Not All Picosecond Lasers Are Created Equal

[00:00:00] Billy: Not all pico lasers are created equal. Most lasers today are called pico lasers but does that really mean they’re pico lasers? And what? What does pico actually mean? are they all safe?

[00:00:13] Billy: Are they all good for your skin? Well, let me break it to you. Using the wrong pico laser can be a waste of your time, can be a waste of your money, and it could end up damaging your skin. So let’s dive into what Pico lasers are and let’s find out what lasers within the Pico world are actually worth using, and which ones you should maybe try to avoid.

[00:00:38] Billy: My name is Billy. I’m the owner of Studio Kiku, one of the world’s most well-known and trusted laser tattoo removal studios in the world. What is a Pico? Pico Second? Pico Second is a measurement of time within the laser world, there are

[00:00:55] Billy: two measurements that we use back in the day you know, in the [00:01:00] eighties, maybe early nineties, PICO didn’t exist, nanosecond existed, so there were nano lasers. Those lasers are referred to as Q switch lasers. Those lasers have a slower pulse duration. Than the newer picosecond lasers. So a picosecond is 1 trillion of a second.

[00:01:22] Billy: That’s a dot with a lot of zeros and a one there. That’s 1000000000000th of a second. That’s a picosecond. A nanosecond is 1000000000th of a second, which is very fast, but it’s not quite as fast as a picosecond. So we have a billionth nanosecond trillionth. Picosecond. So let’s talk about why time matters When we’re doing laser tattoo removal, let’s put it into terms that I think everybody will understand.

[00:01:54] Billy: Suppose you have a frying pan on the stove. Let’s call it a cast iron pan, and [00:02:00] it’s been sitting there, you’ve been cooking on it for a while. It’s super hot. Now let’s go grab that. No, no mi mitten, nothing on your hand. You just go grab it and you grab it and you let it go very quickly.

[00:02:13] Billy: Okay? The quicker. You let go of that, the less damage to your skin. So let’s say you grab it real quick and let it go. It’s probably not gonna hurt your hand. Now let’s go up there with the other hand and let’s grab it and let’s hold it for a little bit and then let’s let it go. What’s the difference? Why did it matter?

[00:02:35] Billy: It’s the speed. The quicker you grab it and let it go, the less damage to your skin. the longer you have your hand on the pan, the more damage to your hand. So that’s the same concept when we’re talking about lasers.

[00:02:51] Billy: The faster the poll duration, the quicker the energy is in contact with your skin. The slower the pulse duration, the more [00:03:00] time that energy is spending on your skin. The quicker the pulse, the less damage to your skin. The longer the pulse, the more heat, and the more damage to your skin. It’s the same concept as the frying pan situation.

[00:03:15] Billy: So what we want to do, if we’re looking for tattoo removal, is we wanna find the laser that has the quickest pulse duration. The big claim with pico lasers is that they are more efficient with shattering the pigment and the more efficient with shattering the pigment, the less treatments you’re gonna need.

[00:03:33] Billy: So it’s quicker. And also, uh, the quicker pulse duration, the less damage to your skin. So Pico laser claims are more efficient, less sessions, and less downtime. But that’s not always true with all Pico lasers. Some lasers within the PICO measurement are slow, and some lasers within the PICO measurement are very fast.

[00:03:59] Billy: Let’s put it [00:04:00] into terms, again, some terms that everyone will understand. You have a car. Your car is measured in miles per hour. Suppose you have a car that goes. 10 miles an hour, and I have a car that goes 200 miles per hour.

[00:04:16] Billy: They’re both measured in miles per hour. One is slow and one is fast. The same exact thing can be with picosecond lasers. You can have a fast pico laser and you can have a slow PICO laser. They’re not all the same, just because they’re measured in the same, um, measurement of time, which is PICO laser. Let’s talk specifically about Pico lasers and the brands. Which brand has the fastest pollion and which ones are the slowest? I’m gonna start with the slowest, and I’m gonna work my way up to the fastest.

