The Complete PureLift Buying Guide, Which Model Should You Choose
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, PT, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Licensed Physical Therapist (PT) | CEO and Founder, Xtreem Pulse LLC
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Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the CEO and Founder of Xtreem Pulse LLC, the engineering company behind PureLift. He earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Daemen College and is a licensed physical therapist.
He brings over two decades of clinical and entrepreneurial experience across physical therapy, craniosacral therapy and medical device innovation, built on a working knowledge of human anatomy and muscle physiology.
For PureLift LAB he reviews how current is delivered across all ten levels, from sub-sensory nanocurrent and skin-level microcurrent to motor-level EMS, and how the Infuse pass fits into the same ten-minute routine.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Board-Certified Physician, Dartmouth Medical School | Medical Director, Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic
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Dr. Bertica M. Rubio is a board-certified physician and Medical Director of the Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic in Redlands, California. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her pediatrics residency at UC Irvine Medical Center.
With decades of clinical experience, she specialises in age management medicine, regenerative medicine, wound healing and growth factor therapies, and her practice integrates evidence-based medical science with advanced aesthetic treatment.
For PureLift LAB she reviews articles for medical accuracy across the whole dial, from the gentle nanocurrent and microcurrent settings through to muscle-level EMS and the Infuse pass.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Board-Certified Otolaryngologist | Head and Neck Surgeon | Fellow, American College of Surgeons | Mount Sinai
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS is a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at ENT and Allergy Associates in West Nyack, New York. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He completed his otolaryngology residency at New York University Medical Center, serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
For PureLift LAB he brings a wider clinical lens, connecting at-home facial stimulation from microcurrent to EMS to the anatomy underneath, with the same rigour we apply to every device specification.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Chair of Angiology, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg | Clinic Director, University Clinic for Angiology
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Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann is Chair of Angiology at the Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane and Clinic Director of the University Clinic for Angiology at the Brandenburg University Hospital.
He trained at the University of Hamburg, was a Max Planck Society Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, and held senior consultant posts at the Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin before his appointment as Chair in 2016.
One of Europe's leading authorities on arteriogenesis, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications and US and EU patents, he reviews for PureLift LAB how the evidence on electrical stimulation is read and where its limits lie.
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Five models from $499 to $999, the same core technologies on every one, and three real questions that decide which is yours.
This guide covers what you actually need to know, such as:
- The compact handheld against the slim professional pen
- How much room you want above the level you will use
- Whether red and blue light belong in your routine
- Where the diamond-faceted probe and PDM++ sit in the range
and many more!
Every model does the full job, so this is about fit rather than about who gets the real device.
Key Points:
All five run nanocurrent, microcurrent, EMS, Infusion, iontophoresis and PDM, 10 levels on one dial.
The motor threshold is crossed at level 3 on every model, so every model does real muscle work.
Face is the compact handheld; Pro and Pro Edition are the slim professional pen.
Pro Plus and GLOW reach 9 mA and both carry the diamond-faceted probe and the PDM++ waveform.
GLOW alone adds red light at 634 nm and blue at 465 nm.
What every model gives you
Levels 1 and 2 are nanocurrent and microcurrent, working at skin level, which is the whole range most devices sold as microcurrent ever reach.
Levels 3 to 10 are EMS, where the current is strong enough to make a facial muscle contract, and that is the part of the dial a skin-level device never gets to.
The Infuse pass runs two separate delivery technologies on the serum already on your skin, Infusion, built on the electroporation science established by Prausnitz and colleagues in 1993 (10.1073/pnas.90.22.10504), and iontophoresis, which uses a gentle current to move charged ingredients inward through those routes.
Every model runs PDM, which stands for Pulsed Dynamic Modulation and moves the signal across 361 frequency points between 1.37 and 1.73 kHz so it never repeats, works with any water-based serum rather than a branded gel, needs no app, and is built in Japan in an ISO 13485 facility by a company that has made facial stimulation and nothing else since 1987.
That combination is the thing to hold on to, because our September 2026 review of current-based home devices between $249 and $1,100 found no other device combining nanocurrent, microcurrent, muscle-contracting EMS and a serum-absorption mode in one handheld.
The three questions that decide it
First, what shape do you want in your hand, the compact handheld or the slim professional pen.
Second, how much room do you want above the level you will actually use, 7 mA, 7.7 mA or 9 mA.
Third, does your face have fine lines or breakouts alongside the sagging, because light is the answer to those and current is not.
Model by model
PureLift Face, $499, 7 mA at 500 ohms, 4 microsecond pulse, FDA clearance K190269 granted 28 August 2019, the compact handheld and the lightest device in the range, made for the bathroom shelf.
PureLift Pro, $699, the same 7 mA in the slim professional pen, monophasic rectangular pulse with alternating polarity, clearance K230506, for people who want the build the treatment rooms use.
PureLift Pro Edition, $799, that same professional pen with more room at the top, 7.7 mA at 500 ohms with a tolerance of plus or minus 1 mA, clearance K230506 granted 21 June 2023.
PureLift Pro Plus, $899, 9 mA, the patented diamond-faceted probe from the 2019 design refresh and the PDM++ waveform, clearance K221443 granted 21 October 2022, the flagship when the jawline is the job and your skin is otherwise clear.
PureLift GLOW, $999, everything Pro Plus does including PDM++ and the diamond-faceted probe, plus red light at 634 nm cleared for wrinkles, blue at 465 nm cleared for mild-to-moderate inflammatory acne, both together as purple, 5 light levels, clearance K243587 granted 6 March 2025, 150 g, one-year warranty.
What PDM++ actually changes
PDM++ is the bipolar evolution of PDM, engineered for a more gradual charge and release in the tissue.
What you notice is that the contraction rises and falls instead of snapping, and the top of the dial becomes usable rather than just available, which is why it sits on the two models that reach 9 mA.
Pro Plus and GLOW both have it, so it is a reason to move up to those two rather than a reason to choose between them.
Straight advice on the $100 steps
Face to Pro buys you the professional pen rather than more power, so choose on the shape you want to hold and the finer control that shape gives you around the jaw and the orbital rim.
Pro to Pro Edition buys 0.7 mA of extra room in the same pen, worth it if you already know you like working near the top of a dial.
Pro Edition to Pro Plus buys the full 9 mA, the diamond-faceted probe and PDM++, which together make it the specification to pick when muscle work is the whole point of the purchase.
Pro Plus to GLOW buys light and nothing else, and if you were about to buy a light mask as well, GLOW replaces the mask and the current device in one, which makes that $100 the cheapest step on this page.
What to expect from any of them
Three minutes on each side and you will see a fresher, more lifted look in the mirror because the muscles have worked, and that first effect is temporary and comes back every session.
The lasting change builds over weeks, and Kavanagh 2012 measured an 18.6% increase in cheek muscle thickness in 108 women after twelve weeks of daily facial muscle stimulation, confirmed by ultrasound against an untreated group (10.1111/jocd.12007).
Chang 2020 tested facial muscle stimulation over six weeks against an identical-looking dummy device and found increased muscle thickness and strength, which is the strictest design in this field (10.3390/ijerph17113783).
Those studies used their own devices, so they show what facial muscle stimulation can do rather than what any one PureLift did for a particular person, and three minutes a side four times a week for three months is what turns the specification into a result.