How to choose the right laser for your practice?

You may already have an idea of what you want, but it’s important to ask yourself if this machine is a good fit for your practice and your budget. You’ll need to crunch the numbers to work out if the revenue you expect to be able to access with the machine will realistically support your financial outlay.

Make sure you tell the broker what you want, rather than the other way around. All you need from your broker is the facts and technical support to be able to determine what is going to work for your business. This means considering your needs, the type of equipment you would like to buy, and your budget constraints. Be wary if a seller seems to be trying to steer you to buy one particular machine only, and they don’t seem to know much about the equipment they are selling, or if they are trying to make you go over your budget.

Some of the things you should consider are:

• Profit

To run a profitable practice you need to be offering high dollar/high margin procedures, with the goal of increasing revenue but also providing the best possible results. For example, consider offering larger packages offering repeat treatments as these are most effective in showing better results than single treatments. They also ensure the client returns.

• Patients

The type of machine you need depends on the type of population you service. You’ll need to identify the market characteristics to choose which machines are best suited to your practice profile, to ensure you don’t buy the wrong laser for your target client base. Consider such characteristics as gender, age and ethnicity (Fitzpatrick Skin Types I through VI).

• Wavelength

Wavelengths will vary depending on the skin tone of the patient. In other words, for lighter skinned patients, a hair removal laser such as Alexandrite is suitable. For darker skin tones, a 1064 Nd-YAG would be necessary. For a client base with a mix of all skin types, experts suggest a diode laser with long pulse width.

• Spot size

The laser’s spot size represents the skin area which can be covered by the laser pulse. Larger spot size lasers will be able to more quickly cover a greater area. In the past, undergoing a full laser hair removal procedure for the back or legs may have taken around two hours, whereas now the same areas can be treated in under 20 minutes.

• Hertz

Pulses per second are measured in hertz, which reflect the speed at which the laser emits the pulse. An important element of the device, some lasers can emit pulses at around 3 per second, meaning the technician can cover more skin more quickly.

• Consumables

To calculate the true cost of providing treatments, you must factor in the cost of consumables (such as single-use treatment tips, Cryogen canisters, coupling fluid, lightguides, handpieces that have certain pulse life, filters, fibres and so on) in order to determine breakeven costs and profit.

• What standard accessories does it come with?

Be certain about what is included in the purchase price. There are many accessories to consider, such as: operating manuals, treatment parameter guides, keys, operator and patient eyewear, footswitch, Cryogen, treatment tips, additional fibres, water refill kits, light guides and hand pieces.