Nasolabial Folds and Laugh Lines, Realistic At-Home Support
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
Nasolabial folds are the creases running from the sides of the nose to the corners of the mouth, and almost everyone has them to some degree.
This article walks through the routine step by step, such as:
- Why the fold forms
- Why creams do so little
- What a device can help with
- How to work the area
- What to expect, and when
and many more!
A home device can help with the support side; it cannot replace volume, and any page claiming otherwise is overselling.
Key Points:
A nasolabial fold is a boundary between two areas of the face, not a wrinkle in the skin, which is why smoothing products do not erase it.
Volume loss above the fold and reduced support underneath both deepen it.
EMS works the midface muscles that hold that area up, which is the part a home device can address.
Fillers replace volume and no electrical device does, so a deep fold from volume loss belongs with a clinician.
Three minutes per side is the maximum on any PureLift model, and results in the published research were measured over 12 weeks.
Why the fold forms
The nasolabial fold is a junction. Above it sits the cheek, below it sits the area around the mouth, and the crease is where those two zones meet. That is why it appears when you smile even at twenty; a deep fold at rest is a different matter.
Three changes make it deeper over time. Fat pads in the midface lose volume and shift downward, so the weight that used to sit high on the cheek now rests on the fold. The skin's collagen network thins, so the surface no longer holds itself taut. And the muscles that lift the midface lose tone, so the support underneath gives way.
Sun exposure, smoking and sleeping face-down all accelerate the first two. Genetics decides a good deal of the rest.
Why creams do so little
A retinoid or a good moisturiser works on the skin surface, and the nasolabial fold is not primarily a surface problem. You can improve the texture of the skin over a fold and still have the same fold.
That is not a reason to abandon your skincare; better skin quality genuinely improves how the area looks in daylight. It is a reason to be suspicious of any cream marketed specifically at this crease.
What a device can help with
The part of the picture a home device can address is muscle tone. EMS uses enough current to make the muscle contract, and the midface muscles that lift the cheek are the ones holding the area above the fold up.
Kavanagh and colleagues followed 108 women over 12 weeks with motor-level facial stimulation and measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness (10.1111/jocd.12007). Chang and colleagues ran a double-blind sham-controlled trial on facial stimulation (10.3390/ijerph17113783). Neither study was a trial of any particular consumer device, and neither was measuring nasolabial folds specifically.
So the honest framing is that better midface tone improves support in the area, and improved support can soften how the fold reads. That is a modest and real effect, not an erasure.
How to work the area
Work upward and outward from the corner of the mouth toward the cheekbone and the temple, following the direction the tissue has drifted from. Do not drag downward along the fold itself.
Keep the skin damp with a water-based serum throughout; a session that starts to drag means a dry patch, not a session that needs more power.
Sit at a level you can hold comfortably. On PureLift, levels 1 and 2 are nanocurrent and microcurrent and do not contract anything, level 3 is where the motor threshold is crossed, and levels 3 to 10 are EMS. A level you dread is a level you will skip, and skipping is what actually costs you the result.
Three minutes per side is the maximum on any PureLift model, and the ten minute session ends on its own.
What to expect, and when
The immediate effect after a session is drainage and circulation, which makes the face look fresher for a few hours and is not the cumulative work.
The cumulative work is measured in months, and the study above ran for twelve weeks. Anyone promising a change in a fortnight is selling something.
Photograph yourself in the same light, at the same distance, with the same expression, once a month rather than daily; fold depth changes too slowly to see day to day and the daily check mostly measures the weather.
Where the honest answer is a clinic
If the fold is deep at rest and the cheek above it has visibly lost volume, the missing thing is volume, and no current replaces volume. Fillers do that job and an electrical device does not pretend to.
Equally, if the skin itself is the concern rather than the crease, a resurfacing treatment addresses something a device does not.
A device is a good foundation and a poor substitute; used honestly it supports the muscle side of a problem that has three sides.
For the full breakdown of which technology sits where, see how the nine PureLift technologies work.
Two related questions come up often alongside this one, and we have answered both in full: which muscles a session actually reaches, and the timing around botox and fillers.