What Nanocurrent Actually Is, and What It Is Not
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
Nanocurrent means current measured in billionths of an amp, which is a thousand times smaller than microcurrent and a million times smaller than the milliamps EMS uses.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- The scale, plainly
- Where the evidence actually sits
- What it is genuinely good for
- What it cannot do
- How to judge a nanocurrent claim
and many more!
We include nanocurrent on our own dial, so read this as an interested party being careful rather than as a brand dismissing a rival's technology.
Key Points:
A nanoamp is a billionth of an amp; a microamp is a millionth; a milliamp is a thousandth.
Most of the low-amplitude research people cite for nanocurrent was actually done in the microamp range.
You feel nothing at all at these levels, and that is the design rather than a fault.
It is the calmest setting available and it will never contract a muscle.
A brand that publishes an actual figure is being more useful than one that only uses the word.
The scale, plainly
An amp is the unit of current. A milliamp is a thousandth of one, a microamp a millionth, and a nanoamp a billionth.
Facial devices sit across three of those. EMS devices publish single-digit milliamps; 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.
Microcurrent devices publish hundreds of microamps, from about 170 for NuFACE's Trinity+ figures in FDA record K201906, to 309 for ZIIP Halo, 500 for TheraFace PRO and 680 for FOREO BEAR 2.
Nanocurrent sits a further thousandfold below that, which is why nothing is felt and why the word sounds impressive while describing the smallest number on the page.
Where the evidence actually sits
There is a genuine body of work on low-amplitude electrical stimulation, covering cellular activity, fibroblast signalling and dermal circulation. Saniee and colleagues studied low-level stimulation (10.29252/jmj.10.2.9) and Kwak and colleagues used a split-face design on facial stimulation (10.52660/jksc.2023.29.6.1505).
The important detail is that most of that work was done in the microamp range rather than the nanoamp range. Evidence at one scale does not automatically transfer to a scale a thousand times smaller.
Independent evidence for nanocurrent-specific effects remains limited, and a brand citing microamp research to support a nanoamp claim is doing the same thing as a brand citing a quadriceps study to support a facial claim.
What it is genuinely good for
It is the calmest setting available on any facial device, which matters if you want a daily habit you barely notice or if your skin reacts to more.
It is the right band if your concern is skin quality rather than contour, since nothing at this level is asking muscle to do anything.
And it is a sensible starting point for anyone new to a device, which is why levels 1 and 2 on PureLift sit in the nanocurrent and microcurrent bands and why we suggest starting there for the first week.
What it cannot do
It will never contract a muscle. Ward's work sets out the three thresholds as current rises, and the motor threshold is orders of magnitude above where nanocurrent operates (PMID 19095805).
So the outcome Kavanagh and colleagues measured, an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness over 12 weeks of motor-level stimulation (10.1111/jocd.12007), is not available in this band, and a device that only offers nanocurrent is not offering that.
It also does not replace volume, thicken the dermis, or do anything a current at any level does not do.
How to judge a nanocurrent claim
Ask for a figure. A brand that publishes an actual output number, at a stated impedance, is telling you something checkable, and most do not.
Ask which studies the claim rests on and whether they were run at nanoamp or microamp levels, since the answer is usually the latter.
Be sceptical of the framing that smaller is more sophisticated. Lower current is not inherently more advanced; it is a different band with a different purpose and a thinner evidence base.
The honest position
Nanocurrent is a real setting, it is the gentlest thing a facial device does, and the specific claims made for it outrun the published research more often than not.
Having it on a dial alongside microcurrent and EMS means you can choose the band, which is our argument for the multi-technology approach and not an argument that nanocurrent on its own does more than it does.
For the arithmetic across all three bands, see what the output numbers actually mean, and for the ZIIP Halo specifically, our review of it.