Microcurrent for a Double Chin, an Honest Answer
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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If your double chin is fat under the chin, a microcurrent or EMS device will not remove it, and the muscle work underneath can still improve how the area reads.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- what sits under the chin, in order of contribution
- why no device at any price removes fat
- what the platysma contributes and how to work it
- the difference between a fat chin and a slack one
- what actually addresses submental fat
and many more!
This is the shortest honest answer in the set and we would rather give it than sell around it.
Key Points:
Most of a double chin is submental fat, which no electrical device removes.
The platysma runs under the chin and across the neck, and its tone affects how defined the area looks.
Weight change moves this area more than any device will.
Posture and screen position contribute more than people expect.
Submental fat is addressed by injectable deoxycholic acid, cryolipolysis or surgery, none of which we make.
What is actually under there
The area under the chin, which clinicians call the submental region, contains a fat pad sitting above and below the platysma muscle, with skin over the top and the mylohyoid and digastric muscles deeper still.
In most people with a visible double chin, fat is the largest contributor by a wide margin, followed by skin laxity in older faces and platysma tone.
Genetics decide a good deal of it. Some people carry submental fullness at a low body weight because of where their fat sits and how far forward their chin projects, and no routine changes bone position.
A recessed chin, which is a skeletal feature, creates the appearance of submental fullness at any weight, and a surgeon assessing that would be talking about a chin implant rather than a device.
Why no device removes fat
Electrical stimulation at the currents used in facial devices contracts muscle and acts on cells; it does not lyse fat cells or move fat out of a compartment.
That is true at 300 microamps and true at 9 milliamps. The difference between a microcurrent device and ours is whether a muscle contracts, not whether fat is affected, because neither affects fat.
Any brand implying that a handheld device removes fat under the chin is describing something its own technology does not do, and it is worth being suspicious of everything else on that page.
Body-contouring devices that do target fat, such as cryolipolysis systems, work by a completely different mechanism and are a clinical rather than a bathroom proposition.
What the muscle work does contribute
The platysma runs from the jaw down across the front of the neck, and its tone affects how cleanly the jaw separates from the neck.
Kavanagh and colleagues measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness across twelve weeks of motor-level stimulation, and while that measurement was taken at the cheek, the mechanism applies wherever a muscle is asked to work.
Better platysma tone tightens the visual line between jaw and neck, which can make a modest submental fullness read as less prominent without removing anything.
So the honest claim is definition rather than reduction, and the difference matters if you are deciding whether to spend.
Fat or slack, and how to tell
Tilt your head back and look in the mirror. If the fullness largely disappears, a good part of what you see is skin and platysma laxity, which responds to muscle work and to skin-focused treatment.
If the fullness remains with your head back, you are looking at fat, and a device will not address it.
Pinch the tissue under your chin. A thick, soft pad that you can hold is fat. Thin skin that folds but has little substance behind it is laxity.
Neither answer is a diagnosis, and a consultation with someone who does not sell devices is the sensible next step if you are considering spending significantly.
What actually addresses submental fat
Weight change is the largest lever for most people, and it is the one nobody wants to hear in an article about devices.
Injectable deoxycholic acid destroys fat cells in the area over a course of treatments, with real downtime and swelling.
Cryolipolysis applied to the submental area is a clinical treatment with its own trade-offs.
Submental liposuction, sometimes with a neck lift, is the surgical route and the most definitive.
We make none of those and have no financial reason to recommend them, which is exactly why this list is in the article.
If you are going to use a device anyway
Work the platysma with passes running under the jawbone from the chin outward toward the ear, and down onto the upper neck if your device is rated for it, avoiding the front of the throat over the thyroid.
Expect improvement in the jaw line above the area rather than in the pad itself.
Combine it with the mid-face work, since supporting the tissue higher up changes how the whole lower face reads.
And judge it at twelve weeks from a photograph taken slightly below the chin, which is the angle that flatters nobody and therefore tells the truth.
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.