Home/Choosing a treatment/PicoSure vs Stellar M22 IPL
Choosing between light-based treatmentsBoth treat discolouration, by opposite means. PicoSure shatters pigment with pressure and leaves almost no heat behind. Stellar M22 works thermally across a broad band of light. That difference decides which one your skin should have.
Heat is the deciding factor. Pigment-prone skin reacts badly to it, and vessels need it.
| PicoSure | Stellar M22 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | 755 nm picosecond laser | Filtered broad-band IPL, plus laser modules |
| Chinese name | 蜂巢皮秒 | 光子嫩肤 |
| Mechanism | Photomechanical — a pressure wave | Photothermal — selective heating |
| Strongest on | Pigment, melasma, tattoos, texture | Redness, vessels, rosacea, mixed photodamage |
| Melasma | Suitable, treated conservatively | Usually avoided — heat can worsen it |
| Darker skin types | Generally the safer choice | Requires caution |
| Tattoos | Yes, including blue and green ink | No |
| Leg veins | No | Yes, with the Nd:YAG module |
| Downtime | Redness for hours; spots flake over one to two weeks | Redness for hours to a day; spots darken then clear |
| Course | Depends on target | Three to five sessions, then maintenance |
Every light-based pigment treatment has to get energy into the pigment without damaging what surrounds it. A thermal device does this by heating the target until it breaks apart, and some of that heat inevitably spreads.
For a sun spot on fair skin that is fine. For melasma it is a problem, because the melanocytes involved are hyperactive and respond to heat by producing more pigment — the spot clears, then returns darker. The same risk applies in deeper skin tones, where surface melanin absorbs energy that was meant for the target.
A picosecond pulse sidesteps this. The energy is delivered faster than heat can conduct away, so the pigment experiences a mechanical shock rather than a burn. That is what makes PicoSure usable where thermal devices are a risk.
Vascular treatment needs heat. The mechanism is to heat haemoglobin inside the vessel enough to damage its wall so the body clears it, and a pressure wave does not accomplish that.
IPL is also broad by nature. Filtered to one range it targets vessels; filtered to another it targets brown pigment — which suits photodamaged skin that presents as a mixture of redness, pigment and dullness at once. A single-target laser treats one component and leaves the rest.
Frequently, for different components of the same face: IPL for the vascular background, picosecond laser for discrete pigment or melasma, spaced rather than combined in one session so the skin's response to each is clear.
For indented acne scarring, neither is the primary answer. RF microneedling, usually with subcision for tethered scars, does that work — though PicoSure is useful for the pigmentation acne leaves behind.
Questions
PicoSure. Melasma is aggravated by heat, and a picosecond laser fragments pigment mechanically rather than thermally. IPL is a thermal treatment and is usually avoided for melasma. Either way melasma recurs, so treatment is conservative and paired with sun protection and topical care.
Stellar M22 IPL. Treating vessels requires heating the haemoglobin inside them, which is what IPL does well and a picosecond laser does not do at all.
PicoSure is generally the safer choice for pigmentation in deeper skin tones, because far less heat reaches the surrounding tissue. IPL requires caution in darker skin, as surface melanin competes for the energy.
No. Tattoo removal needs a laser with a pulse short enough to shatter ink particles. PicoSure treats tattoos, and its 755 nm wavelength is particularly effective on blue and green ink.
Both can. Discrete, well-defined brown spots respond to either; a picosecond laser tends to be more efficient on stubborn or deeper pigment, and IPL covers a broad area of mixed damage in fewer passes.
Melasma, sun damage and post-inflammatory pigment look alike and respond very differently. Which device applies follows from which one you have.
