How to Check Whether a Facial Device Is Actually FDA Cleared
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
Read bio
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
Read bio
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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You can check any facial device's FDA status yourself in about two minutes, and this article shows you how, using real devices including ours.
This article sets out what to check before you start, such as:
- the difference between FDA cleared, FDA approved and FDA registered
- how to search the 510(k) database by brand name in under two minutes
- why a clearance for one device does not cover the next device
- what we found when we ran the check across the category on 17 September 2026
- why having no clearance at all is sometimes perfectly legitimate
and many more!
Every K number below can be typed into the FDA's own database and checked against what we say here.
Key Points:
Cleared, approved and registered are three different things, and only one of them means the FDA reviewed the device.
No at-home facial device is FDA approved, ours included, because approval is a pathway reserved for higher-risk devices.
A device sold as a cosmetic, making no medical claim, needs no clearance at all, and that is a legitimate position rather than a red flag.
When we ran the check across the category, most brands that use FDA language do hold a device-specific clearance you can look up.
PureLift clearances are K190269 for Face, K230506 for Pro and Pro Edition, K221443 for Pro Plus and K243587 for GLOW.
Three phrases that do not mean the same thing
FDA cleared means the manufacturer submitted a 510(k) and the FDA agreed the device is substantially equivalent to one already on the market, which produces a K number you can look up.
FDA approved means the device went through premarket approval, a far heavier process used for higher-risk devices such as implants, and no at-home facial toning device goes through it, ours included.
FDA registered means the company told the FDA where its factory is, which is an address on a list rather than any judgement about the device.
So a brand saying "FDA approved" about a facial device is using the wrong word, and a brand leaning on "FDA registered" is describing paperwork that says nothing about whether the device works or is safe.
How to run the check yourself
Open the FDA's 510(k) database at accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfPMN/pmn.cfm.
Type the brand name into Applicant Name and press search, then, if nothing comes back, try the device name in Device Name, because clearances are often held by the contract manufacturer rather than the brand on the box.
A clearance held by a Shenzhen or Seoul manufacturer is completely normal and not a warning sign, since the factory usually holds the record.
Check that the record names the device you are buying, because a brand can hold a clearance for last year's model and put the same badge on a new one that was never submitted.
If the brand gives you a K number on its own page, the check takes about thirty seconds, and a brand that will not give you one is asking for trust it has not shown you the basis for.
What we found across the category
We ran this check on 17 September 2026 across the brands we compare ourselves against, and the honest headline is that most of them came back clean.
Solawave markets the Radiant Renewal Wand as FDA cleared and holds device-specific records, including K232863 and K251034 covering the microcurrent function.
HigherDOSE markets its Red Light Face Mask as FDA cleared and holds K241933 for that mask.
NuFACE, ZIIP, Therabody and Omnilux all have traceable records, with K212947 and K201782 for Trinity+, K212342 for Halo, K212238 for TheraFace PRO and K210948 for Omnilux.
FaceGym's Pro device is cleared under K253932, held by its manufacturer, and we should disclose that PureLift and FaceGym have a shared manufacturing history, so we have a reason to be careful rather than casual about that entry.
Anyone expecting this article to be a list of culprits will be disappointed, and that is the correct result, because we ran the check to find out rather than to confirm something.
The two entries we could not close
FOREO markets BEAR 2 as FDA cleared, and the public database shows K200803 for BEAR and BEAR mini and K232242 for BEAR 2 Body, without a record naming BEAR 2 for the face.
That is not an accusation, because a later version of a device can legitimately ship under an earlier clearance when the changes are not significant, and the public database will not show you that decision either way.
Bio-Therapeutic describes the bt-sculpt GEN2 on its own product page as "The FDA approved bt-sculpt GEN2", and carries a footer badge reading "FDA Registered Medical Device Manufacturer".
Approved is the wrong word for any device in this class, and registered is a factory address rather than a device review, so both strings are doing work the paperwork behind them does not support.
The clearances themselves do exist, filed under the parent company Micro Current Technology, Inc. of Seattle, with K252218 covering the MF SC GEN2 Facial Toning System and K233525 the earlier version, which is why this is a wording problem rather than a missing-paperwork problem.
Those filings were submitted as 510(k) Statements rather than Summaries, so no specification document is published, which is also why no output figure for the device appears anywhere.
The brands with no clearance, which is not a scandal
Medicube makes no FDA claim on its US product pages for the Age-R line, and we found no clearance record, which is a consistent position rather than a contradiction.
Skin Gym carries the standard cosmetic disclaimer that its statements have not been evaluated by the FDA, which is the most transparent thing a brand can do when it is selling a cosmetic device.
A device that makes no medical claim does not need a 510(k), so the question is never simply whether a brand has one, it is whether the brand's claims and its paperwork match.
Where PureLift stands
PureLift Face is cleared under K190269, Pro and Pro Edition under K230506, Pro Plus under K221443 and GLOW under K243587.
The devices are made in Japan in an ISO 13485 facility that has been building medical devices since 1987, and we publish output as milliamps at a stated load, 7 mA at 500 ohms for Face and Pro, 7.7 mA for Pro Edition and 9 mA for Pro Plus and GLOW.
We publish the load because a current figure without one is not a specification, and we publish the pulse width at 4 microseconds for the same reason.
None of that makes our devices work better than they do, and it does let you check every number we print, which is the only claim on this page we would defend without qualification.
This comparison sits inside our full map of the category, where we set out all 33 devices we track, what each one carries and what each brand publishes: Nine Technologies on One Dial, What the Rest of the Market Actually Carries.
Clearance records and competitor marketing wording verified on 17 September 2026 against the FDA 510(k) database and each brand's own product pages.