Microcurrent Facial Diagram, Where to Move the Probe and Why
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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Every pass should follow the direction the muscle underneath actually runs, which on most of the face means starting near the centre and working upward and outward.
This article walks through the routine step by step, such as:
- the four zones and the order to work them in
- which muscle each pass is following
- why upward and outward is the rule, and the exception to it
- where people habitually work in the wrong direction
- how long to spend in each zone
and many more!
Read this once with a mirror and you will not need a diagram again.
Key Points:
Jawline passes follow the platysma and the depressor muscles, running from the chin outward toward the ear.
Mid-face passes follow the zygomaticus muscles, running from beside the nose up toward the cheekbone and temple.
Forehead passes follow the frontalis, which runs vertically, so the pass runs from the brow upward.
Around the eye the orbicularis oculi is a ring, so work on the bone around it rather than sweeping across the lid.
Three minutes per side in total, weighted toward wherever your own face has changed most.
Why direction matters at all
A facial muscle has a direction of pull, running from where it anchors on bone to where it inserts into skin or another muscle. Working along that line asks the muscle to do what it is built to do, while working across it mostly moves skin about.
This is also why the same number of minutes produces different results for two people. Someone following the muscle is training it; someone sweeping horizontally is giving themselves a pleasant massage.
The general rule on the face is upward and outward, because most of the muscles that hold the mid-face and jaw run in roughly that direction, and because the change people want to reverse is downward.
Zone one, the jawline
Start with the probe near the chin, sitting just under the jawbone rather than on it, and move slowly out toward the angle of the jaw below the ear.
You are following the platysma, the broad sheet running from the jaw down into the neck, along with the depressor muscles that pull the corner of the mouth downward. Both contribute to the softening that people notice first.
Lift off at the ear and return to the chin to start again, rather than dragging back along the same line. The return stroke does nothing and doubles the friction.
This zone usually deserves more than its share of your three minutes, because it is where a changing face shows first.
Zone two, the mid-face
Place the probe beside the nostril and move up and out toward the top of the cheekbone, finishing near the temple.
That line follows the zygomaticus major and minor, which run from the cheekbone down to the corner of the mouth and are the muscles that lift when you smile. Kavanagh and colleagues measured cheek muscle thickness in this region specifically, finding an 18.6 percent increase across twelve weeks of motor-level stimulation.
Keep the passes overlapping rather than spaced out, and resist the temptation to sweep straight across the cheek toward the ear, which crosses the muscles rather than following them.
Zone three, the forehead
The frontalis runs vertically, from the brow up to the hairline, which makes this the simplest zone to get right: start at the brow and move straight up.
Work in short overlapping passes across the width of the forehead rather than in one wide sweep, and keep the probe moving rather than holding it in one spot.
If you have had botulinum toxin in this area, follow your injector's timing before working over it, which we cover in combining the two.
Zone four, around the eye
The orbicularis oculi is a ring of muscle around the eye socket rather than a strap, which is why sweeping across it in one direction makes little sense.
Work on the bone around the orbit rather than on the lid itself: along the brow bone above, and along the upper edge of the cheekbone below, at the lowest level you use anywhere on the face.
Okuda and colleagues used CT imaging to measure change in the orbital muscle, which is unusually direct evidence for an area most brands describe vaguely.
A brief eyelid flutter as you pass is ordinary. A flutter that continues after you have moved on means the level is too high for this zone.
Where people go wrong
Sweeping horizontally across the cheek, which crosses every muscle in the mid-face rather than following one.
Working downward along the jaw from ear to chin, which is the direction gravity is already taking the face.
Moving too fast. A pass that takes two seconds delivers far less to any given point than one that takes six.
Spreading the three minutes evenly across the whole side out of a sense of fairness, rather than spending it where the face has changed.
Pressing harder to compensate for a drying serum layer, which increases friction without increasing delivered current.
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.