Alike on paper, different in practice
On paper the two look alike, because 755 nm and 1064 nm appear on both. They are not the same laser. A titanium device is a diode platform, it adds 810 nm, and all three wavelengths come from diode sources. Despite the name, nothing made of titanium touches the skin or stays in it. Titanium is the model name.
Time Freeze Laser LCLR® uses long-pulsed alexandrite and Nd:YAG sources on a Lutronic platform. Dr Sin Yong uses the two wavelengths together, because they are absorbed differently, and aims energy at the upper, middle and lower dermis in one visit.
Numbers on a brochure say little by themselves. How long each pulse lasts, how much energy it carries, how the heat is laid down and the plan around it all shape what reaches the tissue.
“A shared wavelength does not make a shared treatment. I look for where the laxity sits and whether there is excess to take away, and then choose the laser.”
One warms the dermis, the other adds a Sculpting mode
A titanium session is a dermal treatment. The handpiece keeps moving, so the skin warms gradually. That is a reasonable match for early loss of firmness and fine crepe-like lines, both of which sit in the dermis.
Time Freeze heats the dermis too, at several depths. Its Sculpting mode is directed at sagged fat along the jowl, beside the nasolabial fold and under the chin, and at settled filler once it has been mapped. So the useful question is which layer has loosened, and whether sagged fat or settled filler is part of the problem. See Time Freeze Laser LCLR®.
Which suits which face
| Option | What it does | Tends to suit | Not for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time Freeze Laser LCLR® | Heats several depths of the dermis and adds a Sculpting mode | Mild to moderate laxity with sagged fat or settled filler, and loose neck skin | Freshly tanned skin, a lean zone, marked skin excess |
| Titanium lifting (not offered here) | Warms mainly the dermis over repeated passes | Early loss of firmness | SMAS laxity, lost volume, a lean face, heavy descent |
| VF Lift | Monopolar radiofrequency along vertical vectors | Lean faces, laxity with hollowing, the neck | An implanted electronic device |
| Ultherapy or HIFU | Focused ultrasound points down to the SMAS | Structural descent in a face of normal fullness | Lean or hollow faces |
| Surgical referral | Repositions tissue and removes skin | Marked skin excess or heavy descent | Skin quality on its own |
What each one cannot do
Get down to the SMAS, shift a fat pad that has descended, or put back lost volume.
Get down to the SMAS, put back lost volume, take away loose skin or dissolve filler. It also has to wait in pregnancy, if skin is freshly tanned, sunburnt, infected or inflamed, or after a recent course of oral acne medication.
Take away heavy skin, relax neck bands or raise a lid that sits low because of a weak muscle.
If you came looking for titanium lifting
If you ask for titanium lifting, Dr Sin Yong treats that as a question about lifting in general. He watches your face at rest and while you talk, feels how much skin and fat there is in each zone, and scans for earlier filler if he suspects it. He then asks which layer has loosened, whether each zone has fat to spare, and whether anything is weighing the face down.
If you have had titanium lifting before, tell him which device, when, and what you noticed. Recent heat in the skin affects when the next treatment can happen and how it is set.
Risks at a glance
Both heat the skin, so in Asian skin the main things to plan around are redness, blisters if energy runs too high, and darkening after inflammation.
Tenderness where fat or filler was targeted. Less often, small crusts or temporary darkening. Rare risks are a burn, a blister, lightening, scarring and losing more fat in a zone than planned.