Men's Facial Aging, Jawline and Jowl 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
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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 softening jawline is the change most men notice first, and it happens in a layer no cream reaches.
This article covers what is actually going on, such as:
- Why a man's face ages on a different schedule
- Which layer jowls and a blurring jawline live in
- What facial EMS can reach, and what it cannot
- Working with stubble and thicker skin
and many more!
Nothing here promises a jawline you did not have at 25.
Key Points:
Men's facial skin is thicker and denser, so surface-level changes appear later and structural ones appear more abruptly.
Jowls form from fat compartments descending, ligaments loosening and muscle tone changing, all at once.
Muscle is the one contributor an electrical device has a documented route to.
Bone shape sets the jawline you can have, and no device changes it.
Three minutes on each side, four times a week, judged at twelve weeks.
Why a man's face ages differently
Men's facial skin is thicker and carries more collagen density, which is why fine lines often show up later than they do on women's faces.
The trade-off is that when structural change arrives it tends to read more abruptly, because thicker tissue holds its shape until it does not.
Men also start from a heavier bone structure at the mandible, so the jawline is a more defining feature and its softening is proportionally more noticeable.
Most men notice it in photographs before they notice it in the mirror, usually at a three-quarter angle rather than head on.
What a jowl actually is
Facial fat sits in distinct compartments rather than as one even layer, and those compartments lose volume and shift downward at different rates.
The retaining ligaments that anchor soft tissue to bone loosen with time, so the same volume of tissue sits lower on the same frame.
Skin loses collagen and elastin, which reduces how well it recoils, and the bone itself remodels, with the jaw angle changing measurably across decades.
Muscle tone changes alongside all of that, and it is the one item on the list an electrical device has a documented route to.
What facial EMS reaches
Around forty small muscles sit under the skin of your face, held inside a connected sheet called the SMAS, and unlike most muscles they attach bone to skin rather than bone to bone.
EMS delivers enough current to fire the motor nerve, so those muscles contract without any instruction from you, which is the point where a device stops working on your skin and starts working underneath it.
Kavanagh 2012 followed 108 people using daily facial muscle stimulation for twelve weeks, and ultrasound measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek-muscle thickness, with a clear difference from the untreated group at six weeks (Kavanagh 2012).
Chang 2020 ran a double-blind trial against an identical-looking dummy device and found muscle thickness and bite force increased after six weeks (Chang 2020).
Both used their own devices rather than a PureLift, so they show what facial muscle stimulation can do rather than what any one device did for a particular person.
The limit worth being blunt about
Your jawline is shaped by the mandible underneath it, and no home device changes bone.
Submental fullness, the soft layer under the chin, is fat rather than muscle, and it is not something an EMS device removes.
So the honest framing is working one contributor to a change with several causes, and anyone selling you a chiselled jaw from a handheld is selling a result the physics does not reach.
Practical points for men
Stubble does not stop a session working, since the current passes through the conductive medium into the skin, and it does make good coverage harder, so apply more serum than you think you need and reapply as the surface dries.
A clean-shaven face gives more consistent contact, which is a reason to run the session after shaving rather than before, unless your skin is irritated afterwards in which case leave it a day.
Thicker skin can mean you sit a level or two higher than someone else would at the same comfort, which is normal, and the target is still the lowest level that produces a clear, visible contraction.
Use a water-based serum rather than an aftershave balm or facial oil, because oil does not conduct and will make the whole session feel weak.
The routine
Three minutes on each side is the maximum on every PureLift model, about ten minutes for a full session including the Infuse pass, and the device switches itself off.
Every model runs nanocurrent at level 1, microcurrent at level 2, EMS from level 3 to 10, and the Infuse pass with Infusion and iontophoresis, so the entry model does the full job.
Work along the jawline from the chin outward toward the ear, and give the area under the cheekbone its own passes rather than treating the whole face as one stroke.
How to judge it
Take a photograph today at a three-quarter angle in even light, at a fixed distance, and set a reminder for twelve weeks.
Match the camera, distance, light and expression for the second photograph, because a phone held close exaggerates whatever is nearest the lens and will flatter or ruin a jawline depending on the angle.
Anyone with a pacemaker or another implanted electronic device, and anyone with epilepsy or a seizure disorder, should not use an electrical facial device at all.
Two related questions come up often alongside this one, and we have answered both in full: what changes for men and what does not, and how to choose a device for the jawline.