Fraxel Dual vs IPL with V Beam?

Fractional laser is an amazing and highly effective treatment in our office. We use the laser treatment to help with acne scars, large pores, fine wrinkles, tissue collagen loss, scars, sebaceous hyperplasia, active acne, and for brightening dark pigmentation. Although there are very strong fractional lasers such as CO2 laser, we use lighter treatments for corrective skincare and maintenance of results. Our Thulium fractional laser, clear and brilliant laser, and Ultra Thulium laser are excellent options in our clinic. We also perform CO2 fractional and erbium depending on skin tone and tolerance for downtime. Patients do have to use a Melarase cream before and after treatment to help further reduce pigmentation after laser. Melarase AM, Melarase PM, and Melapads can seriously improve surface sun damage and UV related pigmentation. Dark spots can improve with these treatments. I recommend fractional laser for incisional scars as well, especially after plastic surgery.
Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

 Either one of these can help get rid of dark spots. They can also be used together and with other treatments, depending on your skin type and how dark the pigmentation is. Please see an expert. Best, Dr. Emer

Any of the treatments will be helpful. In general, Fraxel is great for resurfacing sun damaged skin and improving hyper pigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles, and overall skin tone and texture. IPL can help with both browns and reds but is better for browns and doesn't do much for skin texture and fine lines. The V-beam is a vascular laser by Candela and is great for treating diffuse redness, red blotchiness, and broken capillaries. A great alternative to the V-beam is the Excel V by Cutera. Often times, the treatments you metioned can be combined for optimal results. 

Fraxel® is more of the resurfacing laser, while IPL lightens brown and red pigmentation, while VBeam® lightens red pigmentation. 

Thank you for your question. The IPL targets pigmentation and red in the skin and the Vbeam will target the red. Therefore, it depends on what you are trying to treat. If you have alot of red that needs to be addressed as well as the pigment then the IPL and Vbeam would be the route to take. Additionally if cost and downtime area a consideration for you, then there will be less downtime and more cost effective for the IPL and Vbeam combo. The Fraxel Dual on the other hand is a great laser that treats pigment, precancerous changes of the skin, fine lines and texture. There are two wavelengths that can be used. 1927 would be the wavelength that would go after the pigment. Therefore, it would be dependent on what issues in your skin you are trying to address. 

In our practice, we've had great success with Fraxel Dual for combating hyper pigmentation and sun damage.  Often results are maximized when used in combination with pretreatment.   The best recommendation is to consult with a board certified specialist who can assist you with achieving the result you seek. 

This is a good question. If there is any red component, the Fraxel Dual will not help. Fraxel Dual is 2 different wavelengths 1927 and 1550. The 1927 is great for pigment and the 1550 is better for wrinkles. You get a resurfacing with this laser and have some peeling that takes about 5 days to come off. It will also help with pores, texture. Precancerous lesions are treatable with Fraxel as well. It also requires topical numbing cream. The IPL is good for pigment and reds. VBeam is mostly for reds. There is minimal downtime with this combo. I think the Dual is better when concern is precancerous lesions, texture, and severe pigment. It can treat darker skin types. IPL can't treat darker skin types well. VBeam is needed for reds. Fraxel will be more expensive, more downtime, more discomfort during procedure.

I usually combine both IPL and FRAXEL in the one session. I call this Pulse Fraxel. The results are better than either treatment alone. For pigmentation, its either brown, red, or a mixture. Fraxel is excellent for brown. V BEAM is better for red. In some cases of sun damage you may require all 3 methods, namely Pulse Fraxel to treat the brown, then V BEAM to treat the red. A picture will be helpful to guide us to give you the best advice for chest rejuvenation.Dr Davin Lim, Brisbane. Australia.