How to get the best Clear and Brilliant treatment?

Dear patient,
C+B Permea laser is one of the safest modalities available to tighten pores and remove fine lines and discolorations. As you mentioned the laser offers 3 settings (low-med-high) and the number of passes are also important. Another important factor is cleaning and prepping the skin prior to the treatment. if you have oily or thick skin and a lot of discoloration you can pre- treat the skin for a couple of weeks before the treatment with Glycolic acids and Tretinoin (retin A). Make sure you discuss this with your Dermatologist. I always tell my patients that it takes the equivalent of 3 or 4 Clear and Brilliant lasers to get the same benefit as one fractional Co2 laser. This modality is for patients with sensitive skin or those who don't have the downtime needed to do a stronger Co2 laser. I Hope this was helpful. Yours Dr David R.

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. 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

The beauty of the Clear + Brilliant laser is that it is customizable to your skin needs and your skin goals. There isn't one setting that is better than the others, as everyone's skin has different needs. If your provider chooses the permea hand piece, they will apply a topical immediately after  the treatment for best product penetration. 

There is no exact formula to get the best Clear and Brilliant treatment, rather each setting must be matched to each patient and their specific treatment goals.  That can be one of the best aspects of Clear and Brilliant is just how versatile it can be.  Be sure to talk to an experienced provider beforehand to talk about what you want done and the best settings to help achieve that.  

Clear + Brilliant Permea is the version of Clear + Brilliant which has been proven to increase permeability to topical products like C E Ferulic from Skinceuticals. I will usually use medium to high settings and 8 passes per patient. Of course, the treatments are customized to each patient based on their skin type, cosmetic concerns, and downtime requirements. 

Excellent question.  Clear and Brilliant is a laser that offers improvement of fine lines, sun damage and discoloration while stimulating the production of collagen.  It is also the only laser that has been scientifically shown to reduce pore size.  The treatment modalities range from High to Low, which determines the density or percentage of the skin treated in tiny pixels, and also varies with the number of passes performed. The recommended number of passes is eight, four vertical and four horizontal.  The number of passes will also affect the percentage of skin treated. Treatment speed also affects the number of pixels or percentage of fractional coverage. There is no variation of treatment depth. In general, product that is placed on the skin for absorption into the pixels should be put on the face immediately.  I use the 2 minute rule, within two minutes of treatment of an area.In summary the answer to your question is YES, there are variations in treatment depending on the provider and the patients desires.  It is best to discuss the result that you are looking for, as well as the downtime that you can tolerate.  I usually start somewhat conservatively so that the patient can experience the procedure, and then increase or decrease the intensity of the treatment based on the patient's feedback at the second treatment session. A series of treatments is recommended because only 7 to 10% of the skin is removed with each treatment.  Additional passes, beyond eight, would increase this percentage as well as the time for recovery.  All the Best, Alexis Parker MD