Microcurrent Before and After Photos, How to Read Them
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, kinésithérapeute, DPT
Doctorat en physiothérapie (DPT), physiothérapeute agréé (PT)
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Le Dr Andrew Conrad Barile est docteur en physiothérapie et PDG ainsi que fondateur de Xtreem Pulse LLC. Il a obtenu son doctorat en physiothérapie à Daemen College et possède plus de vingt ans d'expérience clinique et entrepreneuriale en physiothérapie pédiatrique, thérapie craniosacrale et innovation en dispositifs médicaux. Sa profonde connaissance de l'anatomie humaine, de la physiologie musculaire et des technologies thérapeutiques offre une approche scientifique précieuse pour le rajeunissement du visage et les solutions anti-âge.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Directeur Médical, Clinique de Médecine Régénérative Anti-âge | Médecin Certifié par le Conseil | École de Médecine de Dartmouth
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Le Dr Bertica M. Rubio est une médecin certifiée et directrice médicale de la clinique de médecine régénérative anti-âge à Redlands, en Californie. Elle a obtenu son Bachelor of Science à l'Université Loyola Marymount et son Doctorat en médecine à la Dartmouth Medical School (Geisel School of Medicine). Elle a effectué sa résidence en pédiatrie au UC Irvine Medical Center.
Forte de plusieurs décennies d'expérience clinique, le Dr Rubio est spécialisée en médecine de gestion du vieillissement, médecine régénérative, cicatrisation des plaies et thérapies par facteurs de croissance. Sa pratique intègre la science médicale fondée sur des preuves avec des traitements esthétiques et régénératifs avancés, aidant les patients à atteindre une santé optimale et une vitalité juvénile.
Le Dr Rubio est passionnée par l'éducation des patients sur la science derrière les soins de la peau, le rajeunissement du visage et les technologies non invasives comme l'EMS (stimulation électrique musculaire) pour le tonus facial. Ses articles pour PureLift LAB allient connaissances médicales rigoureuses et conseils pratiques pour obtenir des résultats réels et durables.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Otolaryngologiste et chirurgien de la tête et du cou certifié par le conseil | Membre, American College of Surgeons | Professeur clinique adjoint, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS, est un oto-rhino-laryngologiste certifié par le conseil et chirurgien de la tête et du cou chez ENT and Allergy Associates à West Nyack, NY. Il a obtenu son diplôme de médecine au Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, a effectué sa résidence en oto-rhino-laryngologie au New York University Medical Center, et est professeur clinique adjoint à la Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Il est membre de l'American College of Surgeons et de l'American Academy of Otolaryngology.
La perspective chirurgicale de la tête et du cou du Dr Grinberg offre aux lecteurs de PureLift LAB une vision clinique élargie — reliant la pratique EMS à domicile à l'anatomie médicale sous-jacente avec la même rigueur scientifique que celle que nous appliquons à chaque spécification d'appareil.
Prof. Dr med Ivo Buschmann
Président d'Angiologie, Hochschule Medizinische Brandenburg | Directeur de clinique, Clinique universitaire d'angiologie, Hôpital universitaire de Brandebourg | Ancien consultant principal, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
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Le Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann est titulaire de la chaire d'angiologie à la Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane (MHB) et directeur de la clinique universitaire d'angiologie à l'hôpital universitaire de Brandebourg. Il a effectué sa formation médicale à l'Université de Hambourg, a été boursier de la Société Max-Planck à l'Institut Max-Planck de recherche sur le cœur et les poumons, et a occupé des postes de consultant principal à la Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Campus Virchow avant d'être nommé titulaire de la chaire à la MHB en 2016.
Le Prof. Buschmann est l'une des principales autorités européennes en arteriogenèse — la croissance et le remodelage des vaisseaux sanguins induits par le flux — avec plus de 150 publications évaluées par des pairs et plusieurs brevets américains et européens sur des dispositifs stimulant la croissance des vaisseaux collatéraux par une thérapie contrôlée du taux de cisaillement. Ses recherches relient la stimulation mécanique et électrique à l'adaptation vasculaire, à la microcirculation et à la perfusion tissulaire.
