PicoSure, PicoWay and Fotona's PQX are all picosecond lasers that break up pigment or tattoo ink with ultra-short pulses, mainly through a pressure effect rather than heat. They differ in wavelength and optics: PicoSure was built around 755 nm, PicoWay and PQX around 1064 nm and 532 nm. In Asian skin, diagnosis and settings matter more than the brand.
Key facts
- Picosecond
- A pulse in the trillionths of a second, roughly a thousand times shorter than a nanosecond Q-switched pulse
- PicoSure (Cynosure)
- Built around 755 nm alexandrite; newer versions add optional 532 nm and 1064 nm, with a Focus lens array for fractional-style delivery
- PicoWay (Candela)
- 532 nm and 1064 nm, with 785 nm and 730 nm handpieces and Resolve micro-beam handpieces for fractional delivery
- Fotona StarWalker PQX
- Picosecond Nd:YAG at 1064 nm and 532 nm, with further wavelength handpieces and fractional options depending on configuration
- Used here for pigment
- DEKA TORO: 785 nm picosecond emission, with 532 nm and 1064 nm nanosecond emissions and a longer thermal pulse
- Asian skin
- Epidermal melanin competes for the energy, so wavelength and conservative settings decide the risk of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation
- What none of them do
- Switch off the hormonal and vascular drivers of melasma, or stop new pigment forming with sun exposure
What does picosecond actually mean?
Picosecond is a unit of time, not a brand or a treatment. A picosecond laser delivers each pulse in the trillionths of a second, roughly a thousand times faster than the nanosecond pulses of the Q-switched lasers that came before it.
That speed changes how the energy acts. When a pigment granule or ink particle absorbs a pulse that short, it has almost no time to pass heat to the tissue around it, so the particle is shattered mainly by a pressure wave rather than cooked. Less heat spreading outward means less inflammation in the surrounding skin, and in Fitzpatrick III to V skin, inflammation is what produces post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
Every picosecond laser shares that principle. PicoSure, PicoWay, the Fotona StarWalker PQX and the DEKA TORO are different machines built around it, and the differences between them sit in which wavelengths they emit, how their pulses and beams are shaped, and which handpieces come with them. Those are the details worth understanding, because they decide what a given laser is suited to. The wider mechanism, and how pigment types differ, is set out in the pico laser guide.
How do PicoSure, PicoWay and Fotona PQX differ?
The short answer is wavelength. PicoSure, made by Cynosure, was introduced as a picosecond laser for tattoo and pigment work and is centred on 755 nm, the alexandrite wavelength; its newer version adds optional 532 nm and 1064 nm handpieces and offers a Focus lens array that concentrates energy into many small high-intensity points for fractional-style treatment.
PicoWay, made by Candela, is built on Nd:YAG at 1064 nm and its frequency-doubled partner at 532 nm, and adds separate 785 nm and 730 nm handpieces. Its Resolve handpieces split the beam into micro-beams at 532 nm and 1064 nm for fractional delivery. The Fotona StarWalker PQX is likewise a picosecond Nd:YAG system at 1064 nm and 532 nm, with further wavelength handpieces and fractional handpieces depending on how it is configured.
Each platform also has its own pulse duration and energy range, and manufacturers compete on those figures. In practice, a difference of a few hundred picoseconds matters less to a patient than whether the wavelength suits the target and whether the energy suits the skin around it. Comparing machines by pulse length alone misses the questions that decide what happens to your skin.
None of these brands is a treatment in itself. The same laser can be used for tattoo ink, a discrete sun spot, diffuse toning or fractional texture work, at very different settings, and two clinics using the same device may be doing quite different things with it.
“A treatment name is a category, not a protocol. Two clinics listing the same name may be working at different depths, on different tissue, toward different ends.”
Dr Sin YongOn comparing treatments by name
PicoSure, PicoWay and Fotona PQX at a glance| Feature | PicoSure | PicoWay | Fotona StarWalker PQX |
|---|
| Maker | Cynosure | Candela | Fotona |
| Core wavelength | 755 nm alexandrite | 1064 nm Nd:YAG and 532 nm | 1064 nm and 532 nm Nd:YAG |
| Additional handpieces | Optional 532 nm and 1064 nm on the newer version | 785 nm and 730 nm | Further wavelength handpieces depending on configuration |
| Fractional delivery | Focus lens array | Resolve micro-beam handpieces at 532 and 1064 nm | Fractional handpieces depending on configuration |
| Shared principle | Picosecond pulses fragment pigment mainly by pressure | Picosecond pulses fragment pigment mainly by pressure | Picosecond pulses fragment pigment mainly by pressure |
| Used at this practice | No; described for comparison | No; described for comparison | Picosecond laser on StarWalker platform for tattoo removal |
| What matters more than brand | Diagnosis, wavelength and energy for the skin type | Diagnosis, wavelength and energy for the skin type | Diagnosis, wavelength and energy for the skin type |
Which wavelength suits which job?
