Microcurrent Facial Chart, the Muscles You Are Actually Working
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, Fisioterapeuta, Doctor en Terapia Física
Doctorado en Terapia Física (DPT), Fisioterapeuta Licenciado (PT)
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El Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile es Doctor en Terapia Física y CEO y Fundador de Xtreem Pulse LLC. Obtuvo su Doctorado en Terapia Física en Daemen College y aporta más de dos décadas de experiencia clínica y empresarial en terapia física pediátrica, terapia craneosacral e innovación en dispositivos médicos. Su profundo conocimiento de la anatomía humana, la fisiología muscular y la tecnología terapéutica ofrece un enfoque invaluable respaldado por la ciencia para la rejuvenecimiento facial y soluciones antienvejecimiento.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Director Médico, Clínica de Medicina Regenerativa y Antienvejecimiento | Médico Certificado por la Junta | Escuela de Medicina de Dartmouth
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La Dra. Bertica M. Rubio es una médica certificada y Directora Médica de la Clínica de Medicina Regenerativa y Antienvejecimiento en Redlands, California. Obtuvo su licenciatura en Ciencias en la Universidad Loyola Marymount y su título de Doctora en Medicina en la Escuela de Medicina de Dartmouth (Geisel School of Medicine). Completó su residencia en pediatría en el Centro Médico UC Irvine.
Con décadas de experiencia clínica, la Dra. Rubio se especializa en medicina para el manejo de la edad, medicina regenerativa, cicatrización de heridas y terapias con factores de crecimiento. Su práctica integra la ciencia médica basada en evidencia con tratamientos estéticos y regenerativos avanzados, ayudando a los pacientes a alcanzar una salud óptima y vitalidad juvenil.
La Dra. Rubio siente pasión por educar a los pacientes sobre la ciencia detrás del cuidado de la piel, el rejuvenecimiento facial y las tecnologías no invasivas como EMS (Estimulación Eléctrica Muscular) para el tonificado facial. Sus artículos para PureLift LAB combinan un conocimiento médico riguroso con orientación práctica para lograr resultados reales y duraderos.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Otorrinolaringólogo y cirujano de cabeza y cuello certificado | Miembro, Colegio Americano de Cirujanos | Profesor clínico asistente, Escuela de Medicina Mount Sinai
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS, es un otorrinolaringólogo certificado por la junta y cirujano de cabeza y cuello en ENT and Allergy Associates en West Nyack, NY. Obtuvo su título de médico en la Facultad de Médicos y Cirujanos de la Universidad de Columbia, completó su residencia en Otorrinolaringología en el Centro Médico de la Universidad de Nueva York y es profesor clínico asistente en la Escuela de Medicina Mount Sinai. Es miembro de la American College of Surgeons y de la American Academy of Otolaryngology.
La perspectiva quirúrgica de cabeza y cuello del Dr. Grinberg ofrece a los lectores de PureLift LAB una visión clínica más amplia, conectando la práctica de EMS en casa con la anatomía médica subyacente con el mismo rigor científico que aplicamos a cada especificación del dispositivo.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Cátedra de Angiología, Hochschule Médica de Brandeburgo | Director de Clínica, Clínica Universitaria de Angiología, Hospital Universitario de Brandeburgo | Ex Consultor Senior, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlín
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El Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann es Catedrático de Angiología en la Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane (MHB) y Director Clínico de la Clínica Universitaria de Angiología en el Hospital Universitario de Brandeburgo. Completó su formación médica en la Universidad de Hamburgo, fue becario de la Sociedad Max-Planck en el Instituto Max-Planck de Investigación Cardiaca y Pulmonar, y ocupó cargos de consultor senior en la Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Campus Virchow antes de ser nombrado Catedrático en la MHB en 2016.
El Prof. Buschmann es una de las principales autoridades europeas en arteriogénesis — el crecimiento y remodelación de los vasos sanguíneos impulsados por el flujo — con más de 150 publicaciones revisadas por pares y varias patentes en EE. UU. y la UE sobre dispositivos que estimulan el crecimiento de vasos colaterales mediante terapia controlada de tasa de cizalladura. Su investigación conecta la estimulación mecánica y eléctrica con la adaptación vascular, la microcirculación y la perfusión tisular.
Las contribuciones del Prof. Buschmann aportan a los lectores de PureLift LAB una perspectiva de biología vascular que complementa nuestra autoría clínica, de fisioterapia y de anatomía quirúrgica existente — explicando cómo la estimulación EMS activa no solo los músculos faciales sino también la microcirculación que los abastece, y por qué la administración inteligente es tan importante a nivel del flujo sanguíneo como en la contracción muscular.
