Moving From Microcurrent to EMS, What Actually Changes
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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Microcurrent sits below the level at which a nerve fires a muscle; EMS sits above it, and that single difference is the whole distinction.
This article walks through the routine step by step, such as:
- The one difference that matters
- What each band is aimed at
- Whether you should switch at all
- What the first session feels like
- Practical differences to expect
and many more!
If texture and tone were what you wanted, microcurrent was already the right band and there is nothing to fix.
Key Points:
Published microcurrent figures run from about 170 to 680 microamps, all sub-motor.
EMS devices publish single-digit milliamps, which is thousands of microamps.
The first EMS session feels startling if you are used to feeling almost nothing.
You do not have to give up the low band; on a multi-level device both sit on the same dial.
Start at the bottom of the dial even if your old device was at maximum.
The one difference that matters
Ward's work describes three thresholds as current rises: sub-sensory, where nothing is felt, sensory, where you feel a tingle, and motor, where the nerve fires and the muscle contracts (PMID 19095805).
Microcurrent stays under the third threshold by design. NuFACE's Trinity+ figures from FDA record K201906 sit between 170 and 200 microamps, ZIIP Halo publishes 309, TheraFace PRO 500, and FOREO BEAR 2 680.
EMS crosses it. PureLift publishes 7 mA at 500 ohms for Face and Pro, 7.7 mA for Pro Edition, and 9 mA for Pro Plus and GLOW, which is thousands of microamps rather than hundreds.
What each band is aimed at
The microamp literature discusses cellular activity, fibroblast signalling and dermal circulation, which are skin-level mechanisms. A device working there is aimed at texture, tone and how the skin looks.
Motor-level stimulation is aimed at the muscle. Kavanagh and colleagues measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness over 12 weeks across 108 women (10.1111/jocd.12007), and that outcome is not available below the motor threshold because the muscle never does any work.
So the question is not which device is better; it is which of those two you came for.
Whether you should switch at all
If your concern is skin quality, crepiness, dullness, texture, microcurrent was already the right band, and buying EMS to solve it is buying capability you will not use.
If your concern is contour, a softening jawline, a flattening cheek, the low band cannot reach it, and that is the case for changing.
If your concern is both, a device carrying both bands on one dial is the sensible answer. On PureLift, levels 1 and 2 are nanocurrent and microcurrent, level 3 is where the motor threshold is crossed, and levels 3 to 10 are EMS.
What the first session feels like
If you have used microcurrent for a year, you are calibrated to feeling almost nothing, and level 3 on an EMS device will feel like a great deal.
That is the muscle contracting, which is the point, and it is not a sign of anything being wrong. It is also why the first session should start at level 1 regardless of where your old device sat.
You will see the contraction in the mirror, which is a better check than sensation; if the muscle is visibly moving, motor-level current is being delivered.
Practical differences to expect
Sessions are shorter. Ten minutes with a maximum of three minutes per side is the PureLift protocol, against the twenty minute routines common in microcurrent.
You may feel it in the muscle afterwards in the first week, mildly, the way you would after unfamiliar exercise anywhere else. That settles.
The serum question changes if your old device required a proprietary gel; PureLift works with any water-based serum, so the running cost disappears.
Easing in
Week one at levels 1 and 2, which is the band you are already used to, just to learn the probe and the glide.
Week two try level 3, briefly, on the jaw only.
From there move up one level at a time and only when the level below has been comfortable for several sessions. A level you dread is a level you will skip, and skipping is what actually costs you a result.
For the full breakdown of which technology sits where on the dial, see how the nine PureLift technologies work.