What a Long Flight Does to Your Face, and What Helps
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
Cabin air sits at around ten to twenty percent humidity, which is drier than most deserts, and eight hours of sitting still means lymph has almost nothing moving it.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- What the cabin actually does
- What to do in the air
- On arrival
- Why to skip the muscle work today
- The next 48 hours
and many more!
Which is good news, because it means the fix is quick and does not involve buying anything urgently.
Key Points:
Dry air pulls water out of the outer skin layer, which is why skin feels tight and looks dull on landing.
Sitting still stops the muscle contraction that lymph relies on, so fluid collects.
Alcohol and cabin coffee both make the fluid picture worse, not better.
Walking the aisle every couple of hours does more than any product in your bag.
On arrival, drainage strokes and rehydration; save the muscle work for the next day.
What the cabin actually does
Cabin humidity runs around ten to twenty percent because the air comes from outside at altitude, where there is almost no moisture in it. Indoor comfort is usually forty to sixty percent, so you are spending the flight in conditions drier than a desert afternoon.
Water leaves the outer skin layer into that dry air, which is why skin feels tight and looks flat on landing. That is dehydration of the surface rather than dehydration of you, and it responds to what you put on your skin as much as to what you drink.
Meanwhile you have been sitting still. Lymph has no pump of its own and moves through muscle contraction, breathing and external pressure, so eight hours in a seat is eight hours with two of those three barely operating, and fluid collects in the face as a result.
Cabin pressure at altitude corresponds to a few thousand feet of elevation, which contributes to how puffy people feel, and alcohol makes both problems worse by dehydrating you and disrupting sleep at once.
What to do in the air
Walk the aisle every couple of hours. That is the single most effective thing available to you, because muscle contraction is the mechanism lymph depends on, and no product in your bag substitutes for it.
Drink water steadily rather than in occasional large amounts, and go easy on alcohol and coffee.
Use a heavier moisturiser than you would at home, since the job is holding water in rather than delivering actives. Skip anything with exfoliating acids on a flight; dry air and an acid together is a needless irritation.
Do not use a facial device on a plane. There is no benefit to the timing and you will be doing it in bad light, on dry skin, in front of strangers.
On arrival
Rehydrate the skin first: cleanse gently and apply a water-based serum followed by something occlusive to hold it there.
Then a drainage session. Light pressure, outward toward the ear and then down the neck, following the drainage route rather than working against it. The lymph vessels sit just under the skin, so pressing hard closes them rather than emptying them.
If you have a device with you, use it at a low level for drainage. On PureLift, levels 1 and 2 are nanocurrent and microcurrent and do not contract anything, which is the right band for this.
Keep the skin damp with a water-based serum throughout; on post-flight skin the serum dries faster than usual, so expect to reapply.
Why to skip the muscle work today
What you are looking at on arrival is fluid and surface dehydration, and neither responds to muscle contraction on the day.
Post-flight skin is also drier and more reactive than usual, which makes it the wrong moment to sit at a level you would normally find comfortable.
Three minutes per side is the maximum on any PureLift model whatever the circumstances, and doing extra because you have arrived looking tired achieves nothing except irritation.
The next 48 hours
Sleep is doing more work than anything else here, and the fluid picture resolves largely on its own once you are upright and moving through a normal day.
Watch salt in the first day, since airport and hotel food tends to be heavy on it and salt holds water in tissue.
Resume your normal routine, at your normal level, on day two. There is no version of this where an intense session on arrival buys back the flight.
For the mechanism behind the fluid, see the science behind facial depuffing, and for the full technology breakdown, how the nine PureLift technologies work.
Two related questions come up often alongside this one, and we have answered both in full: how microcurrent compares with a TENS unit, and what the microamp and milliamp figures mean.