Every Technology Inside a PureLift Device, Explained One at a Time
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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A PureLift device runs nine separate technologies from one handpiece, and most owners never learn what separates them.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- Infusion, the first delivery technology
- Iontophoresis, the second
- Nanocurrent, level 1
- Microcurrent, level 2
- EMS, levels 3 to 10
and many more!
Each one gets the evidence it actually has, no more.
Key Points:
Infusion and iontophoresis are two different delivery technologies that run together in the Infuse pass.
Nanocurrent, microcurrent, EMS, Infusion, iontophoresis and PDM run on all five models.
PDM++ is carried by Pro Plus and GLOW; red and blue light are on GLOW alone.
The dividing line that matters most is the motor threshold, crossed at level 3.
Three minutes on each side, ten minutes in total, and the session switches itself off.
Infusion, the first delivery technology
Infusion is built on electroporation, where brief electrical pulses temporarily open routes through the skin's outer barrier so that molecules can cross which would otherwise be held back.
Prausnitz and colleagues established the principle for transdermal delivery in 1993, showing that while those routes were open, far more of a test molecule could pass (10.1073/pnas.90.22.10504).
That is a documented physical mechanism rather than a marketing metaphor, and it is on all five models including the $499 Face.
Iontophoresis, the second
Opening a route is one job and moving something through it is another, which is where iontophoresis comes in.
Iontophoresis uses a gentle sustained current to drive charged ingredients inward, so the current is doing the pushing rather than leaving diffusion to do it alone.
The two run together in the Infuse pass, which is why Infuse is a second dedicated pass after Lift rather than a setting you switch to mid-stroke.
The honest boundary on both is that how much of any given ingredient crosses depends on the molecule and the formulation, so the pair improves the odds for a serum without making every serum effective.
Nanocurrent, level 1
Nanocurrent works in billionths of an amp, below the level your nerves report, so you will feel little or nothing and that is the design rather than a fault.
No facial trial has isolated nanocurrent on its own, so PureLift describes it as the gentle floor of the range rather than as a headline claim, and it is the setting for a reactive day or the thin skin around the eyes.
Microcurrent, level 2
Microcurrent works in millionths of an amp, still below the motor threshold, so it does not produce a contraction.
This is the territory devices such as NuFACE, FOREO BEAR 2 and ZIIP occupy across their entire range, which is why so many of them produce a tingle and never a twitch.
Laboratory work shows skin cells respond to defined small currents, and small facial studies report smoother texture and softer lines with regular use (10.29252/jmj.10.2.9).
EMS, levels 3 to 10
Level 3 is where the motor threshold is crossed and the muscle contracts without any instruction from you, which is a genuinely different physical event from everything below it.
This is where the strongest facial evidence sits, 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 the same idea over six weeks against an identical-looking dummy device and found muscle thickness and strength increased, which is the strictest design this field has (10.3390/ijerph17113783).
Maximum output runs from 7 mA on Face and Pro through 7.7 mA on Pro Edition to 9 mA on Pro Plus and GLOW, all measured at 500 ohms.
PDM, the delivery architecture
PDM stands for Pulsed Dynamic Modulation, and it moves the signal across 361 frequency points between 1,370 and 1,730 Hz so that it never repeats.
Send a muscle the same signal for ten minutes and it gets used to it, and your nerves get used to it too, which is the problem PDM exists to reduce.
Pooling 22 studies, researchers found that stimulation which keeps changing produced more evoked force with less fatigue than a fixed pattern (10.1016/j.apmr.2025.10.026), though not every study agrees (10.1371/journal.pone.0084740), so PDM is designed to reduce getting used to it and we never claim your muscles cannot adapt.
PDM runs on all five models, from the first muscle level to the last.
PDM++, the bipolar evolution
PDM++ is the same idea made smoother, a bipolar pulse engineered for a more gradual charge and release in the tissue.
For you it means a more even contraction at the higher settings, so the top of the dial becomes usable rather than just available, and the contraction rises and falls instead of snapping.
PDM++ is carried by PureLift Pro Plus and PureLift GLOW, the two models that reach 9 mA, which is exactly where a smoother edge matters most.
Red light and blue light
Red light at 634 nm is cleared for the treatment of wrinkles, and it runs while you work rather than as a separate step.
Blue light at 465 nm is cleared for mild-to-moderate inflammatory acne, and it is not for severe or cystic acne and not a substitute for a dermatologist.
The two can run together as purple when lines and breakouts share a face, at 5 light levels, and both are on PureLift GLOW alone.
Why the count matters
Our September 2026 review of current-based home facial devices sold between $249 and $1,100 in the United States found no other device combining nanocurrent, microcurrent, muscle-contracting EMS and a serum-absorption mode in one handheld.
More technologies means more of your face addressed, and it does not mean the technologies amplify each other, which is a claim nobody has tested.
Every model is built in Japan in an ISO 13485 facility by a company that has made facial stimulation and nothing else since 1987, and each holds its own FDA 510(k) Class II clearance.
Using them together in one session
Start on clean skin with a water-based conductive medium, since oil-based products do not conduct and will break the path for every technology on this list.
Work at the lowest EMS level that gives a clear, comfortable contraction, three minutes per side maximum, then run the Infuse pass with the serum you want delivered.
Nine technologies in one handpiece is unusual at any price, and it is worth more when each one is described at the size of its actual evidence.