PureLift and FaceGym, Seven Years of OEM and What Changed in 2026
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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From 2019 to April 2026 the FaceGym Pro was a PureLift device, engineered by Xtreem Pulse and manufactured in Japan under an OEM arrangement.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- Seven years of OEM
- April 2026, the rebuild
- What the rebuilt device carries, and what it does not
- Why the completeness point is the real difference
- The published numbers
and many more!
The rebuilt device is EMS only; it has no nanocurrent, no microcurrent and no serum delivery, which is the difference that matters most to a buyer.
Key Points:
The September 2019 launch announcement named FaceGym among the brands that had adopted the Xtreem Pulse device.
PureLift Face carries six technologies on one dial, Pro Plus seven and GLOW nine.
FaceGym Pro carries one: EMS, at up to 1.5 kHz across 10 power levels.
Level 1 is nanocurrent and level 2 is microcurrent on every PureLift model; the FaceGym device has no equivalent.
PureLift is still made in Japan in an ISO 13485 facility by the original engineering team; the FaceGym Pro is made in China.
Seven years of OEM
On 17 September 2019, the PRNewswire announcement covering the launch of the 510(k)-cleared Xtreem Pulse device listed the brands that had adopted it. FaceGym appeared alongside Canyon Ranch, Jurlique and Grand Resort Bad Ragaz.
For the seven years that followed, the FaceGym Pro sold in London, New York and online was an Xtreem Pulse device, manufactured in Japan and licensed to FaceGym under their own brand. The engineering was ours; the badge was theirs.
During that period the architecture earned professional adoption at Aman Resorts, Canyon Ranch and Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, and the patent portfolio behind it sat with Xtreem Pulse throughout.
April 2026, the rebuild
On 2 April 2026, Hypebae reported that FaceGym had launched a new Pro device described as next-generation and rebuilt entirely from the ground up, with design and material selection brought in-house. FaceGym's own product documentation lists China as the country of manufacture.
The launch was presented to consumers as an upgrade. The change of engineering source and manufacturing country was not the focus of the communications, which is why most buyers of either device have no idea the two share a history.
What the rebuilt device carries, and what it does not
FaceGym's current product page describes low, medium and high frequencies reaching up to 1.5 kHz across 10 power levels. It does not publish a maximum output in milliamps, an impedance, or a pulse width.
What is absent from the specification is the part a buyer should notice. There is no nanocurrent band. There is no microcurrent band. There is no serum delivery technology. The diamond-faceted probe geometry introduced in the 2019 refresh has been replaced with a smooth head.
So the rebuilt FaceGym Pro is a single-technology device. Every setting on it is above the motor threshold, which means it contracts the muscle and does nothing else.
Why the completeness point is the real difference
This is where the two devices genuinely diverge, and it is a bigger gap than the manufacturing question.
On every PureLift model, level 1 is nanocurrent and level 2 is microcurrent. Those sit below the motor threshold and are the bands the skin-level research addresses, covering cellular activity, fibroblast signalling and dermal circulation. Level 3 is where the motor threshold is crossed, and levels 3 to 10 are EMS. Ward's work sets out the three thresholds that make those distinct territories (PMID 19095805).
On top of that, Infusion and iontophoresis run together in Infuse mode, opening temporary routes through the outer skin layer and moving charged ingredients along them (10.1073/pnas.90.22.10504). PDM cycles 361 frequency points between 1,370 and 1,730 Hz. Pro Plus and GLOW add PDM++, and GLOW adds red light at 634 nm and blue at 465 nm.
That is six technologies on Face, Pro and Pro Edition, seven on Pro Plus, and nine on GLOW. The rebuilt FaceGym Pro has one.
A buyer who wants a calm daily session, or skin-level work, or serum delivery, has no setting on that device that provides any of them. A PureLift owner reaches all three by turning a dial they already own.
The published numbers
PureLift publishes 7 mA at 500 ohms for Face and Pro with a 4 microsecond pulse width, 7.7 mA for Pro Edition, and 9 mA for Pro Plus and GLOW. Clearances are K190269, K230506, K221443 and K243587.
FaceGym publishes a frequency ceiling and a level count, and no output figure at a stated load, which means the two cannot be compared on current at all.
A frequency without an amplitude does not tell you which band a device works in, and a level count tells you how many positions the dial has rather than what the top one delivers.
On fixed against varied frequency
A single fixed frequency accommodates faster than a varied one, because a nerve given an identical signal repeatedly responds less over time while the current stays the same.
Downey and colleagues found frequency variation extended a defined performance endpoint against constant frequency in a neuromuscular protocol (PMID 21996798). Papaiordanidou and colleagues report a case where modulation did not help (10.1371/journal.pone.0084740), and we cite both.
Both are limb protocols rather than facial ones, so they support the design principle rather than proving an outcome for either product, and no study has compared the two devices directly.
The engineering continuity
The Xtreem Pulse team that designed the original architecture is still developing PureLift devices today, in the same ISO 13485 facility in Japan, by a company that has made facial stimulation devices and nothing else since 1987.
PDM and PDM++ are what seven further years of iteration on that architecture produced. The current PureLift devices are not the 2019 product; they are the 2019 product plus seven years of work by the people who built it.
What this means if you own the old one
If you used a FaceGym Pro before April 2026 and liked it, the device you liked was engineered by us and made in Japan.
The device on sale under that name today is a different product from a different factory, with one technology where the original had several.
For the technology breakdown in full, see how the nine PureLift technologies work, and for the output arithmetic, what the output numbers actually mean.
Sources: PRNewswire, 17 September 2019. Hypebae, 2 April 2026. FaceGym product documentation, facegympro.com.