If you’ve struggled with acne, you probably want one thing: clear skin. Not slightly better skin. Not “a few less breakouts.” You want to look in the mirror and actually feel good about what you see.
I get that, because acne is personal to me too.
AviClear changed my skin, my confidence, and honestly, my life. It’s one of the reasons I feel so passionately about the aesthetics industry. Today, I believe in AviClear wholeheartedly as an acne treatment — but there’s one thing I tell every client of ours before we ever turn the laser on:
AviClear is not a quick fix. It’s a long game.
And some things really are worth the wait. To understand why, it helps to understand what AviClear is actually doing beneath your skin.
So, What Causes Acne in the First Place?
Acne is a lot more complicated than “dirty skin.” Excess oil, clogged pores, inflammation, bacteria, hormones — they all play a part. But one piece that matters a great deal is the sebaceous gland.
These glands produce sebum, the oil that naturally lives in your skin. And even if you’re dealing with oily skin, we don’t actually want to get rid of it all. Sebum has a job to do — your skin needs some oil to stay healthy and moisturized.
The real problem is too much oil. Excess sebum helps create the conditions acne needs to develop, and research into acne backs up just how central the sebaceous gland is to that process.
That’s where AviClear comes in.
How Does AviClear Actually Work?
AviClear uses a 1726 nanometer (nm) laser wavelength. Quick clarification, since this trips people up: 1726 nm describes the laser’s wavelength, not how deep it travels into your skin.
Here’s why that wavelength matters — sebum absorbs the laser’s energy remarkably well. According to AviClear’s manufacturer, pure sebum absorbs roughly twice as much energy at 1726 nm as water does. That’s what lets the device zero in on the sebaceous glands with real precision.
Think of it this way: AviClear is built to turn down the oil, not turn off healthy skin.
The laser delivers controlled heat to the sebaceous glands, which damages the oil-producing sebocytes and reduces sebum production. Meanwhile, contact cooling protects the skin around it. Published research, including tissue studies, backs up this kind of selective targeting.
Put simply: less excess oil leads to a less acne-friendly environment, which leads to fewer inflammatory breakouts. That’s what sets AviClear apart from treatments that mostly manage what’s happening on the surface.
Why Doesn’t AviClear Work Overnight?
This might be the most important thing in this whole article, so stay with me.
Everyone wants fast results. AviClear just isn’t that treatment. It works by triggering changes inside your skin — and then your skin needs time to actually respond to those changes.
The clinical research backs this up clearly. In a study of 104 people with moderate-to-severe acne, patients received three treatments. Four weeks after the last one, about a third (32.6%) had a 50% or greater reduction in inflammatory lesions. By 12 weeks, that jumped to 79.8%. By 26 weeks, it reached 87.3%.
Notice what happened there — treatment was over, but results kept climbing. That’s exactly why we don’t want clients judging their final results a few weeks after treatment number three. The laser sessions may be finished. Your skin’s story isn’t.
Treatment, Flare, Improvement… and Patience
Every AviClear consultation at Collab Medspa includes a heads-up: expect ups and downs. The journey tends to look something like this:
Treatment → possible flare → improvement → treatment → possible flare → more improvement → treatment → possible flare → wait.
That last part — waiting — is usually the hardest. Temporary flare-ups can happen after treatment, and the manufacturer lists them among the possible effects.
In our own experience, some of the most exciting changes tend to show up around nine to twelve months out. That’s our clinical observation, not a guarantee everyone follows the same timeline — but it lines up with what published studies have found: improvement that keeps building for months after the treatment series ends.
So if you’re a month past your third session and still seeing breakouts, don’t assume it’s failed. Your story may not be finished yet.
The Client Who Thought AviClear Wasn’t Working
We had a client call us about a month after his third treatment. He was frustrated — still breaking out, and from where he stood, AviClear just wasn’t doing anything. We understood completely. When you’ve fought acne for years, “improvement” doesn’t feel like enough. You want clear skin.
We asked him to send updated photos and lined them up against where he’d started. The difference was incredible. He was actually having a great response — he just couldn’t see it, because he was living with his own skin every single day.
We showed him the progress, encouraged him to keep going, and reinforced the value of regular facials and staying consistent at home. It’s a moment that comes up more than you’d think.
Acne can be an emotional roller coaster — hope, frustration, improvement, another breakout, discouragement, more improvement, and eventually, relief. That’s why treating acne can’t just be “fire the laser, see you later.” Sometimes our job is reminding you how far you’ve already come.
AviClear Does the Heavy Lifting — You Still Have a Job
When AviClear first hit the market, one of the most appealing parts was how little patients had to change. Finish the treatment series, let the laser do the work. And to be fair, clinical studies do show the laser alone can produce real improvement.
