More and more beauticians are offering microcurrent treatments. This is an electrotherapy that has a beneficial effect on muscles and skin and may even stimulate collagen, while leaving the skin completely intact. However, there is still a lot of confusion about this new electrotherapy and it is often confused with other (older) cosmetic electrotherapies.
The differences
Microcurrent treatments are becoming increasingly popular among beauticians, but are often confused with EMS treatments or galvanic current treatments, which are completely different forms of cosmetic electrotherapy. What are the differences between these three and how exactly do microcurrent treatments differ?
EMS treatment
EMS stands for Electical Muscle Stimulation and this treatment uses a pulsating direct current measured in milliamperes. Its purpose, as the name suggests, is to contract facial muscles by constantly supplying currents from outside. The idea is that the facial muscles are trained intensively and ultimately become firmer/thicker, so that the skin around them also becomes firmer and facial contours improve. This treatment can of course also be applied to the body.
Galvanic current treatment
Galvanic current treatments are more than 80 years old. This treatment always uses a direct current in the milliamp range. The polarity of the electrodes (either negative or positive) plays an extremely important role in galvanic current treatments! During a galvanic current treatment, a part called ‘disincrustation’ or a part called ‘iontophoresis’
can take place .
Disincrustation
This involves placing the negative electrode (cathode) on the skin through which current flows. This triggers a complicated reaction in the skin that ultimately forms Sodium Hydroxide, a substance that makes the skin quite soft. This way, sebum can easily be removed by the beautician.
Iontophoresis
Iontophoresis is used for the deep insertion of substances that have a good effect on the skin (such as vitamin C), so that they can do their work even better. These substances are always positively charged or negatively charged. With a positively charged substance you must also use the positive electrode (and vice versa). The positive electrode will repel a positively charged substance and simultaneously pull it deeper into the skin during repulsion.
Microcurrent treatments
Microcurrent treatments differ because during such a treatment a microampere current (microcurrent) is used. A microampere is 1000 times smaller than one milliampere and 1,000,000 times smaller than one ampere! This is super small and therefore you will hardly be able to feel anything during a treatment. Microcurrent has been used in the medical world since the 1970s, but only since this century has it also been used for cosmetic purposes.
Microcurrent targets the facial muscles, but in a completely different way than the current used in EMS treatments. The microcurrent would give weakened muscles back their firmness and allow strongly tense muscles (such as frown muscles) to relax again, without causing the muscles to contract. Instead, microcurrent acts on our Golgi tendon bodies, sensitive sensors in muscles that regulate muscle tension. This makes mimic wrinkles disappear and the face gets a little lift. During the treatment, individual muscles are pushed in the right direction using a special technique with movable electrodes through which microcurrent flows. In addition, the application of microcurrent stimulates blood and lymph flow. Microcurrent would also imitate the electrical impulses that our cells use for all kinds of cell processes and could thus have a positive influence on these cell processes (such as optimally increasing protein synthesis). This can make the skin tissue healthy and firm and perhaps even stimulate collagen production. However, the current should never exceed 500-600 microamps during a microcurrent treatment, otherwise all positive effects will be canceled out.
How many microcurrent treatments do you need?
In general, one starts with 12 treatments, preferably 2 treatments per week. Some may need a little more than 12 treatments, but this depends, among other things, on the condition of the muscles and that should be determined by the beautician.
After completing these first 12 treatments, you can move on to maintenance treatments once a month. However, if you are over 50, 2 maintenance treatments per month are even better.
What should you feel during a microcurrent treatment?
Most people will feel (almost) nothing during treatment with microcurrent. You may occasionally experience a slight tickling sensation on the forehead or feel some muscles twitching around the eyes, but that’s it.
So do you really feel the flow or is it perhaps even uncomfortable? Are your muscles contracting clearly and consistently? There’s a good chance it’s not microcurrent! There are many devices in circulation that claim to supply microcurrent, but in the end the current turns out to be much too strong. So pay attention to this.
