Microcurrent Facial Chart, the Muscles You Are Actually Working
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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Eight muscles account for most of what people mean by facial contour, and each one shows its weakening in a specific and recognisable way.
This article explains what is actually happening, such as:
- the eight muscles worth knowing by name
- what each one does, and how it looks when it weakens
- which pass in a routine works which muscle
- why the face is different from the rest of the body
- the muscles no device should be trying to strengthen
and many more!
You do not need anatomy to use a device, and it does turn a vague routine into a targeted one.
Key Points:
Frontalis raises the brow, and its weakening shows as a heavier, lower brow line rather than as forehead lines.
Zygomaticus major and minor lift the corner of the mouth and support the cheek, and their weakening reads as a flattened mid-face.
Orbicularis oculi rings the eye and contributes to crepiness and hooding when it loses tone.
Platysma runs from the jaw into the neck, and its slackening is the single largest contributor to a softened jawline.
Masseter and temporalis are chewing muscles that are usually overworked rather than weak, and no facial routine should be trying to build them.
Why facial muscle behaves differently
Most muscles in the body attach bone to bone, so they move a joint. Many facial muscles attach bone to skin, which is why they move your face rather than your skeleton and why their tone shows directly on the surface.
That connection is the whole reason this category exists. When a muscle attached to skin loses bulk and tone, the skin it supports sits differently, and the change reads as contour rather than as texture.
It is also why facial muscle responds to stimulation at all. Kavanagh and colleagues, whose twelve-week trial used ultrasound to measure an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness in 108 women over twelve weeks, which is a change in the muscle rather than in the skin above it.
The four that matter most
Frontalis. A broad vertical sheet across the forehead that raises the brow. When it weakens the brow sits lower and the upper lid looks heavier, which people usually blame on the eyelid rather than on the forehead.
Zygomaticus major and minor. Running from the cheekbone down to the corner of the mouth, these lift when you smile and support the fullness of the mid-face. Their decline reads as flatness through the cheek and a deepening line from nose to mouth.
Orbicularis oculi. The ring of muscle around the eye socket, responsible for closing the eye. Loss of tone here contributes to crepiness and to the general softening of the eye area.
Platysma. A thin broad sheet from the jaw down across the front of the neck. It is the largest single contributor to what people call a lost jawline, and it is the reason jaw work tends to show results first.
The supporting cast
Depressor anguli oris, which pulls the corner of the mouth down. Overactivity here contributes to a permanently downturned mouth, so it is a muscle to work thoughtfully rather than aggressively.
Mentalis, at the point of the chin, which contributes to chin dimpling when it is overactive.
Buccinator, in the cheek, which holds the cheek against the teeth and contributes to mid-face support.
Risorius, which draws the mouth corner outward and works alongside the zygomaticus muscles in the lower cheek.
The two you should leave alone
Masseter, the thick muscle at the angle of the jaw used for chewing, and temporalis, the fan-shaped muscle at the temple.
Neither of these weakens in the way the muscles above do. In most people they are overworked rather than under-worked, particularly in anyone who clenches or grinds, and building them widens the lower face rather than defining it.
This is the reason we are unenthusiastic about jaw-training gadgets that load the masseter, and it is worth knowing before you buy one.
If you clench, the useful work near the jaw is relaxation rather than strengthening, and that is a conversation for a dentist rather than for a device brand.
Matching muscles to passes
The jaw pass, running from chin to ear beneath the jawbone, works the platysma and the depressors.
The mid-face pass, from beside the nose up toward the cheekbone, works the zygomaticus pair and the upper fibres of the buccinator.
The forehead pass, running from brow to hairline, works the frontalis along the direction it runs.
The orbital passes, on the bone above and below the eye, address the orbicularis oculi without working on the lid itself.
Our diagram article sets out the directions in detail.
What has to be true for any of it to work
The current has to reach the muscle. Ward and colleagues described the three thresholds separating sub-sensory, sensory and motor current, and only the third produces a contraction.
Most consumer microcurrent devices publish outputs in the hundreds of microamps and sit below that threshold by design, which their manufacturers generally acknowledge.
PureLift publishes 7 mA at 500 ohms on Face and Pro, 7.7 mA on Pro Edition and 9 mA on Pro Plus and GLOW, with levels 1 and 2 in the calm bands and the motor work above.
If you want to know where your own device sits, the published figures for 33 devices are in one table.
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.