PureLift vs Ya-Man Medi Lift PLUS, Two Real EMS Devices Compared
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, kinésithérapeute, DPT
Doctorat en physiothérapie (DPT), physiothérapeute agréé (PT)
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Le Dr Andrew Conrad Barile est docteur en physiothérapie et PDG ainsi que fondateur de Xtreem Pulse LLC. Il a obtenu son doctorat en physiothérapie à Daemen College et possède plus de vingt ans d'expérience clinique et entrepreneuriale en physiothérapie pédiatrique, thérapie craniosacrale et innovation en dispositifs médicaux. Sa profonde connaissance de l'anatomie humaine, de la physiologie musculaire et des technologies thérapeutiques offre une approche scientifique précieuse pour le rajeunissement du visage et les solutions anti-âge.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Directeur Médical, Clinique de Médecine Régénérative Anti-âge | Médecin Certifié par le Conseil | École de Médecine de Dartmouth
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Le Dr Bertica M. Rubio est une médecin certifiée et directrice médicale de la clinique de médecine régénérative anti-âge à Redlands, en Californie. Elle a obtenu son Bachelor of Science à l'Université Loyola Marymount et son Doctorat en médecine à la Dartmouth Medical School (Geisel School of Medicine). Elle a effectué sa résidence en pédiatrie au UC Irvine Medical Center.
Forte de plusieurs décennies d'expérience clinique, le Dr Rubio est spécialisée en médecine de gestion du vieillissement, médecine régénérative, cicatrisation des plaies et thérapies par facteurs de croissance. Sa pratique intègre la science médicale fondée sur des preuves avec des traitements esthétiques et régénératifs avancés, aidant les patients à atteindre une santé optimale et une vitalité juvénile.
Le Dr Rubio est passionnée par l'éducation des patients sur la science derrière les soins de la peau, le rajeunissement du visage et les technologies non invasives comme l'EMS (stimulation électrique musculaire) pour le tonus facial. Ses articles pour PureLift LAB allient connaissances médicales rigoureuses et conseils pratiques pour obtenir des résultats réels et durables.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Otolaryngologiste et chirurgien de la tête et du cou certifié par le conseil | Membre, American College of Surgeons | Professeur clinique adjoint, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS, est un oto-rhino-laryngologiste certifié par le conseil et chirurgien de la tête et du cou chez ENT and Allergy Associates à West Nyack, NY. Il a obtenu son diplôme de médecine au Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, a effectué sa résidence en oto-rhino-laryngologie au New York University Medical Center, et est professeur clinique adjoint à la Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Il est membre de l'American College of Surgeons et de l'American Academy of Otolaryngology.
La perspective chirurgicale de la tête et du cou du Dr Grinberg offre aux lecteurs de PureLift LAB une vision clinique élargie — reliant la pratique EMS à domicile à l'anatomie médicale sous-jacente avec la même rigueur scientifique que celle que nous appliquons à chaque spécification d'appareil.
Prof. Dr med Ivo Buschmann
Président d'Angiologie, Hochschule Medizinische Brandenburg | Directeur de clinique, Clinique universitaire d'angiologie, Hôpital universitaire de Brandebourg | Ancien consultant principal, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
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Le Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann est titulaire de la chaire d'angiologie à la Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane (MHB) et directeur de la clinique universitaire d'angiologie à l'hôpital universitaire de Brandebourg. Il a effectué sa formation médicale à l'Université de Hambourg, a été boursier de la Société Max-Planck à l'Institut Max-Planck de recherche sur le cœur et les poumons, et a occupé des postes de consultant principal à la Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Campus Virchow avant d'être nommé titulaire de la chaire à la MHB en 2016.
Le Prof. Buschmann est l'une des principales autorités européennes en arteriogenèse — la croissance et le remodelage des vaisseaux sanguins induits par le flux — avec plus de 150 publications évaluées par des pairs et plusieurs brevets américains et européens sur des dispositifs stimulant la croissance des vaisseaux collatéraux par une thérapie contrôlée du taux de cisaillement. Ses recherches relient la stimulation mécanique et électrique à l'adaptation vasculaire, à la microcirculation et à la perfusion tissulaire.
Les contributions du Prof. Buschmann apportent aux lecteurs de PureLift LAB une perspective en biologie vasculaire qui complète notre expertise clinique, en physiothérapie et en anatomie chirurgicale — expliquant comment la stimulation EMS engage non seulement les muscles faciaux mais aussi la microcirculation qui les alimente, et pourquoi une administration intelligente est aussi importante au niveau du flux sanguin qu'à celui de la contraction musculaire.
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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.