As a skeptical health writer, I tested a depuffing wand on my face every day for a month — and was surprised to see actual results

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If you regularly wake up with a swollen face — whether from allergies, sleep, hormones, or a salty dinner from the night before — you know that besides the unattractive puffiness, it can feel downright uncomfortable.

A quick swipe of an ice roller might help temporarily, but they rarely stay cold long enough to make a real impact. That's where the TheraFace Depuffing Wand aims to be different.

This neat little skincare tool, made by Therabody (the brand behind some of our favorite red light therapy masks and massage guns), has a quarter-sized metal head that delivers heat therapy up to 108°F and cold therapy down to 50°F. It's designed to first help skincare products better absorb with heat. Then, using cold therapy, it helps reduce puffiness, redness, and inflammation in just a few minutes.

Sounds great — but for $170, is it actually that effective? To find out, I put it to the test on some truly puffy mornings.

How I used the TheraFace Depuffing Wand

Over a month-long trial period, I used the TheraFace Depuffing Wand on any morning I felt uncomfortably swollen. It's small and cordless, so it was easy to use around the house in the morning or at my desk while checking my inbox.

I sleep face down and have bad allergies, so face puffiness is pretty much a daily occurrence. I feel it mostly around my eyes and upper cheekbones, and it's especially noticeable if I'm on my period or drank too much wine and not enough water the night before. I also have low-level rosacea, so my skin also tends to cycle through redness and inflammation.

It works like this: After I splashed water on my face, I'd use the heat therapy for about three minutes across my whole face, concentrating on my eyes, with the labeled intention of warmth helping increase product absorption. Then, I slathered on my serums and moisturizers, turned the Depuffing Wand to cold, and swiped the wand across my face and neck for six minutes total (three minutes each side).

At one point during my month-long trial period, I tried the Depuffing Wand over multiple days in a row to see how much of a difference it would make with consistent use. I took before and after photos each day to see how much of an effect the cold therapy really had.

How well the Depuffing Wand worked

I didn't see or feel much difference with the heat therapy setting, and after few uses, began to skip this step entirely in order to streamline my morning.

The cold therapy, though, is a different story: While I wouldn't call the Depuffing Wand "magic," it definitely improved the way my face looked after each six-minute session. Even more importantly, it was highly effective at easing the skin tightness and sensitivity I feel on my puffiest days.

Overall, the aesthetic changes are minute — there's no stark change, but when I compared my before-and-after photos, I see that the cold therapy did indeed help minimize the deep-set lines under my eyes, reduces some puffiness, fills the hollow of my cheekbones, and, best of all, alleviates some redness. These results aren't exactly life-changing — or even visible enough for anyone else to notice.

Still, I absolutely loved the feeling of rubbing this icy-cold wand over my skin first thing in the morning. Regardless of the visual benefits, it came in handy on days my allergies were really flaring up. I felt TheraFace Wand's cold therapy gave me significant relief in that quintessential swollen eye-and-cheekbone area.

I liked that this device doesn't require much discipline for it to work. Unlike skincare tools that rely on consistent use, this one is best saved for mornings when you wake up visibly puffy. Overall, my skin felt plumper and more rejuvenated after using the TheraFace Wand, even if it didn't make that much of a difference over time.

Cons to consider

There's not a ton of guidance on how best to use it. Therabody has a well-designed app with guided treatments for its other devices, like the Theragun Mini Plus or its TheraFace Pro. It seems they could've easily added a program for the Depuffing Wand. That way you're not left to wonder, "Am I doing this right?"

It has a little blue light band that signals when it's time to switch sides. But you can only see this blue light if you're standing in front of a mirror — which almost no one will be. I just used it for as long as I felt I needed and then switched, meaning I often went over six minutes and kept having to restart the program.

It's also not cheap — and though it is currently on sale — it's still more expensive than its main competition, an ice roller. However, I would argue that the Depuffing Wand is lightyears better than an ice roller because it retains its temperature, whereas an ice roller warms to your skin within 1-2 minutes.

The more often I used this device, the more I depended on it. Whenever I didn't use it, my eyes felt heavier and I generally felt less awake and stimulated compared to when I spent six minutes with the wand.

The science behind cold therapy

There isn't any specific research on applying this level cold therapy to your face (other than Therabody's own study using this device). We know that supercharged cold therapy like ice baths and cryotherapy help reduce skin inflammation, but these are usually much colder temps than the Depuffing Wand hits.

That said, one paper in the The Journal Of Clinical And Aesthetic Dermatology does note that skin cooling is believed to have anti-inflammatory effects on skin conditions like atopic dermatitis, with other research reporting that cold therapy helps to alleviate allergic skin inflammation in animal models.

As for whether applying a 50°F treatment to your face for just six minutes is enough to significantly lower inflammation, we don't have the science to say whether this is strong enough to work.

The bottom line

The TheraFace Depuffing Wand won't give you dramatic, contour-level results, but if you're someone who regularly wakes up with facial puffiness from allergies, sleep, hormones, or dehydration, its cold therapy can make a real difference in how your skin feels — and a subtle one in how it looks.

While the heat setting felt like an unnecessary step, I found the consistently icy-cold touch of the wand helped reduce that heavy, swollen feeling around my eyes and cheekbones in a way that cheaper tools, like ice rollers, just can't sustain.

It's far from essential. But if you're willing to invest in a morning ritual that feels incredibly soothing, slightly depuffing, and reliably refreshing, this tool will deliver.