Are Microcurrent Devices Worth It, an Honest Cost Benefit
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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A device is worth it if you will use it four times a week for three months and your goal is muscle tone; it is not worth it if you want tighter skin, fewer eye bags or a replacement for a retinoid.
This article sets out what to check before you start, such as:
- the actual cost per session across three years
- what the evidence supports and at what size
- where our own expensive devices are the wrong buy
- what the cheaper alternatives genuinely do
- the four situations where you should buy nothing
and many more!
We would rather you bought the $499 device and used it than the $999 device and left it in a drawer.
Key Points:
At four sessions a week over three years, a $499 device costs about 80 cents a session and a $999 device about $1.60.
The strongest facial stimulation evidence is for muscle thickness, reported as 18.6 percent at the cheek over twelve weeks; the skin-appearance evidence is weaker and the collagen evidence is indirect.
If you are buying on the milliamp figure alone, buy Face or Pro; the step up to 9 mA matters for specific features, not for general results.
Nothing in this category tightens skin by heating tissue, removes submental fat, or does what a retinoid does.
Buy nothing if you will not use it four times a week, if your goal is skin texture rather than tone, if money is tight, or if you have not yet tried sunscreen and a retinoid.
The arithmetic
Our range runs from Face at $499 to GLOW at $999, with Pro at $699, Pro Edition at $799 and Pro Plus at $899.
At four ten-minute sessions a week, three years of use is about 625 sessions, which puts Face at roughly 80 cents a session and GLOW at about $1.60.
Against a professional treatment at $100 to $250 a visit, the device wins on cost per session by a wide margin, provided you actually use it.
Against nothing at all, the device costs whatever you paid, and the drawer rate in this category is the number nobody publishes.
What the evidence actually supports
Kavanagh and colleagues in 2012 followed 108 women over twelve weeks and reported an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness measured by ultrasound, which is the strongest result in this literature and is a muscle measurement at the cheek rather than a jawline measurement.
The skin-appearance evidence from split-face and sham-controlled trials shows smaller changes in elasticity and wrinkle measures.
The collagen evidence is indirect, as we set out in our article on collagen, and the facial fat question has never been measured at all.
So the honest claim is muscle tone first, skin appearance second, and everything beyond that unproven.
Where our expensive devices are the wrong buy
If your reason for considering Pro Plus or GLOW is the higher milliamp figure, buy Face or Pro instead, because 7 mA at 500 ohms already sits above the motor threshold for facial muscle and the extra 2 mA is not what produces the result.
Pro Plus at $899 earns its price on PDM++ and the diamond-faceted probe rather than on the current, and if those two features mean nothing to you then neither does the premium.
GLOW at $999 earns its price on the LED channels, red at 634 nm and blue at 465 nm with published figures of 1.13 W/m² and 678 J/m² over ten minutes, and if you do not want LED you are paying for hardware you will not turn on.
Said plainly: most people reading this page should buy Face or Pro, and we are the ones telling you that.
The cheaper alternatives, honestly
A gua sha stone at around $12 produces most of the same-day depuffing, because pressure and direction are what move fluid.
A retinoid does more for skin texture and for dermal collagen than any device in this category, with decades of human biopsy evidence behind it.
Daily sunscreen prevents more visible ageing than anything on this page will reverse, and it costs a few pounds a month.
If you have not got those three in place, a device is the wrong next purchase and we would rather say so than take the order.
Who should buy one
You are in your late thirties or older, your main concern is a softening jawline and loss of definition rather than texture, and you can commit to four sessions a week for three months.
You have the sunscreen and retinoid basics already handled, so the device is an addition rather than a substitute.
You want to consolidate several technologies into one tool rather than buying a separate LED mask, a separate microcurrent device and a separate infusion tool.
You are prepared to be patient, because nothing visible happens in the first fortnight and the twelve week mark is where the trials found their results.
Who should not
Anyone who will not use it four times a week, because an unused device at any price is the worst purchase on this page.
Anyone whose main goal is tighter skin, since that requires heating tissue and we do not heat tissue; radiofrequency is the category and we do not make one, as we say in our comparison.
Anyone looking to reduce submental fat, which no device in this category does.
Anyone for whom $499 is a stretch, because this is a discretionary purchase with a modest effect size and no device is worth financial strain.
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.