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What is PEMF therapy?

4 min read

Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) devices work by non-invasively delivering targeted electromagnetic pulses that stimulate your scalp and hair follicles.

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) devices are non-invasive tools that can be used for a wide range of applications, from pain relief to wound healing. Recently, they’ve also become increasingly popular in skin care and regenerative medicine. The positive effects of this versatile, effective technology have made PEMF increasingly intriguing due to its potential to improve skin, scalp health, and hair growth.

What is PEMF?

PEMF therapy uses intermittent currents to generate brief magnetic pulses, directing them to specific areas of the body. These fields can be pulsed at specific frequencies, intensities, and over specific periods of time to produce different benefits. In a nutshell:

PEMF provides non-invasive stimulation. PEMF therapy utilizes “contactless” pulsed electromagnetic fields to safely and painlessly support the body's natural healing processes without the need for surgery or medication.
PEMF works by delivering targeted electromagnetic pulses. PEMF enhances cellular function and processes, helping the body’s cells perform more efficiently and effectively.
PEMF has many potential health benefits. PEMF is often used for pain relief, wound healing, and is becoming increasingly popular in dermatology and aesthetics. It’s shown promise for enhancing hair growth, improving scalp health, reducing inflammation, and accelerating wound healing.

PEMF works by helping your body’s cells absorb important electrolytes like calcium, which are involved in key biological processes. This starts a chain reaction that helps reduce stress and inflammation in the body, promoting healing. PEMF has also been shown to affect a wide range of other cellular functions, including enzyme activation and gene expression. These processes are particularly important as they can affect hair stem cells that can influence both hair production and skin health. [1]

While the core technology remains consistent across health-related applications, PEMF therapy devices can be beneficial for a wide variety of settings. This means that the intensity of the high-powered, medical-grade PEMF machine you’d see in a hospital or clinic is significantly different from that of a home-use device, like a PEMF mat sold online for home use. Even within the medical-grade PEMF devices, the therapy is applied in diverse ways across different specialties, and treatment durations can range from just a few minutes to several hours.

PEMF and hair

PEMF therapy is starting to gain recognition amongst dermatologists and aestheticians because of its potential to improve skin health and promote hair growth. By activating the hair stem cells found within hair follicles, and boosting the production of important growth factors and proteins, PEMF can help encourage thicker, fuller hair growth and improve hair volume.

Preclinical studies have shown that PEMF can lengthen hair, speed up the hair growth process, and even help regenerate hair follicles. [2-4] Clinical studies on individuals with pattern hair loss have shown that PEMF can increase hair growth, producing continuous improvements even after more than a year of treatment. [5,6] So far, PEMF has also been safely tested alongside low-level light therapy (LLLT) and used with topical hair growth treatments, making it a promising hair loss treatment both on its own and combined with other solutions for hair regrowth. [7,8]

PEMF side effects

When PEMF therapy is used in dermatology, the risk of side effects tends to be extremely low. Side effects are more commonly observed when PEMF treatments are combined with another clinic-based procedure or product – and in those cases, they tend to be due to the secondary treatment.

For example, when used as a stand-alone treatment for men with pattern hair loss, PEMF produced no side effects. [5,6] But when PEMF was combined with LLLT and used as a treatment for men and women with pattern hair loss, the participants reported mild skin-based issues, like itching, burning, redness, and irritation. [7] These are all common, temporary side effects that can occur after light therapy treatments.

PEMF has been around since the 1950s, and is primarily used to support healing and provide pain relief. While higher-powered clinical devices may be more likely to produce side effects compared to low-powered home-use devices, PEMF is considered to be a safe and effective therapeutic tool.

Choosing the right PEMF device

If you look online, you’ll see that there are a wide variety of PEMF therapy devices sold for both clinical and home use. Clinical PEMF machines, which typically offer higher intensity fields, are often administered alongside other aesthetic treatments by healthcare professionals. Home-use PEMF devices tend to be portable, and are designed with lower intensity fields suitable for daily use. While many of these devices produce positive results, StimuField™ PEMF cap is the first PEMF device that’s specifically designed to improve hair and scalp health. It’s also the first wireless PEMF wearable that you can use at home or on the go.

References

Lama, S.B.C.; Pérez-González, L.A.; Kosoglu, M.A.; Dennis, R.; Ortega-Quijano, D. Physical Treatments and Therapies for Androgenetic Alopecia. J. Clin. Med. 2024, 13, 4534.
Moraveji, M.; Haghighipour, N.; Keshvari, H.; Abbariki, T.N.; Shokrgozar, M.A.; Amanzadeh, A. Effect of Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Field on MAP2 and Nestin Gene Expression of Hair Follicle Dermal Papilla Cells. Int. J. Artif. Organs 2016, 39, 294–299.
Choi, J.H.; Kim, Y.M.; Park, H.J.; Nam, M.H.; Seo, Y.K. Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields Increase Cytokines in Human Hair Follicles through Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling. Biomedicines 2022, 10, 924.
Li, X.; Wang, X.; Bai, L.; Zhao, P.; Zhang, M. Exposure to 50 Hz electromagnetic fields enhances hair follicle regrowth in C57BL/6 mice. Exp. Biol. Med. 2019, 244, 389–394.
Maddin, W.S.; Bell, P.W.; James, J.H.M. The Biological Effects of a Pulsed Electrostatic Field with Specific Reference to Hair Electrotrichogenesis. Int. J. Dermatol. 1990, 29, 446–450.
Maddin, W.S.; Amara, I.; Sollecito, W.A. Electrotrichogenesis: Further evidence of efficacy and safety on extended use. Int. J. Dermatol. 1992, 31, 878–880.
Choi, M.S.; Park, B.C. The efficacy and safety of the combination of photobiomodulation therapy and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy on androgenetic alopecia. J. Cosmet. Dermatol. 2023, 22, 831–836.
Bureau, J.P.; Guilbaud, J.; Roux, F.M.E. Essential Oils and Low-Intensity Electromagnetic Pulses in the Treatment of Andro-gen-Dependent Alopecia. Adv. Ther. 2003, 20, 220–229.