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Eight muscles account for most of what people mean by facial contour, and each one shows its weakening in a specific and recognisable way.
This article explains what is actually happening, such as:
- the eight muscles worth knowing by name
- what each one does, and how it looks when it weakens
- which pass in a routine works which muscle
- why the face is different from the rest of the body
- the muscles no device should be trying to strengthen
and many more!
You do not need anatomy to use a device, and it does turn a vague routine into a targeted one.
Key Points:
Frontalis raises the brow, and its weakening shows as a heavier, lower brow line rather than as forehead lines.
Zygomaticus major and minor lift the corner of the mouth and support the cheek, and their weakening reads as a flattened mid-face.
Orbicularis oculi rings the eye and contributes to crepiness and hooding when it loses tone.
Platysma runs from the jaw into the neck, and its slackening is the single largest contributor to a softened jawline.
Masseter and temporalis are chewing muscles that are usually overworked rather than weak, and no facial routine should be trying to build them.
Why facial muscle behaves differently
Most muscles in the body attach bone to bone, so they move a joint. Many facial muscles attach bone to skin, which is why they move your face rather than your skeleton and why their tone shows directly on the surface.
That connection is the whole reason this category exists. When a muscle attached to skin loses bulk and tone, the skin it supports sits differently, and the change reads as contour rather than as texture.
It is also why facial muscle responds to stimulation at all. Kavanagh and colleagues, whose twelve-week trial used ultrasound to measure an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness in 108 women over twelve weeks, which is a change in the muscle rather than in the skin above it.
The four that matter most
Frontalis. A broad vertical sheet across the forehead that raises the brow. When it weakens the brow sits lower and the upper lid looks heavier, which people usually blame on the eyelid rather than on the forehead.
Zygomaticus major and minor. Running from the cheekbone down to the corner of the mouth, these lift when you smile and support the fullness of the mid-face. Their decline reads as flatness through the cheek and a deepening line from nose to mouth.
Orbicularis oculi. The ring of muscle around the eye socket, responsible for closing the eye. Loss of tone here contributes to crepiness and to the general softening of the eye area.
Platysma. A thin broad sheet from the jaw down across the front of the neck. It is the largest single contributor to what people call a lost jawline, and it is the reason jaw work tends to show results first.
The supporting cast
Depressor anguli oris, which pulls the corner of the mouth down. Overactivity here contributes to a permanently downturned mouth, so it is a muscle to work thoughtfully rather than aggressively.
Mentalis, at the point of the chin, which contributes to chin dimpling when it is overactive.
Buccinator, in the cheek, which holds the cheek against the teeth and contributes to mid-face support.
Risorius, which draws the mouth corner outward and works alongside the zygomaticus muscles in the lower cheek.
The two you should leave alone
Masseter, the thick muscle at the angle of the jaw used for chewing, and temporalis, the fan-shaped muscle at the temple.
Neither of these weakens in the way the muscles above do. In most people they are overworked rather than under-worked, particularly in anyone who clenches or grinds, and building them widens the lower face rather than defining it.
This is the reason we are unenthusiastic about jaw-training gadgets that load the masseter, and it is worth knowing before you buy one.
If you clench, the useful work near the jaw is relaxation rather than strengthening, and that is a conversation for a dentist rather than for a device brand.
Matching muscles to passes
The jaw pass, running from chin to ear beneath the jawbone, works the platysma and the depressors.
The mid-face pass, from beside the nose up toward the cheekbone, works the zygomaticus pair and the upper fibres of the buccinator.
The forehead pass, running from brow to hairline, works the frontalis along the direction it runs.
The orbital passes, on the bone above and below the eye, address the orbicularis oculi without working on the lid itself.
Our diagram article sets out the directions in detail.
What has to be true for any of it to work
The current has to reach the muscle. Ward and colleagues described the three thresholds separating sub-sensory, sensory and motor current, and only the third produces a contraction.
Most consumer microcurrent devices publish outputs in the hundreds of microamps and sit below that threshold by design, which their manufacturers generally acknowledge.
PureLift publishes 7 mA at 500 ohms on Face and Pro, 7.7 mA on Pro Edition and 9 mA on Pro Plus and GLOW, with levels 1 and 2 in the calm bands and the motor work above.
If you want to know where your own device sits, the published figures for 33 devices are in one table.
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.