Alma’s light-based, laser and IPL treatments remove spots and hyperpigmentation caused by sun exposure, genetics, hormones or lifestyle choices, targeting and dispersing the melanin in the darkened area to reveal a clear and even skin tone.
The first question in pigmentation is not which laser. It is how deep the pigment sits. Epidermal pigment such as sun spots, freckling and seborrhoeic keratoses responds quickly and predictably. Dermal pigment sits below the basement membrane, clears slowly, and needs a different pulse entirely. Treating one as though it were the other is the most common reason a pigmentation programme disappoints.
This is worth being blunt about, because it is where clinics get into trouble. Melasma is a chronic, relapsing condition driven by hormones, heat and ultraviolet exposure, not a discrete deposit of pigment you can remove. The melanocytes are overactive, not simply overloaded. Aggressive laser settings that would clear a sun spot in one pass will provoke melasma, and rebound hyperpigmentation weeks later is a common outcome.
What works better is restraint. Low-fluence Q-switched approaches, spaced sessions, and an honest conversation before the first treatment: melasma is managed rather than cured, maintenance is part of the plan, and daily broad-spectrum sun protection does more for the result than any device. Heat itself is a trigger, which is why IPL and aggressive resurfacing are poor first choices here. Clinics that set that expectation up front keep melasma patients for years. Clinics that promise clearance lose them after two sessions.
On Fitzpatrick IV to VI the epidermis competes for every pulse you deliver, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation is the failure mode rather than burns. Longer wavelengths, narrower spectra, lower fluences and longer intervals all reduce that risk. Patch test, review at 24 to 48 hours, and photograph under controlled lighting so you can tell improvement from wishful thinking. A skin analysis system such as Alma IQ makes that comparison objective rather than a matter of memory.
Ask which wavelengths are genuinely available and at which pulse durations, whether the system can do both discrete lesions and full-field work, and what it offers for darker skin specifically rather than as an afterthought. Then ask who supports it locally. Alma Lasers Australia is Alma’s own Australian subsidiary, covering New Zealand from Sydney, so clinical training, protocol support and service come from the same team. We do not publish list prices; bring your treatment prices and weekly bookings to a demo and we will build the numbers with you. Equipment finance is available through Medfin.
Soprano combines wavelengths including 1064 nm, which is the wavelength used for hair removal on darker skin, and its in-motion delivery heats the follicle gradually with contact cooling, which lowers the risk of surface heating. For skin rejuvenation on darker skin, Harmony XL Pro’s ClearLift works below the surface without ablating it. Alma Lasers Australia trains practitioners on protocols for Fitzpatrick IV to VI, including test patches, fluence selection and sun-exposure history, which matters in Australia’s high-UV environment.
Suitability is always assessed by the treating practitioner.
Harmony XL Pro is a single platform that runs many applicators, so a clinic can start with the applications it books most, for example ClearLift for skin rejuvenation and Dye-VL for pigmentation and vascular lesions, and add applicators later as the treatment menu grows. One chassis, one training pathway and one service relationship cover a wide range of skin indications, which keeps capital spread across more billable treatments.
Alma Lasers Australia installs and trains on every applicator and can advise which combination suits your patient mix.
For most Australian clinics a Q-switched nanosecond laser does the job, and the honest answer depends on what you will actually treat. Picosecond lasers deliver pulses roughly a hundred times shorter, which fragments ink and pigment more finely with less heat in the surrounding tissue. That is a genuine advantage on stubborn residual tattoos, some green and blue inks, and on patients where thermal side effects are the main worry. It also comes at a materially higher purchase price and, on most platforms, as a single-purpose device.
Q-switched Nd:YAG at 1064nm and 532nm remains the workhorse for black and dark inks, red and orange inks, sun spots, freckling and dermal pigment, which between them are the large majority of cases that walk into a clinic. On Alma Harmony that is the ClearLift Pro applicator, one module on a platform that also runs vascular, acne, IPL, non-ablative and ablative treatments. The practical decision is volume: a clinic doing a few tattoos a week alongside skin work is better served by a platform with a Q-switched applicator than by a dedicated pico machine that sits idle between tattoo appointments.
Yes, but melasma should not be treated like an ordinary pigmented lesion, and clinics that do make it worse. Melasma is a chronic, relapsing condition driven by hormones, heat and ultraviolet exposure. The melanocytes are overactive rather than simply overloaded, so the aggressive settings that clear a sun spot in one pass tend to provoke it, and rebound hyperpigmentation weeks later is a common outcome. Heat alone is a trigger, which makes IPL and aggressive ablative resurfacing poor first choices.
What works better is restraint: low-fluence Q-switched approaches, sessions spaced generously, strict daily broad-spectrum sun protection, and an honest conversation before the first treatment that melasma is managed rather than cured. Clinics that set that expectation keep melasma patients for years. Clinics that promise clearance lose them after two sessions.
Yes. Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers and intense pulsed light are among the most studied technologies in aesthetic medicine for pigmentation, with decades of published evidence, and Alma’s implementations on Harmony carry their own clinical studies, including work on melasma with ClearLift. The platforms are included in the ARTG. Alma Lasers Australia’s training covers the part the studies stress most: correct assessment of skin type and lesion type before treatment, because outcomes and safety on pigmentation depend on the diagnosis as much as the device.
