The real effect that the wavelength has on your treatment results.
It is a common perception that the wavelength determines the skin types you can treat, or the depth of penetration you will have with a specific machine. This perception has been generalized to such extend that it has become a great misperception.
You can think of the wavelength as the active ingredient of your machine. The wavelength tells you how much energy is present in the photons of the light beam and determines which chromophores in the body will react to this specific energy.
If you compare a laser with a pill, you can say that the aspirin in it will work for a headache and that dimenhydrinate will work for motion sickness. The same way you can say 810 nm will work for hair removal and 2600 nm will work for skin peeling. Aspirin will also work for various other things, like thinning the blood; just as 810 nm can work for pigmentation treatments as well.
However, taking aspiring will not necessarily get rid of your headache. You have to take the right amount, or doses, of aspirin. The same way as having a hair removal treatment with a 810 nm laser will not necessarily remove the hair. The light beam must have a certain strength to get the desired results. And just as you can under- or overdose with aspirin, you can under or over treat with a laser.
It is in this under or over treatment that you find the answer to skin types and penetration depth. It is a combination of the energy the machine irradiate, the energy that is available for the body to absorb, skin cooling, spot size, pulse duration and operator technique that determines which skin types you can treat and how deep the light beam will penetrate.
When we talk about laser hair removal, for the light to interact with melanin it must be of a certain range of wavelengths, between 600 nm and 1100 nm. Within this range there are certain wavelengths that will have a greater interaction with melanin than other wavelengths, also from this range. But if you use 2000 nm, you will have no interact with melanin.
There are other treatments that have a smaller range of wavelengths, or even only one or two wavelengths that will ensure successful interaction. If you think of green or yellow tattoos, you have a very limited range of wavelengths that will have an effect.
To conclude. The wavelength tells you what treatments you can do, because it determines the interaction the light will have with biological matter. If you have a machine with a wavelength that does not interact with the target chromophore you will have no desired results from such a treatment, irrespective of all the other parameters. But if you have a machine with a wavelength that match the chromophore, you will use the other parameters to optimize the treatment.
Are you ready to take your career to the next level? Enrol today for the Advanced Aesthetic Laser Therapist course.