[00:04:53] Billy: Okay, so let’s go unknown lasers, ones that you can find on Amazon. [00:05:00] Alibaba, your cousin at the garage sale, those types of things. Oftentimes they say PICO laser on them, but they are greater than a thousand picoseconds. So a thousand picoseconds actually brings you into the nanosecond. Realm. A thousand picoseconds equals one nanosecond.

[00:05:20] Billy: So if you have a laser that’s a thousand picoseconds, or around that ballpark, it’s not actually a pico laser, it’s a nano laser, which is the old school type of laser. Most of those lasers that you’re finding on Amazon and cheap online somewhere, they’re most likely a Pico laser that is very, very slow, as slow as a nano laser.

[00:05:43] Billy: Now let’s get into some of the most well-known pico lasers and let’s talk about their pulse durations and let’s find out how fast or how slow they really are.

[00:05:52] Billy: Enlightened three by Cora 750 picoseconds, which is very [00:06:00] close to a nanosecond. So even though it’s claims to be a Pico laser, it’s not. Very fast of one. it’s in the range, but it’s on the slower end. So the Enlightened three by Cutera, even though people say, oh yeah, it’s a great Pico laser, it’s very slow. Pico Plus from Loopr. The Pico plus is at 450 picoseconds so it’s right there in the middle. You know, zero being the fastest, a thousand being a nanosecond. The ltro is right in the middle. Now let’s talk about the Discovery Pico from Quanta Systems.

[00:06:38] Billy: Now that is at a range of four 50 to 600. That laser’s quick, but it’s not as quick as some of the other ones here. Let’s talk about the PicoSure Pro by Cynosure. The Pico Shore Pro is one of the most well-known pico lasers on the market. It’s oftentimes confused with the Pico [00:07:00] way, but the PicoSure Pro and the Pico Way are much, much different. What’s the poll alteration on the PicoSure Pro? That is at 750 picoseconds, so it’s not the fastest out of all of the ones that I mentioned here.

[00:07:18] Billy: The Pico Plus by tro the Discovery Pico by Quanta, the Enlighten three by ra. They’re all around the same ballpark, but the Pico Sure Pro is on the slower end of that. Okay, so seven 50 picosecond. Now let’s talk about the Pico Way by Candela. The Pico Way boasts a 300. To four 50 picosecond pulse duration.

[00:07:49] Billy: That’s the fastest laser on the market. And the reason why so many studios use the Pico Way is because it is the [00:08:00] safest on all skin tones. So it’s safe to use on darker skin tones. It’s less damaging during the laser tattoo removal process in general. It’s the most effective out there. The numbers speak for themselves.

[00:08:15] Billy: So let’s just recap that real quick. We have the unknown lasers. They are at a thousand picoseconds or so. We have the Enlightened three and the Pico Sure Pro, which are at around the seven 50 mark. And then we have the Pico Plus by tro and the Discovery Pico, they’re around the four 50 to 600 range. And then we have the Pico Way by Candela.

[00:08:41] Billy: The Pico way is at 300 to four 50, So that’s the truth about picosecond lasers. Just because the device says Pico on it, that does not mean that it’s safe. It does not mean that it’s effective, and it definitely doesn’t mean that it won’t damage your [00:09:00] skin.

[00:09:00] Billy: At Studio Kiku, we use the Pico Way by Candela because it is the fastest, safest, most effective laser on the market, and we combine that with our signature techniques.

[00:09:14] Billy: Which

[00:09:15] Billy: everyone uses, but we use here at our studio, we combine the best technology with our techniques to give you the client the best results that we can possibly do.

[00:09:26] Billy: If you’re thinking about tattoo removal, then make sure you ask the right questions about the equipment that the studio you’re going to is gonna use. Thanks for listening to Faded, and I look forward to seeing you again next time.