But here at Collab Medspa, we’re not aiming to just check a box that says “acne improved.” Our clients want clear, healthy-looking skin — and that takes a little more.
Our philosophy is simple: AviClear does the heavy lifting, but clear skin is a collaboration, or a “Collab” if you will. Haha!
What You Can Do to Help Your Skin
AviClear can target your sebaceous glands. It can’t wash your face for you. It can’t clean your makeup brushes, change your pillowcase, or make you stick to your skincare routine on the nights you’re too tired and just want to crash.
Those things sound almost too simple to matter. That’s exactly why people skip them.
Depending on your skin, we might encourage things like:
- Washing your face consistently, morning and night (always at night, do NOT skip this!)
- Using quality skincare suited to acne-prone skin
- Keeping pillowcases clean
- Cleaning makeup brushes regularly
- Choosing makeup products with a bit more care
- Keeping hair and hair products away from acne-prone areas when you can
- Following the skincare plan we build for you
- Scheduling facials that support your skin and address active congestion
None of this changes how the 1726 nm laser itself works, and none of it guarantees a specific result. We just see these habits as part of caring for acne-prone skin while AviClear handles the sebaceous side of things. Technology and common sense work better together than either one alone.
Healthy Skin Is the Real Goal
We want clients thinking beyond any single pimple. The bigger goal is healthier skin, period.
Your skin is a living organ. It has a barrier. It produces oil for a reason. It’s constantly renewing itself. That’s exactly why “more aggressive” isn’t automatically “better.” We’re not trying to strip away your skin’s natural oil entirely — we want to dial back excess sebaceous activity while still respecting your skin’s overall health.
That’s why we think the best acne plan is really a partnership: science, professional care, good skincare, consistency, and time.
What Does the Research Actually Show?
This is one of the reasons we’re genuinely excited about this technology, not just selling it.
A peer-reviewed study of 104 patients across Fitzpatrick Skin Types II through VI found steady, progressive improvement after three 1726 nm laser treatments. By 26 weeks post-treatment, 87.3% of participants had at least a 50% reduction in active inflammatory lesions, with no serious adverse events tied to the device or protocol.
A separate clinical study found a significant drop in inflammatory lesions after treatment, with improvement continuing during longer-term follow-up. And research into the mechanism itself supports what we described earlier — the 1726 nm wavelength selectively heats the sebaceous gland while contact cooling protects everything around it.
No treatment works exactly the same for every person. But the science behind AviClear gives us a real, biological reason to believe it can help.
Is AviClear Worth It?
For someone struggling with acne, my honest answer is yes — I think it’s absolutely worth considering. I say that as someone who treats acne for a living, and as someone who’s lived with it myself.
AviClear changed my skin, my confidence, and my life. But I want clients to know exactly what they’re signing up for: you’re not buying three appointments and instant clear skin. You’re investing in a treatment that changes one of the biological drivers of acne — and then giving your skin the time it needs to respond. Ideally, you’re using that time to get better at taking care of your skin too.
Who’s a Good Candidate for AviClear?
AviClear is FDA-cleared for the long-term treatment of mild, moderate, and severe inflammatory acne vulgaris, and the manufacturer says it can be used across skin types and tones.
Still, a consultation matters. Certain medical conditions and medications can change whether or how someone should be treated. For example, AviClear’s safety information lists pregnancy and treatment for skin cancer as contraindications, and flags several situations that call for extra caution — recent or current isotretinoin use, anticoagulants, certain inflammatory skin conditions, pigment disorders, and a handful of other medical considerations.
If we have any concern about a medication your doctor has prescribed, we’re not going to guess. We’ll ask you to check with the clinician who prescribed it, and we’re happy to be a resource in that conversation.
Clear skin matters. Safe skin matters more.
The Most Important Thing We Tell Our AviClear Clients
Be patient. Be consistent. Take care of your skin. And don’t let one bad breakout convince you that months of progress vanished overnight.
We know how hard it is to trust the process when you’re the one staring in the mirror every morning. That’s exactly why we want to hear from you when you’re discouraged. Send us the photos. Ask the questions. Come see us. Let us look at the whole journey instead of just today’s breakout.
Because our goal was never just to perform three AviClear treatments. Our goal is to help you get to the other side of acne — and we believe AviClear can be an incredible tool for doing exactly that.
You just have to put in some work too. Which, honestly, is exactly what the name on our door has been telling you all along: Collab.
Individual results vary. This article is for general education and does not replace medical advice. A consultation is needed to determine whether AviClear is appropriate for you.
