Haemoglobin Or Melanin · Redness · Pacific Plaza
A pico laser is designed to break up pigment and ink, while a yellow laser and a pulsed-dye laser (PDL) are designed to heat small blood vessels, so only the last two are built for redness. This comparison explains why, which red skin each suits, and how Dr Sin Yong chooses a laser for redness at Atelier, where a vascular laser is used and yellow and pulsed-dye lasers are not offered.
Each laser is aimed at one molecule. A yellow laser, at about 577 nm, and a pulsed-dye laser, at 585–595 nm, both emit light that haemoglobin takes up strongly. The blood in a small vessel heats, the wall closes, and the body clears it over the following weeks.
A pico laser is aimed at melanin and tattoo ink instead. Its pulses last trillionths of a second, which fractures pigment particles but is far too brief to hold heat inside a blood vessel. So a pico laser treatment can lift brown marks yet leave red ones untouched. The physics is laid out on the vascular laser page and the pico laser page.
Yellow and pulsed-dye. Both are vascular lasers. A pulsed-dye laser produces its light from a liquid dye and allows the pulse length to be adjusted. Its shorter pulses close vessels firmly but can leave purple bruising (purpura); settings that avoid bruising act less decisively. A yellow laser sits closer to haemoglobin's absorption peak and usually works with longer pulses, so bruising is less common. Its light reaches less deeply, which makes it a better match for fine, superficial vessels than for larger blue ones.
Side By Side
How each laser behaves in general; settings for any one patient follow examination.
| Yellow laser | Pulsed-dye laser (PDL) | Pico laser | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy or mechanism | Light at about 577 nm, taken up by haemoglobin; heats and closes small vessels | Light at 585–595 nm from a liquid dye; heats and closes small vessels | Picosecond pulses that fracture melanin and ink by pressure |
| Depth / target | Fine, superficial vessels; shallower reach | Visible vessels and fixed redness; pulse length adjustable | Pigment and ink, not blood vessels |
| Typical sessions | Set by the redness; diffuse redness needs more than single vessels | Set by the redness; diffuse redness needs more than single vessels | Not used for redness |
| Comfort and numbing | A brief hot snap per pulse, with cooling; numbing assessed at consultation | A brief hot snap per pulse, with cooling; numbing assessed at consultation | Assessed at consultation |
| Downtime | Redness for a day or two; bruising less common | Redness; purple bruising possible at shorter-pulse settings | Not used for redness |
| When results show | Over the following weeks, as vessels clear | Over the following weeks, as vessels clear | Not applicable to redness |
| Who it suits | Fine red vessels and flat red acne marks, once acne is controlled | Fixed redness, thread veins and flat red acne marks | Brown pigment and tattoo ink |
| At Atelier | Not offered at Atelier | Not offered at Atelier | Offered at Atelier (for pigment) |
Which Red Is Which
Red acne marks. Flat red marks left after spots heal are post-inflammatory erythema: widened capillaries, not pigment. They answer to vessel-directed light, and only once breakouts are under control, because new spots keep replacing the marks being treated. See post-inflammatory erythema, and for faces with both colours, red marks vs brown marks.
Rosacea. A vascular laser can reduce fixed background redness and visible vessels. It does not stop flushing, which is driven by nerves and blood-vessel reactivity, so laser sits inside a medical plan: checking triggers, a gentle routine and prescribed anti-inflammatory treatment where needed. Energy is kept modest, because heat is itself a trigger. More on rosacea and facial redness.
Thread veins. Visible vessels on the nose and cheeks are the clearest vascular target; wavelength follows vessel colour, depth and skin type. See facial telangiectasia.
Brown marks. This is where a pico laser belongs. Each pulse is still a small injury, so pico is not used over skin that is actively red and inflamed. Pigmentation removal sets out the options by pigment type.
How Atelier Decides
At Atelier, Dr Sin Yong first works out what the redness actually is: acne marks, rosacea, visible vessels, or something that needs a diagnosis rather than a laser, such as a raised, growing or bleeding spot, or redness that follows steroid cream used on the face. Active acne is controlled first.
For vessels and fixed redness, Atelier uses its vascular laser, working in haemoglobin's absorption bands around 532 nm and 1064 nm with millisecond pulses. Where redness comes with enlarged pores and uneven texture, Dr SY may consider the 675 nm laser instead. Dr Sin Yong holds a Key Opinion Leader appointment with DEKA. Yellow and pulsed-dye lasers are not offered at Atelier, which is a fact about equipment, not a judgement on either.
When to wait. Treatment is deferred with uncontrolled acne, a recent tan or sunburn, a photosensitising medicine, an infection in the area, or pregnancy. In Fitzpatrick III to V skin, melanin in the surface also takes up some of the energy, so settings stay conservative and sessions are paced. Darkening afterwards is the main risk, alongside bruising, blistering or crusting when energy is too high, and pale patches after repeated aggressive treatment.
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Atelier Aesthetics · Owned by AYA
9 Scotts Road, Pacific Plaza #12-01A, Singapore 228210 · +65 8023 7170
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