Ablative lasers, such as CO2 and erbium, remove the surface in a controlled way and involve real downtime. Non-ablative lasers, including Fraxel and Clear + Brilliant, pass through the surface and heat the tissue underneath, with less downtime and more sessions. IPL and BBL are not lasers at all but broadband light, used mainly for brown spots and redness.
Skin tone matters more here than in almost any other category. Several of these devices carry a genuine risk of burns or lasting pigment change on richer skin tones, and the right device for one person is the wrong device for another. Asking a provider which devices they own and which they would use on your skin specifically is a reasonable and important question.
What to ask a provider
- Which specific device would you use on my skin tone, and why?
- What is your experience treating skin like mine with it?
- What does the recovery actually look like, day by day?
Who offers this near Boulder
102 of the providers in our directory offer this, detected from their own published service pages. Scores are our 0 to 100 rating of the business, not of this treatment specifically, and they are never for sale. How we score.
Related: Pigmentation, Melasma and RosaceaSkin TighteningTattoo Removal
This page is information, not medical advice. Annette Thompson is a medical technologist writing from public data and firsthand visits, not your clinician. Decisions about any of this belong in a conversation with a qualified clinician who knows your history.