Alma’s light-based, laser and IPL treatments are optimised for absorption by hemoglobin. Light energy is converted to heat energy that coagulates the blood, destroying the capillaries within the vascular lesion which causes them to clear.
Vascular lesions clear by selective photothermolysis. You deliver light at a wavelength haemoglobin absorbs more strongly than the surrounding skin, with a pulse long enough to heat the vessel through but short enough that the heat does not spread. Get the wavelength or the pulse duration wrong and you either leave the vessel intact or you burn the skin above it.
Oxyhaemoglobin absorbs strongly in the green-yellow range, around 540 to 580nm, and again, more weakly, near 1064nm. That gives you two working ranges and they do different jobs.
On Alma Harmony these are three applicators on one system rather than three machines:
Melanin competes with haemoglobin for the same light. On Fitzpatrick IV to VI the epidermis absorbs a meaningful share of any green or broadband pulse before it reaches the vessel, which is where burns and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation come from. Two things reduce that risk: moving to 1064nm, where melanin absorption is comparatively low, and using narrow-band rather than broadband IPL. Patch test and treat conservatively regardless.
Ask four questions of any vascular device. Which wavelengths does it actually offer, not which indications are listed on the brochure. What spot sizes, because a 1mm pen and a 15mm handpiece are different businesses. How is the epidermis cooled during the pulse. And what happens when you need a second wavelength, which for most clinics is a year or two after the first purchase. A platform answers that with an applicator; a single-purpose machine answers it with another machine.
Vascular lasers are Class 4 devices and the rules are set state by state rather than nationally. Some states require licensing or registration and a nominated laser safety officer; others rely on documented training and a written safety plan. Alma Lasers Australia takes each clinic through what applies in its state before installation, and every installation includes on-site clinical training. See laser and IPL regulations.
Alma Lasers Australia is Alma’s own Australian subsidiary, not a reseller, and covers New Zealand from Sydney, so training, service and parts come from the team that sold you the system. We do not publish list prices, because the configuration depends on which applicators your clinic will use. Bring your treatment prices and weekly bookings to a demo and we will build the numbers with you. Equipment finance is available through Medfin.
Two wavelengths do most vascular work, and which one you reach for depends on how deep the vessel sits. Green light around 532 to 580nm is absorbed strongly by oxyhaemoglobin but penetrates only a short distance, which suits fine facial telangiectasia and small spider veins. Long-pulsed 1064nm Nd:YAG is absorbed less efficiently but reaches much deeper, which is what larger reticular and leg veins require. Diffuse redness and rosacea is a field rather than a vessel, so narrow-band IPL covers the area far more efficiently than a small spot. On Alma Harmony those are three applicators on one platform: VascuPen for precise superficial work, ClearVas for the deeper 1064nm treatments, and Iris Dye-VL for diffuse redness including on darker skin types.
Yes. Intense pulsed light and long-pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG are the standard, extensively published technologies for vascular lesions, and Alma’s Dye-VL and Nd:YAG applicators on Harmony carry their own clinical studies. For the eye area, radiofrequency tightening and plasma resurfacing are both documented in peer-reviewed work, and Opus has published comparisons showing results equivalent to fractional ablative laser with shorter downtime. Harmony, Accent Prime and Opus are included in the ARTG, and Alma Lasers Australia supplies the references with training.
Two on the Harmony platform: Dye-VL, Alma’s AFT (intense pulsed light) applicator filtered to 500 to 600 nm for facial redness, rosacea, diffuse telangiectasia and port wine stains, and a long-pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser for deeper or larger vessels, leg veins and darker skin types where light-based treatment is unsuitable. Most Australian clinics run both from one Alma Harmony console: Dye-VL for the face at volume, Nd:YAG for the vessels Dye-VL cannot reach.