Wavelength is matched to colour and depth. Each colour of ink or pigment absorbs some wavelengths strongly and others weakly, and longer wavelengths generally travel deeper into the skin.
For tattoos, black ink absorbs 1064 nm well, which is why it is the workhorse wavelength for dark ink and for darker skin. Red, orange and some yellow inks respond to 532 nm. Blue and green inks are harder, and the 755 nm, 785 nm and 730 nm wavelengths were developed or adapted largely with those colours in mind. A multicoloured tattoo may therefore need more than one wavelength, whichever brand of laser is used.
For pigment, 532 nm is strongly absorbed by melanin and does not travel far, so it is directed at superficial epidermal marks such as solar lentigines and freckles. 1064 nm reaches deeper and is absorbed less by the melanin it passes on the way down, which makes it the more conservative choice for dermal pigment and for darker skin. 755 nm and 785 nm sit between the two in both absorption and depth.
For texture, all of these platforms offer some form of fractional delivery, in which the beam is concentrated into small zones that create laser-induced optical breakdown in the epidermis and dermis, with intact skin in between. That mode is aimed at remodelling rather than at clearing a single spot.
Why does pigment risk matter more in Asian skin?
Because the skin's own melanin competes for the energy. In Fitzpatrick III to V skin, which covers most patients in Singapore, the epidermis contains more melanin, so more of each pulse is absorbed at the surface before it reaches the intended target.
That absorption is greatest at shorter wavelengths, lower at 755 nm and 785 nm, and lowest at 1064 nm. Energy taken up by the surface turns into heat and inflammation, and inflammation in darker skin tends to leave a brown mark behind. The shorter picosecond pulse helps by reducing heat spread, and a retrospective series of Chinese patients treated with a 755 nm picosecond laser reported no post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, although it was small and transient pale patches occurred in two patients. Shorter pulses lower the risk; they do not remove it.
Melasma needs particular care. It is a chronic condition with hormonal, vascular and ultraviolet drivers, and heat or over-treatment can leave it darker than before. Any laser, picosecond or not, plays a conservative supporting role in melasma within a plan built around sun protection and topical therapy. The patterns that lead to pigmentation getting worse after laser are almost always about settings and diagnosis, not about which brand was used.
Which pico lasers does Dr Sin Yong use?
For pigment and tone, Dr Sin Yong uses the DEKA TORO platform in his T2 Frax Radiance protocol. Its picosecond emission is at 785 nm, and the same system carries 532 nm and 1064 nm nanosecond emissions and a longer thermal pulse, so pigment and collagen work can be addressed within one protocol with the balance set at consultation. Low-fluence 1064 nm laser toning is used separately where diffuse pigment and melasma call for a gentler approach.
Tattoo removal at the practice uses a picosecond laser on the Fotona StarWalker platform, with wavelength and energy chosen by ink colour, density and skin type at a separate evaluation. Dr Sin Yong holds the Fotona PQX Distinguished Practitioner certificate (Key Opinion Leader, Servicom Medical Singapore).
The 785 nm wavelength is the reason the TORO is used for pigment here. It sits between 532 nm and 1064 nm in both melanin absorption and depth, which suits pigment in the epidermis and the dermis, and DEKA states that the emission was engineered with Fitzpatrick III to V skin, including Asian skin, in mind. That is a design intention rather than a promise about any individual's result, and settings are still chosen for the pigment and the skin in front of him.
PicoSure and PicoWay are established devices used by other clinics in Singapore, and they are described here for comparison only. There is no single pico laser that suits every pigment, and a well-chosen wavelength on any of these platforms can be the right tool, just as a poorly chosen setting on any of them can cause harm.
How should you compare pico laser offers?
Compare the plan, not the machine. A brand name tells you which laser is in the room; it does not tell you what your pigment is, which wavelength will be aimed at it, at what energy, or how often.
Useful questions are simple. What is this pigment: a sun spot, freckles, post-inflammatory marks, melasma or something deeper? Which wavelength and mode will be used, and why does it suit my skin type? Who performs the treatment, and who reviews me if the skin darkens? Is melasma being treated as melasma? A plan that cannot answer those questions is a device looking for a use.
This site does not publish fees. Fees depend on what the assessment finds, the area, the wavelength or mode needed and how treatment is staged, and they are set out at consultation before anything is agreed. SMC guidelines bar doctors from offering discounts, time-limited offers or other inducements, so a deadline is never a reason to proceed. The wider cost factors for laser and injectable treatment are explained separately.
Finally, any pigmented spot that is changing, bleeding or irregular is examined before a laser is considered, and referred for dermatological assessment where needed. No brand of laser makes that step optional.