Les contributions du Prof. Buschmann apportent aux lecteurs de PureLift LAB une perspective en biologie vasculaire qui complète notre expertise clinique, en physiothérapie et en anatomie chirurgicale — expliquant comment la stimulation EMS engage non seulement les muscles faciaux mais aussi la microcirculation qui les alimente, et pourquoi une administration intelligente est aussi importante au niveau du flux sanguin qu'à celui de la contraction musculaire.
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Most before and after photographs show a real effect that will be gone tomorrow, and the tell is almost always the time interval between the two shots.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- why a minutes-apart photograph proves almost nothing
- the four variables that change a face more than any device
- what an honest twelve-week comparison looks like
- how researchers avoid the problem, and what they measure instead
- how to photograph your own progress properly
and many more!
None of this means the photographs are faked; it means they are answering a different question from the one you are asking.
Key Points:
A photograph taken minutes after a session shows fluid movement, which is real and lasts about a day.
Lighting direction, head angle, time of day, salt intake and how recently you slept all change a face more visibly than twelve weeks of device use.
An honest comparison uses the same light, the same angle, the same time of day and an interval of at least eight weeks.
Researchers avoid the problem entirely by measuring tissue rather than photographing it, using ultrasound or imaging.
Photograph yourself on day one, week four, week eight and week twelve, in the same spot at the same hour.
What a minutes-apart photograph actually shows
When a before and after is taken in the same session, the difference you are looking at is fluid. Current plus the movement of the probe shifts fluid that has pooled in the face, circulation increases, and the face looks tighter and more defined within minutes.
That effect is genuine and it is also temporary, redistributing over the following day as you eat, sleep and move about. Photographing it is not dishonest, but presenting it as evidence of what a device does over months is.
When you see a dramatic same-day image, the right question is not whether it is real; it is how the same face looked the next morning.
The four variables that beat any device
Lighting direction is the largest. A light source above and in front of a face flattens shadow under the jaw and sharpens the cheekbone; the same face under flat overhead light looks heavier. Nothing a device does in twelve weeks competes with moving a lamp.
Head angle is second. Tilting the chin down by a few degrees creates a jawline; tilting it up erases one. Compare the ear position between two photographs and you will often find the angle changed.
Time of day is third, because faces are puffiest within an hour or two of waking and settle through the day. A morning before and an evening after is not a comparison.
Fourth is everything ordinary: salt the night before, alcohol, sleep, where you are in a menstrual cycle, and recent weight change. Any one of those moves a face more than a fortnight of sessions.
What an honest comparison looks like
Same light, same angle, same distance, same time of day, no makeup in either shot, and an interval of at least eight weeks.
A neutral expression in both, because a barely-smiling after photograph lifts the mid-face by itself.
Ideally a third photograph in the middle, since two points can be chosen and three start to show a trend.
When a brand publishes photographs that meet those conditions, it is worth paying attention. Very few do, ours included, which is why we have built our evidence case on published figures rather than on our own photographs.
How researchers sidestep the problem
Serious work in this field does not rely on photographs at all, because photographs cannot separate fluid from tissue.
Kavanagh and colleagues in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology used ultrasound to measure cheek muscle thickness directly across 108 women over twelve weeks, reporting an 18.6 percent increase, and ultrasound does not care about your lighting.
Chang and colleagues in 2020 went further on method by running a double-blind sham-controlled design, where neither the participant nor the assessor knew who had received the real treatment, which removes the expectation effect that photographs are wide open to.
Okuda and colleagues used CT imaging to measure change in the orbital muscle, which is the kind of evidence this category very rarely produces.
Reading a photograph in thirty seconds
Check the interval first. If it is not stated, assume it is short.
Check the ears and the hairline for a change in head angle, since those move when the angle does and the jaw does not.
Check the shadow under the jaw and the highlight on the cheekbone for a change in lighting.
Check whether the expression is identical, and whether makeup has appeared.
If all four survive scrutiny and the interval is months rather than minutes, you are looking at something real.
Photographing your own progress
Pick a spot by a window, note the time of day, and use it every time.
Take four angles on day one: straight on, both three-quarter views and one from slightly below the chin, which is the least flattering and therefore the most useful.
Repeat at week four, week eight and week twelve. Do not photograph immediately after a session, or you will record the fluid effect rather than the change you are building.
Expect your own judgement to be unreliable, which is exactly why the photographs are worth taking. The week by week timeline sets out what should be visible at each of those points.
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.