and wrinkles the chin skin, producing the dimpled orange peel look when overactive.
Gentle work here is fine, and heavy work can emphasize the dimpling.
Keep the level low and keep moving rather than sitting on the spot.
Platysma, the neck
A broad thin sheet running from the jaw down across the collarbone, responsible for the vertical neck bands.
This is the most useful target below the face and the one that contributes most to jawline definition.
Avoid the front of the throat and the carotid area at the sides, covered in our article on turkey neck.
The muscles no device reaches
The deep muscles of mastication, including the medial and lateral pterygoids, sit behind and beneath the jaw and are inaccessible from the skin surface.
The levator palpebrae superioris, which lifts the upper eyelid, sits inside the orbit and is both unreachable and not something you want to stimulate.
The deep facial fat compartments and the bone beneath them are not muscle at all, and they are responsible for most of the volume change people notice with age.
That last point matters more than the anatomy. Toning the muscle layer does not address volume loss, which is why our hollow cheeks article and our nasolabial folds article both exist on this blog.
How the current actually reaches a muscle
Ward and colleagues in 2009 described the thresholds that separate sub-sensory stimulation, where you feel nothing, sensory stimulation, where you feel a tingle, and motor stimulation, where the muscle contracts.
Below the motor threshold nothing contracts, so the lowest settings on any device are doing something to tissue rather than training muscle.
Above it, the muscle fires involuntarily, which is what you can see in the mirror and what produces the adaptation over weeks.
On our devices, level 1 delivers nanocurrent and level 2 microcurrent, both below the motor threshold, with EMS from level 3 upward, which is where muscle work begins.
A ten minute session, muscle by muscle
Minute one and two, platysma. Start at the collarbone and work upward toward the jaw on one side, staying off the throat and the pulse point.
Minute three, jawline along the mandible, keeping off the masseter belly if you clench.
Minutes four and five, zygomaticus. Work from the corner of the mouth upward and outward toward the cheekbone and temple, which is the highest value region of the session.
Then switch sides and repeat, which brings you to ten minutes with three minutes per side at most on any single region.
Finish with a gentle pass around the orbital bone and across the forehead at a lower level, for circulation rather than tone. The full technique guide is in our step by step article.
What toning each region actually changes
Cheek work changes midface position, which is the most visible single result and the one most people notice first.
Jaw and neck work changes the definition of the jawline, which is the result people photograph.
Eye area work firms the tissue around the socket without touching the lines themselves.
Nothing on this list changes skin quality, volume or bone, which are three of the four layers that determine how a face ages. The fourth is the muscle layer and it is the one you are working.
Frequently asked questions
How many muscles are in the human face
Counts vary between about forty and fifty depending on how paired muscles are counted and which deep muscles are included. A handheld device reaches roughly eight of them.
Can you overwork facial muscles
Yes. Soreness the next day, a heavy or tired feeling in the face, or results that plateau and then reverse all indicate too much frequency or too high a level. Take three days off and return at a lower setting.
Which facial muscle makes the biggest difference to a jawline
The platysma in the neck contributes most to jawline definition, with the zygomaticus group above it improving how the midface sits on top of it.
Do facial exercises work the same muscles as a device
They work the same muscles, with less control over intensity and consistency. A device delivers the same contraction repeatably at a level you set, which is the practical difference.
Should you work the masseter with microcurrent
Not if you clench or grind, because the muscle is already overworked and building it widens the lower face. Work the platysma beneath the jawbone instead.
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.