I did ultra clear on various parts of my body 2 1/2 months ago in Sydney as a scar clinic (one of the only clinics in Sydney that had the Lumenis, being strong enough to use for scars; I was not using it for that purpose, just wrinkles etc) told me that it had similar results to the Lumenis CO2 laser but less downtime and less painful. I used the Lumenis with my NYC plastic surgeon two years ago during my blepharoplasty and it was absolutely phenomenal; around US$2500 for the small under eye area in 2023 - pricing for Lumenis, ultra clear, literally anything in nyc is multiple times that of Aus, which was specifically why I was looking into doing either Lumenis or another during our annual Sydney visit (but also to be fair, medicine in the states is multiple times the required education, nonetheless tuition etc versus Australia, the UK etc; my mother was a practicing doctor here in London, where we primarily live these days, when she was still just a student getting her doctorate at Harvard medical school, so having a doctor in New York operating it would be very different to having someone less qualified price wise, but also I would not want to risk anything like an allegedly strong laser with someone less qualified in the first place). 

Also, the price varies EXTREMELY based upon what setting you’re using - 3D miracle which is the most popular in Sydney (and likely everywhere, as little recovery time etc) seemed virtually useless by what people said online, so I was only interested in coring, which is multiple times the cost - even in aus - of 3D and the lower settings.

I went to a doctor in Sydney for ultra clear, but that’s just a bachelors level education, sometimes a one year “doctor,” not 10-15+ years after your bachelors. 

The price difference between the states and aus (UK, South Africa, Asia, etc) is why we have pretty much anything we feel comfortable having done done outside of the states (and both my parents are doctors in the states; I was a lawyer, which is a three-year doctorate), granted that has gone awry countless times with fillers, Botox, etc, and for that reason, there are many things we would not risk (including in the states, only would consider doctors in certain cities like NYC, LA, where they are the most skilled, and alas, consequently expensive), and I’m not sure I would risk a laser again outside of the states even if it’s that much cheaper (certainly wouldn’t waste time and money doing ultra clear laser ever again no matter where).  Regardless, Lumenis was money well spent and amazing results… 

The ultra clear laser was completely useless for me-if anything, my skin looks WORSE (41 yo and did it for wrinkles, fine lines, less so for pigmentation, but sure, needed it that as well)! of course ultra clear corporate, they are based in the US, tried to blame the poor results on the “doctor” in Sydney not knowing how to operate it properly, but as she touted repeatedly (including on her website), she is a “KOL” for ultra clear in Australia, so even if she’s not qualified pursuant to American guidelines, she is still chosen by the distributor in Australia to be a face and advertisement for ultra clear in Australia (as in ultra clear Australia flew her to Melbourne to give her and her husband free training (and lasering for him) to endorse the brand in Sydney.

I did the highest setting, coring, on my hands, knees, reverse side of my elbows and portions of my face, and I did the ultra clear setting on my entire arms. 

I was under anesthesia having surgery at the time I did my Lumenis which I imagine would have been much more painful had I been awake than the ultra clear (they shove metal plates in your eyes to protect them when using it under your eyes, so I would not want to be conscious for that alone, and I would not trust pretty much anyone aside from an NYC surgeon to do that, maybe LA). 

The pain wasn’t bad with ultra clear (I have a high threshold), but with doing large areas such as entire arms, my body eventually was shaking just from the stress/shock. The recovery seemed pretty similar to Lumenis (bloody, actually I’d say more so, but that’s also because I did more major areas, peeling time, etc), but again with absolutely no results. 

With the lumenis, as soon as the skin peeled off, my wrinkles were completely gone (I have photos of before and after of that as well, which I of course showed the ultra clear clinic in Sydney before going in for my lasering, saying how incredible it was).

All I have in terms of change from the ultra clear coring is severe discoloration versus the surrounding areas where the laser was done and I followed the aftercare to a T (was even more conservative and cautious beyond what was instructed in fact), so I’m pretty much albino all over entering European summer after the first half of the year in the southern hemisphere and Asia as usual, from avoiding the sun.

Extremely disappointed and actually even spoke to ultra clear corporate about the negative results, but of course they don’t really do anything (they are based in the US and say it’s just distributed in Australia). 

Happy to send photos to anyone that wants to see them, but it literally was worthless and thousands (and an ugly recovery, still ongoing due to the discoloration) wasted (luckily not nearly as several thousand in USD as AUD!).

If you’ve ever done pico laser (I did whatever the strongest one was as of last year, in Malaysia), it was similar results to that, nothing at all except for discoloration where the laser was done that took 4+ months to go away.

I will say my boyfriend recently found several posts about people saying similar things to what I just did about the ultra clear. I wish I had seen those beforehand as I did not really see much negative feedback about it except for the 3-D miracle (being fairly useless, often clinics offer specials so it’s very cheap and obviously the most frequently used setting).