Like any pico laser, PicoWay works by delivering energy faster than the target can shed heat, so pigment breaks apart mechanically rather than being cooked. The shorter the pulse, the more of the energy goes into that shattering effect and the less goes into heating the skin nearby. PicoWay's pulses sit at roughly 450 picoseconds at 1064 nm, 375 at 532 nm and 300 at 785 nm — short even within the picosecond category.
The wavelength lineup is the practical difference. 1064 nanometers is near-infrared: it penetrates deep, is absorbed well by black ink, and is largely ignored by the melanin sitting in your epidermis. That last point is the reason it is the standard choice on brown and Black skin. 532 nanometers is green light, strongly absorbed by melanin and by red, orange and brown inks — excellent on superficial spots in lighter skin, riskier in darker skin. The optional 730 and 785 nanometer handpieces exist for blue and green ink, which everything else struggles with.
The Resolve handpiece does something different. It uses a holographic optic to divide the beam into a 10 by 10 array of microbeams, each carrying a small amount of energy to a point below the surface. The stratum corneum — the outer barrier layer — stays intact, so there is no open wound, but tiny zones of controlled damage underneath prompt the skin to lay down new collagen and to break up scattered pigment. Resolve comes in 1064 and 532 nm versions for different depths.
Ask which handpieces the clinic actually owns. A PicoWay with only 1064 and 532 nm cannot do much for green ink.
If your skin is brown or Black, or you have any history of dark marks after injury, ask for a test spot and have it read two to four weeks later, not at the end of the appointment.
Take your own before photos in consistent light.
No sun, no sunbeds, no self-tanner on the area.
Stop retinoids and exfoliating acids on the area for several days.
Antiviral tablets from the day before if you get cold sores and the treatment area is around the mouth.
Clean, bare skin — no makeup, moisturizer or sunscreen on the area.
Allow 30 to 60 minutes for numbing cream if a tattoo is being treated. Resolve and single spots are usually done without it.
Protective eyewear for everyone in the room.
The provider tests a small area first and watches how the skin responds before covering the whole treatment zone.
Pigment and tattoos. Each pulse feels like a hot elastic snap. Treated pigment blanches white for a few minutes. A few spots takes minutes; a palm-sized tattoo takes 10 to 20.
Resolve. The handpiece is stamped or glided across the area in overlapping passes. It feels like warm prickling rather than the sharp snap of the flat beam, and a full face runs 15 to 30 minutes.
Cold air is usually directed at the skin throughout.
You leave pink and warm. Tattoo areas may be swollen and welted and are dressed before you go.
Throughout: gentle washing, generous moisturizer, no acids or scrubs until calm, no swimming, saunas or heavy sweating until any scabs are gone, and daily sunscreen on treated skin for at least a month. Sessions are spaced four to eight weeks apart.
There is none, and there should not be. PicoWay is a class IV medical laser costing well into six figures, and its peak power is exactly what makes it dangerous outside trained hands.
Devices sold online as home picosecond pens are not picosecond lasers. They do not remove tattoos and they can cause burns and scars. Tattoo removal creams cannot reach ink sitting in the dermis.
For flat brown spots, the honest home route is a routine rather than a device: daily sunscreen, a retinoid, and a lightening agent such as azelaic acid, tranexamic acid or alpha arbutin. It works more slowly and it also stops new spots forming, which no laser does.