Sun-damaged skin rarely has pigment at just one level. Four sessions across two devices, priced upfront — treating what's at the surface and what sits below it.
Two picosecond sessions and two thulium sessions, alternated over three to four months, at a fixed package price. Picosecond fragments pigment mechanically and reaches deeper; thulium treats the surface and brightens. Built for sun damage and mixed photodamage — not melasma, which needs a plan that adapts as you go.
Most people who come in about pigment don't have one problem. They have solar lentigines sitting near the surface, some deeper unevenness, a few post-acne marks, and general dullness — all at once, all at slightly different levels.
Treat only the surface and the deeper unevenness stays. Reach deeper and the overall brightness doesn't shift much. Repeating either device alone tends to plateau partway through the problem, which is the usual reason someone finishes a course feeling like it mostly worked.
Delivers energy in pulses short enough to fragment melanin mechanically rather than by heating it. That matters in pigmented skin, where heat is what provokes rebound. Reaches deeper than a superficial device, though genuinely dermal pigment remains difficult for any laser.
Absorbed so strongly by water that it stays in the epidermis. Treated tissue sheds over about a week, taking surface pigment with it. The brightening device — one to three days of visible recovery, and it won't reach anything deep.
Alternating, with three to four weeks between sessions. The spacing is doing real work — stacking pigment treatments close together raises the risk of post-inflammatory change rather than speeding anything up.
The price is fixed. The delivery isn't. Order, intervals, and settings are reviewed at every visit, and adjusted where the response calls for it.
If your skin reacts more than expected, intervals lengthen. If one component is doing most of the work, the emphasis shifts. A package that couldn't flex would be worse medicine than booking sessions one at a time.
Melasma is chronic, hormonally driven, and heat-sensitive. It can rebound darker after treatment, and the correct response to that is often to stop, wait, and change approach — not to work through remaining sessions because they're paid for.
It also relapses. Even a good result needs ongoing topical management and rigorous sun avoidance to hold, which makes a fixed-length package the wrong shape for the problem.
Where assessment shows melasma is the primary driver, you'll be offered an individualised plan instead — and that conversation happens before anything is purchased. How melasma is approached here.
Pregnancy or breastfeeding — hormonally driven pigment often settles on its own afterward, and treating through it is treating a moving target.
Recent significant sun exposure or an active tan. Treating tanned skin raises the risk of the exact pigmentary change you're trying to fix. Wait it out.
Active infection or inflammatory skin condition in the treatment area, or recent isotretinoin.
An unresolved lesion you haven't had looked at. Anything changing in size, shape, or colour gets examined before any laser goes near it — and referred if it needs to be.
The pigment being treated is largely sun-driven. Correcting it and then returning to unprotected exposure reproduces it, usually within a season.
Daily broad-spectrum SPF through the series and afterward isn't aftercare — it's the difference between a result that lasts and four sessions you'll want to repeat next year.
Packages make sense where the response is predictable, which sun damage generally is. Melasma isn't — it's the one pigment problem where I might want to stop after the first session and change course entirely, and nobody should be paying in advance for a plan that might need abandoning. So it's excluded, and I say that before anyone buys rather than after.
What is the Pigment Protocol?
A four-session package — two picosecond laser sessions and two thulium sessions — alternated over roughly three to four months. Picosecond treatment fragments melanin photoacoustically and reaches deeper pigment; thulium treats surface pigment and overall brightness. It exists because most sun-damaged skin has pigment at more than one level, and a single device tends to leave part of it behind.
Why combine two lasers instead of using one?
Because they work by different mechanisms and reach different levels. A superficial thulium device treats surface pigment and brightness well but does not reach deeper. A picosecond device fragments pigment mechanically rather than thermally and reaches further, but is not primarily a brightening treatment. Using both across a series treats more of what is actually present than repeating either alone.
Is this package suitable for melasma?
No, and that is deliberate. Melasma is chronic, hormonally driven, and heat-sensitive — it can rebound darker after treatment, and the plan often needs changing after the first session based on how the skin responds. A prepaid fixed course is the wrong structure for a condition that requires adapting as you go. Patients whose pigment is primarily melasma are given an individualised plan instead, and that is established at assessment before anything is purchased.
Who is the package best suited to?
Sun damage and mixed photodamage — solar lentigines, uneven tone, dullness, and post-acne marks that have settled. These respond predictably enough that committing to a series upfront is reasonable. It also suits patients who have had a single course of one device and found the improvement partial.
How are the sessions sequenced?
Typically picosecond first, then thulium, then picosecond, then thulium, with three to four weeks between each. That spacing matters — stacking pigment treatments too closely raises the risk of post-inflammatory change rather than accelerating the result. The order and intervals are reviewed at each visit and adjusted if the response indicates.
What results should I expect?
Substantial improvement in surface pigment and overall evenness, developing across the series rather than after any single session. Deeper pigment improves but is less predictable. This is a correction rather than a permanent fix — pigment driven by sun exposure returns with further sun exposure, which is why daily protection is part of the plan rather than an afterthought.
Is the package cheaper than booking individually?
Yes — it is priced below the cost of booking two picosecond and two thulium sessions separately, and financing is available through Cherry and CareCredit. Pricing is published on the treatment menu rather than quoted only at consultation.
Assessment first, purchase after. If melasma is driving your pigment, or a single device would do it, you'll be told that before you spend anything.
4667 MacArthur Blvd, Suite 310 — Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 568-7544 — info@plumpmedicalspa.com
Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 6pm