Candela GentleLase and Candela GentleLase Pro

The Candela GentleLase series of products sport a long-pulsed 755 nm Alexandrite laser, and Dynamic Cooling Device (DCD) to keep skin cool during treatment. The GentleLase’s featured wavelength is extremely effective for treating patients with lighter skin types, where there is more contrast between skin and the targeted hair or dermal lesions.

The GentleLase is a broad, flexible platform, featuring a number of versatile handpieces, as well as adjustable spot sizes ranging from 6 to 18 mm, allowing for truly individual, customized treatments. This is especially useful for sensitive, difficult-to-treat areas of the body, such as the lips, ears, underarms, and bikini lines. The most popular treatment associated with the GentleLase is facial and body hair reduction. Most hair reduction patients require six to eight treatments, spread over a period of six to ten months. Clients experience lasting reductions averaging 80% to 90%, making it one of the most effective treatments on the market.

However, hair removal and reduction are only the tip of the air-cooled iceberg that is the DCD-powered handpiece. Other effective treatments include the following:

• Diminishment of pigmented lesions
• Reduction in the visibility of wrinkles
• Treatment of fine facial veins
• Treatment of pigmented spots caused by age and sun exposure
• Removal of freckles
• Reduction or removal of large birthmarks, such as port-wine stains and cafe-au-lait spots
• Removal of vascular lesions, growths, and birthmarks, such as hemangiomas and venous lakes

Candela GentleMax Pro

It would be an understatement to say that the GentleMax is a broad treatment platform. Entire practices have been built around the use of this single system since its original introduction to the United States in 1997. To give you an idea of the GentleMax’s breadth of treatment options, here is a list of only some of the treatments for which the GentleMax Pro is indicated:

• Pigmented lesions, including lentigines, brown spots, freckles and age spots
• Skin damage, such as that resulting from age, or sun and wind exposure
• Vascular malformations and lesions, including hemangiomas, spider veins (telangiectasia), and unsightly leg and facial veins
• Facial and body hair removal, including for the treatment of pseudofolliculitis barbae (beard bumps)
• Nail fungal infections, such as onychomycosis and tinea unguium
• Reduction of diffused redness and the appearance of rosacea

The broad applications of the GentleMax are thanks to its dual-laser system, which incorporates a 755 nm Alexandrite laser, and a 1064 mm wavelength Nd:YAG laser. These lasers are highly customizable, with spot sizes including 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 18 mm. Additionally, a Specialty Delivery System option is available which features spot sizes of 1.5 mm and 3 mm, for the treatment of pigment spots and vascular lesions. The duration of the pulses delivered by the lasers are tunable to the microsecond, allowing for specialized treatments targeting conditions on a wide variety of skin tones and colors. All of these adjustments can be managed via the full-color touch screen, which makes it easy to determine at a glance the current fluence, spot size, pulse duration, and more.

The Candela GentleMax Pro offers a choice of two handpieces.  The Dynamic Cooling Device (DCD) handpiece delivers bursts of cryogen gas before and after each laser pulse, to maintain a consistent and comfortable skin temperature during treatment. The second option is the Air Cooling Compatible (ACC) handpiece, which uses the continuous delivery of cold air to the treatment site to prevent uncomfortable heating or burning of the skin.

Candela GentleYAG

Occasionally, clinicians run into clients who respond poorly–or fail to respond at all–to procedures involving a number of different makes and models of lasers. The GentleYAG was developed with these ‘difficult’ customers in mind. The variable pulse Nd:YAG laser powering the GentleYAG operates on the 1064 nm wavelength, with an extremely high fluence of up to 600 J/cm2, making it ideal for treating customer conditions that otherwise fail to respond to treatment involving competing products.

While the GentleYAG is a specialized tool, its applications are broad. Its most popular use is for permanent hair reduction, including the treatment of PFB (beard bumps). However, it also operates on a wavelength useful for the removal of  telengiectasias, reducing the visibility of skin wrinkles, and eliminating undesirable veins on the face, legs, and elsewhere. It’s ideal for practices that offer skin tightening protocols that target the delicate skin of the face and neck, and performs well on all skin types, including tanned skin, and darker skin colors–the GentleYAG performs particularly well on olive-colored Mediterranean complexions.

In addition, advanced practitioners with a great deal of experience have seen excellent results when using the Gentle YAG laser for laser peels. This is usually done in conjunction with carbon powder. Typically, this specialized procedure is used to reduce the size and visibility of facial pores, as well as the lightening of skin color and overall improvement in dermal texture.