What a Long Flight Does to Your Face, and What Helps
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, Fisioterapeuta, Doctor en Terapia Física
Doctorado en Terapia Física (DPT), Fisioterapeuta Licenciado (PT)
Read bio
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
Read bio
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
Read bio
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
Read bio
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.
Compartir
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.