Can you use a TENS machine instead of microcurrent for the face?

February 27, 2024 7:44 AM

That’s the question!
posted by cotton dress sock to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

It would help to know what you are trying to accomplish. A tens unit won't hurt your face, if that's your only concern.
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:26 AM on February 27, 2024 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Besides dentists treating TMJ?
Use of a neuromuscular electrical stimulation device for facial muscle toning: a randomized, controlled trial (2012)
Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on facial muscle strength and oral function in stroke patients with facial palsy (2016)
The Influence of Facial Muscle Training on the Facial Soft Tissue Profile: A Brief Review (2019)
Facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES) has a long and fascinating history. (2023) More recently, fNMES (also called functional electrical stimulation, FES, or transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation, TENS, although these terms refer to partly different frequencies and stimulation parameters) has evolved into a versatile technique with a broad range of applications in both clinical and non-clinical domains.
Volunteers’ concerns about facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (2022) Facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is the application of an electrical current to the skin to induce muscle contractions and has enormous potential for basic research and clinical intervention in psychology and neuroscience. Because the technique remains largely unknown, and the prospect of receiving electricity to the face can be daunting...

If you're interested in anecdata from self-experimenters, poke around DIY facial toning at Essential Day Spa (1, 2), Reddit (1, 2, 3), and similar.
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:33 AM on February 27, 2024 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Iris Gambol - wow, thank you!

OHenryPacey, my apologies, of course there are lots of potential applications for this. I’m thinking of using my TENS machine to do a DIY “microcurrent facial”, because I’m cheap. Pretty sure I can adjust the frequencies - but to what?
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:55 AM on February 27, 2024

Response by poster: Specifically, for nasolabial folds and that worry line in between the brows. I have an iSTIM EV-805 TENS EMS 4 Channel unit. The manual says that for pulse amplitude, it has an adjustable 0-100 mA into 500 ohm load for each channel; output voltage - adjustable 0-50V, peak to peak into 500 ohm load each channel; waveform - asymmetrical rectangular biphasic pulse. Pulse rate - adjustable, 2-150 Hz, 1 Hz per step. Manual is here: https://info.orthocanada.com/hubfs/OC%20Website%20PDFs/EV805%20OC-32021.pdf
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:16 AM on February 27, 2024

It strikes me that causing muscle contraction will add wrinkles not eliminate them. The whole idea behind botox is that it paralyzes the muscle and prevents it from creating a wrinkle, so...I'm not sure this will give you the desired effect.

I did read the abstract of the 4th link above and it seems inconclusive at best. Creating muscle tone to prevent wrinkling is unlikely because the wrinkles are found in the in the soft tissue layers above the muscle, and while a larger muscle might smooth out a wrinkle, the muscle would have to stay that size forever or, once it loses its mass the wrinkle will likely reappear, like deflating a balloon.

I look at faces all day (I'm a dentist), I can't say i've ever noticed an anecdotal correlation between facial or masticatory muscle tone and skin that resists aging, whereas, patients with a lot of fatty tissue in their faces will often have smoother skin because the tissue is more distended.
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:21 PM on February 27, 2024 [2 favorites]