Circulation and Healthier-Looking Skin, A Careful Evidence Guide
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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Better circulation is the explanation reached for whenever a facial device makes skin look good, and it is rarely examined.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- Why circulation is such an appealing explanation
- What the most-cited study really did
- The distinction that keeps getting lost
- Where the firm evidence actually is
- What PureLift claims
and many more!
This is a careful walk through what the research actually measured, why the most-quoted study cannot carry the claim it is used for, and what you can reasonably expect instead.
Key Points:
A post-session flush is real, visible, and gone within minutes to hours.
The most-cited facial blood-flow study tested a device combining NMES, iontophoresis, LED and cooling, so no single function can be credited.
Its blood-flow endpoint was measured at week eight, not during a session, which is the opposite of how it is usually quoted.
A 2026 correction disclosed manufacturer employment and device supply, with results stated as unchanged.
The strongest facial evidence in this category is about muscle thickness, not circulation.
Why circulation is such an appealing explanation
It is intuitive, you can see the flush, so something must be flowing better, and blood carries good things, so more flow must be good.
It is also conveniently unfalsifiable in casual use, nobody at home is measuring perfusion, so the claim sits comfortably beyond checking.
That combination, visible effect plus unmeasurable mechanism, is exactly the shape a claim takes when it is doing marketing work rather than explanatory work.
What the most-cited study really did
The paper usually invoked here is a prospective eight-week split-face controlled study in 24 women, testing a device that delivered facial NMES at 40 to 190 kHz together with iontophoresis, LED and cooling.
Because all four functions ran simultaneously, the design cannot isolate an effect attributable to the electrical stimulation alone, which is a limitation of the study rather than a criticism of the researchers.
Its blood-flow endpoint was assessed at week eight, so the paper describes a state after two months of use, not a change occurring during a session, and quoting it as proof of in-session circulation reverses what it measured.
A 2026 correction disclosed that two authors were employees of the manufacturer and that the manufacturer supplied the devices and instruments, stating the results and conclusions were unchanged.
It remains a legitimate multimodal facial-device study worth citing as exactly that, and it is not a foundation for a circulation claim about any single technology.
The distinction that keeps getting lost
A temporary rise in surface blood flow and an improvement in circulation are two different statements, and the category treats them as one.
The first is a transient state you can produce with a hot shower, brisk walk or a facial device, and the vessels return to baseline shortly afterward.
The second implies a durable change to the vascular network, which would need to be measured at baseline and again months later, and which nobody has demonstrated for a home facial device.
PureLift describes the first and does not claim the second, which is a smaller promise and a keepable one.
Where the firm evidence actually is
Kavanagh 2012 randomised 108 women over 12 weeks and reported a mean increase in zygomaticus major thickness under a defined facial NMES protocol (10.1111/jocd.12007).
That is a randomised design with a measured structural endpoint, which is a considerably stronger footing than any circulation finding in this category.
It also came from repeated sessions across three months, which tells you where to aim your expectations, at consistency over weeks rather than at what the mirror shows tonight.
What PureLift claims
All five PureLift models run nanocurrent at level one, microcurrent at level two, EMS from level three upward, and Infuse for electroporation-assisted serum delivery.
PDM varies frequency across 361 points between 1,370 and 1,730 Hz, changing frequency only, which the general literature supports as a way to delay fatigue onset during stimulation.
Every model is built in Japan in facilities operating to ISO 13485 and carries FDA 510(k) Class II clearance, and three minutes per side is the maximum on all of them.
You will see a flush, we will call it a flush, and everything else we say about the device has a document behind it.
Two related questions come up often alongside this one, and we have answered both in full: what a microcurrent device actually does to your face, and whether these devices work at all.