Questions clinics ask about Alma devices

Pigmented Lesions

• How does Alma support clinics treating darker skin types (Fitzpatrick IV to VI)?

  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.

• How does Harmony XL Pro help a clinic manage capital?

  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.

• Do I need a pico laser, or is a Q-switched laser enough?

  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.

• Can lasers treat melasma?

  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.

• Are Alma’s pigmented lesion devices clinically proven?

  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.

• Are Alma’s pigmented lesion devices all laser based?

  No. Q-switched Nd:YAG, ClearLift, Pixel erbium and CO2 are lasers. AFT is intense pulsed light, a broad spectrum filtered to the wavelengths that pigment absorbs, and it is the applicator most Australian clinics reach for first on sun-damaged skin because it treats the whole area rather than spot by spot. Having both on one Harmony platform is the point: a therapist can clear diffuse pigmentation with AFT and then treat the stubborn individual lesions with the Q-switched laser in the same appointment.

• What technologies do Alma’s pigmented lesion devices use?

  Four, chosen by the depth and type of pigment. Q-switched Nd:YAG at 1064 and 532 nm on Alma Harmony breaks up discrete pigmented lesions and is the workhorse for freckles, lentigines and some birthmarks. AFT, Alma’s refined intense pulsed light, treats diffuse sun damage and mottled pigmentation across a whole face or chest in one pass. ClearLift, the fractional non-ablative Q-switched applicator, works on deeper pigment and melasma with no downtime. For textured sun damage, Pixel erbium and Alma Hybrid CO2 resurfacing remove pigment along with the damaged surface. Most Australian clinics run these from a single Harmony platform.