Questions clinics ask about Alma devices
Answers for Australian and New Zealand clinic owners and practitioners: running costs and consumables, payback, genuine versus lookalike devices, darker and tanned skin, training, service, comfort and downtime. Filter by treatment, platform or technology, or ask your Alma representative.
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Acne
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Alma Hybrid is the usual choice: the CO2 and 1570 nm lasers can be combined so the practitioner treats scar texture while keeping recovery time manageable, and the treatment can be repeated in a course. For patients who need no visible downtime, Harmony XL Pro’s ClearLift non-ablative applicator treats below the surface and is often used between or instead of resurfacing sessions.
Suitability is assessed by the treating practitioner. Alma Lasers Australia trains clinics on both pathways.
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Yes. Alma Hybrid combines an ablative CO2 laser with a 1570 nm non-ablative laser in one system, and the practitioner sets the balance between the two for each patient. That means a clinic can offer a lighter treatment with short downtime for a patient who cannot take time off, or a deeper resurfacing session for scars and texture, on the same platform.
For Australian patients this matters because pigment risk and sun exposure often argue for a staged, moderate approach rather than the most aggressive single session. Hybrid is designed for that staged approach.
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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.
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Both, but not with the same applicator, and the order matters. Active acne has to be brought under control before any resurfacing, or each treatment is chasing new scars. On Alma Harmony, the ClearSkin Pro non-ablative applicator treats active inflammatory acne and early scarring in the same course, and the Iris Acne IPL applicator targets the bacteria involved with the blue end of the spectrum while its longer wavelengths reach deeper inflammatory lesions. Once the skin is quiet, the established scars are treated with fractional resurfacing on Alma Pixel CO2, Alma Hybrid or Alma Opus. A platform that does both stages is what lets a clinic keep an acne patient from the first breakout to the final scar session.
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Yes. The 1540 nm erbium-glass wavelength used by ClearSkin has a body of published work on inflammatory acne, and fractional 1570 nm and CO2 lasers are well documented for acne scarring. Alma’s own platforms have peer-reviewed studies and case series behind them, and the Harmony and Hybrid platforms are included in the ARTG for their listed indications. Alma Lasers Australia supplies the references with training so practitioners can set expectations honestly with patients: acne is a chronic condition, laser treatment reduces lesions and scarring, and maintenance is part of the plan.
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Mostly, not entirely. ClearSkin on Harmony and the 1570 nm laser on Alma Hybrid are lasers. Harmony’s AFT applicators are intense pulsed light, used for the vascular redness and inflammation around acne rather than the lesions themselves. For clinics that want a non-energy step, DermaClear hydradermabrasion cleans and exfoliates congested, acne-prone skin and is often used as a preparation or maintenance treatment between laser sessions. A clinic building an acne offering usually pairs one laser applicator with a maintenance treatment rather than relying on a single device.
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Two lasers and one light source, depending on the platform. On Alma Harmony and Harmony XL Pro, the ClearSkin applicator is a 1540 nm erbium-glass laser that targets the sebaceous glands with contact cooling and vacuum, so active acne can be treated without downtime. On Alma Hybrid, the 1570 nm fibre laser does the non-ablative work and can be combined with fractional CO2 for acne scarring in the same session. Harmony’s AFT (IPL) applicators add a light-based option for the redness and inflammation that go with acne. Which one suits a clinic depends on whether the demand is active acne, post-acne scarring, or both.