Microcurrent for the Neck and Chest, What Changes Below the Jaw
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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The platysma responds to stimulation and is worth working, the crepey texture on the chest does not respond to toning because there is no muscle there to tone.
This article sets out what to check before you start, such as:
- what the platysma is and why it matters
- the two areas on the neck to avoid entirely
- why the chest is a different problem
- the direction of travel that matters
- what will not change no matter what you do
and many more!
Sunscreen on your neck and chest will do more for both over ten years than any device will do in twelve weeks.
Key Points:
The platysma is a broad thin sheet of muscle running from the jaw down across the collarbone, and it is the muscle behind the vertical neck bands and much of the loose look under the jaw.
Avoid the front of the throat over the thyroid and the sides of the neck over the carotid arteries, which every manufacturer including us lists as areas to keep off.
The chest has no substantial muscle under the skin where the crepey texture appears, so there is nothing to tone and the problem is dermal.
Work upward and outward on the neck, finishing toward the collarbone on the drainage passes, and keep the level lower than on the face.
Sun damage is the dominant cause of neck and chest ageing, and no device reverses it.
What the platysma does
The platysma is a thin broad sheet rather than a thick muscle, running from the lower jaw down over the front of the neck and across the collarbone.
When it loosens with age, it produces the vertical bands people notice in the mirror and contributes to the loose look under the jaw that gets blamed on the jawline itself.
It responds to stimulation as other skeletal muscle does, and it is the single most useful target below the face.
Kavanagh and colleagues in 2012 measured cheek muscle thickness rather than platysma thickness, so the neck result is an extension of the principle rather than a measured finding, and we would rather be clear about that than imply the 18.6 percent figure applies here.
Where not to go on the neck
The front of the throat, over the thyroid gland and the larynx, is an area every manufacturer excludes, ours included.
The sides of the neck over the carotid arteries, roughly where you would take a pulse, are excluded for the same reason.
That leaves the area under the jaw, the broad sides of the neck away from the pulse, and the upper chest, which is plenty of ground to cover.
If a brand's instructions do not name these exclusions, treat the rest of its instructions with the same caution.
Why the chest is a different problem
The crepey, finely lined texture that appears on the upper chest is dermal: collagen and elastin loss driven overwhelmingly by decades of sun exposure through open necklines.
There is no substantial muscle under that skin to tone, which means the toning mechanism has nothing to act on.
What does help is what helps photodamage anywhere: daily sunscreen, a retinoid if your skin tolerates it on that area, and professional resurfacing for the texture.
A device's infusion and LED channels have something to offer on the chest, and the EMS channel does not, and selling the whole device for the chest would be dishonest.
Direction and technique
Work upward from the collarbone toward the jaw on the toning passes, because that is the direction you want the tissue to go.
Finish with downward passes toward the collarbone when you are working on fluid, because that is where lymph drains, which we cover in our drainage article.
Keep the level below what you use on the cheek, since the skin is thinner and the platysma is a thin sheet rather than a dense muscle.
Light pressure, and more conductive gel than you think you need, because the neck dries a layer faster than the face does.
What will not change
Horizontal neck lines that are etched into the skin, sometimes called necklace lines, are dermal creases and toning the muscle underneath does not fill them.
Loose skin that has lost its recoil needs heat or surgery, and we do not heat tissue, as we say in our comparison with radiofrequency.
Submental fullness, the fat under the chin, is not addressed by any device in this category at any price.
Sun damage on the chest is the clearest example of prevention beating correction anywhere on the body.
The honest priority order
Sunscreen on your neck and chest every day, which almost nobody does and which matters more than everything else on this page combined.
A retinoid, introduced slowly, for the chest texture.
Platysma work with the device, four to five sessions a week, ten minutes with three minutes per side at most, expecting results at twelve weeks.
A consultation if the loose skin is what bothers you most, because that is the one thing this will not fix. The full picture of what each technology does is in our category overview.
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.