Hi. From what I understood meeting with Dr. Fugedy, conductive gels appear to be frowned upon as a little too conductive. Specifically the current is calibrated on the assumption that it will pass through either ("iontophoroetic") drug delivery pads, or sponges soaked in either plain water or saline. In other words, it is assumed there is a certain amount of resistance in the circuit and if you take it away by using conductive gels, as I did once in conjunction with the use of mere EEG electrodes, which a local physician [not at USC] had provided to me - well before the first time I saw Dr. Fugedy - I was able to (1) completely drain the charge out of a 12 volt battery in a second or two, (2) experience a momentary cascade/river of sparks in my head as phosphorous was harmlessly released from my retinas. and (3) become immediately aware of the smell of my own burning skin, immediately under the once-white-but-by-then-golden-brown electrodes.

Finally, and for what it's worth, Dr. Fugedy explained that plain water is becoming preferred to saline, where, for some obscure reason, a saline soaked sponge delivers most of its power around the periphery of its square border, while the sponge soaked in plain water evenly delivers its current over the surface area of the sponge as a whole. (Go figure.)

Hope this is useful.

Mike