Our Lasers

A laser is a very powerful energy source that produces a very bright light. When something absorbs this light it heats up, rather like a black object heats up in sunlight. By controlling the colour, energy and direction of the laser beam it is possible to heat up certain targets in the skin without damaging the rest of the skin.

Pulse dye laser

Vascular lasers such as the pulse dye laser work by targeting the blood vessels in the skin, heating them up so that the blood vessels shut down. Pulse dye lasers produce short, high-energy pulses of light, which disrupt the blood vessels, resulting in bruising immediately after treatment. This can take about 7 days to fade. These are the lasers most commonly used for treatment of red birthmarks.

Qswitched NdYAG laser

This laser is designed to treat tattoos and pigmented (brown) lesions. The tattoo ink particles absorb the laser energy and break up into smaller fragments, which are gradually dispersed by the body’s natural defence systems.

Qswitched Ruby laser

This laser may be used to fade green and blue tattoos, which are the most difficult colours to fade with laser treatment.

Long pulsed Alexandrite laser

The Alexandrite laser is designed to treat unwanted hair. It is the pigment of the hair that is the target for the laser energy so it works best on dark hair. Very light coloured hair does not respond at all. The laser energy heats up and damages the hair’s growing mechanism, so that hair growth is reduced.

Long pulsed NdYAG laser

This laser enables unwanted hair to be treated safely in dark-skinned individuals, for whom the Alexandrite laser is often not suitable.

It can also be used to enhance pulse dye laser treatment of some birthmarks and for leg threadveins.

Carbon Dioxide Laser (C02 Laser)

This laser has two functions, ablative and fractionated. The ablative function is a concentrated energy beam used to remove superficial layers of the skin. It is used to treat some conditions such as skin cancers and raised pigmented lesions.

The fractionated function can be used to treat problematic scarring, for example from a burns injury. It can also be used as a resurfacing tool to improve the appearance of scars left from severe acne.