PureLift vs Ya-Man Medi Lift PLUS, Two Real EMS Devices Compared
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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Ya-Man's Medi Lift PLUS is the only other real EMS device in this category, and the comparison comes down to a hands-free mask on the cheeks against a probe you move over the whole face.
This article compares the two on what decides the result you actually see, such as:
- 3.22 mA against 7 mA, both measured at the same 500 ohm load
- what six fixed electrodes on the cheeks can and cannot reach
- why hands-free is a real advantage and what it costs you
- what Ya-Man publishes to the FDA but not on its own product page
- whether you can actually buy the PLUS in the United States
and many more!
Both devices are Japanese, both run ten minutes, and both genuinely contract muscle, which is rarer than the category suggests.
Key Points:
Medi Lift PLUS is real EMS, not microcurrent, and it is one of very few competitors we take seriously on that basis.
Its FDA filing publishes a maximum of 3.22 mA at 500 ohms; PureLift Face publishes 7 mA at the same load and Pro Plus publishes 9 mA.
The mask holds six fixed electrodes over the cheeks, so the forehead, the eye area and most of the jawline get nothing.
It sells for ¥33,000 in Japan and Ya-Man does not list it in its US range, so American buyers are importing.
It carries EMS and nothing else, with one mode and a fixed ten-minute timer, against six technologies and ten levels on PureLift Face at $499.
Why this comparison is different from the others
Most devices we are compared with run microcurrent, measured in millionths of an amp, which never contracts a muscle.
Ya-Man is not in that group, because the Medi Lift PLUS runs milliamp-level EMS, and its FDA filing under K220198 publishes the figures in full.
Maximum output is stated as 3.22 mA at 500 ohms, with pulse widths from 52 to 192 microseconds, frequencies from 2.5 Hz to 1 kHz, and a symmetric biphasic and quadphasic rectangular waveform.
Its own predicate comparison in that filing lists a microcurrent device at 0 to 43.2 microamps, which shows how far apart the two categories sit.
So this is a comparison between two devices doing the same job, which makes it more useful than most, and it means the differences are about delivery rather than about whether anything happens at all.
The output figures, side by side
Medi Lift PLUS publishes 3.22 mA at 500 ohms.
PureLift Face publishes 7 mA at 500 ohms, Pro Edition 7.7 mA, and Pro Plus and GLOW 9 mA, all at the same load.
Comparing at a stated load is the only fair way to do it, and it is worth noting that Ya-Man is one of the few brands in this category where that comparison is even possible.
Higher output is not automatically better, because comfort and control decide whether you keep using a device, which is why PureLift runs PDM underneath the current across 361 frequency points rather than holding one fixed frequency.
What the figures do establish is that both devices are operating above the motor threshold, which almost nothing else in the consumer market is.
Where Ya-Man publishes, and where it does not
Ya-Man's own consumer pages publish no output figure at all, listing rated power and little else.
Everything quoted above comes from the company's FDA submission, which is public, and which most buyers will never think to look up.
We would rather the figures were on the product page, and we say the same about ourselves, which is why ours are.
Credit where it is due: the filing is thorough, the numbers are specific, and a brand willing to put 3.22 mA at 500 ohms in writing to a regulator is not hiding.
Six fixed electrodes, and what they reach
The Medi Lift PLUS is a silicone mask worn on the lower face, with two controllers carrying six electrodes of about 5 square centimetres each.
Ya-Man's FDA filing states the intended anatomical position plainly as the cheeks, and the company sells a separate eye mask, which is a fair acknowledgement that the face mask does not cover the eye area.
That gives roughly 30 square centimetres of fixed contact, over the cheeks, with the forehead, the periorbital area and much of the jawline receiving nothing.
A probe you move works differently, because you place the current where the muscle you want is, follow it along its length, and spend longer where the face has dropped most.
The trade is real in both directions: the mask asks nothing of your technique, and the probe asks you to learn where things are and rewards you for it.
What hands-free actually buys you
Ten minutes of hands-free treatment is easier to keep as a habit than ten minutes of holding a probe, and the treatment you actually do beats the one you skip.
If your honest assessment of yourself is that you will not stand at a mirror four times a week, a mask that works while you answer email is the better purchase, and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise.
The counterweight is that the PLUS has one mode, a fixed ten-minute timer the user cannot change, and a five-hour minimum between sessions.
PureLift gives you ten levels, Lift and Infuse modes, and the choice to spend your three minutes a side where your face needs it.
Buying one in the United States
Ya-Man sells a Medi Lift range in the US, and the PLUS is not in it, so American buyers are going through importers at prices Ya-Man does not set.
The Japanese price is ¥33,000, which is roughly $220 at recent rates, though that is a currency conversion rather than a US price.
Be careful not to buy a different device by mistake, because the US Medi Lift range and the PLUS are separate products with separate FDA clearances and different level structures.
The mask is made in China with the controller made in Japan, which Ya-Man states on its own specification.
What PureLift carries that the PLUS does not
The PLUS is EMS and only EMS, with no microcurrent band, no nanocurrent band, no light and no serum delivery mode.
PureLift Face at $499 carries six technologies on one dial: Infusion, iontophoresis, nanocurrent at level 1, microcurrent at level 2, EMS from level 3 and PDM underneath all of it.
The Infuse pass runs afterwards with any water-based serum, which the PLUS has no equivalent of, and there is no branded gel requirement on either device.
On the science, Kavanagh and colleagues measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness over twelve weeks of motor-level stimulation (10.1111/jocd.12007), which is the mechanism both devices are working through.
Which one to buy
Buy the Medi Lift PLUS if hands-free is the thing that will get you to use it, if the cheeks are your only concern, and if importing from Japan does not put you off.
Buy PureLift Face if you want the whole face treated including the brow and jawline, the calm levels and the muscle levels on one dial, the serum pass afterwards, and a higher published output at the same stated load.
Step up to Pro Plus at $899 if you want 9 mA and PDM++, or GLOW at $999 if light matters alongside the muscle work.
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.
Specifications verified on 17 September 2026 against Ya-Man's published material and its FDA 510(k) summary K220198.