Question 1

How much does laser treatment cost in London?

Accepted Answer

A consultation with a doctor is £250 on video or £350 in person, and the whole fee comes off any programme you go on to have. Programmes start from £950 for one area in a single session, a course for the full face runs from £2,250, and the complete programmes, with the doctor reviewing you at every stage, run from £4,250 to £5,950. The figure is confirmed at the consultation rather than before, because the honest price depends on what your skin actually needs. Across London, single sessions of fractional resurfacing are commonly £850 to £2,200 and a course of three for pigmentation commonly £900 to £1,250.

Question 2

Why does the price only come after the consultation?

Accepted Answer

Because the treatment does. The single biggest reason laser disappoints is the wrong platform used on the wrong skin for the wrong diagnosis, and the only way to avoid that is to examine the skin first. You book a consultation, not a treatment, and you leave it with a written plan, the number of sessions, the dates and the price. Nothing is charged for treatment until you have that.

Question 3

Does laser work on melasma?

Accepted Answer

Usually not as the first treatment, and the evidence is clear about why. Melasma resists laser and laser can provoke it, particularly in darker skin. Chehrara and colleagues pooled 16 randomised trials in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology in 2025 and concluded that laser belongs alongside strict photoprotection and topical agents rather than in place of them, and noted that follow up in most trials ran only two to six months, which is too short to say much about recurrence. So a doctor will tell you whether laser is right for your pigmentation, and if the diagnosis is melasma the answer is usually a topical and photoprotection plan first. Laser does not clear melasma.

Question 4

Is laser hair removal permanent?

Accepted Answer

No. What the evidence supports is long term reduction, not removal that lasts for life. Kao and colleagues pooled 13 randomised trials covering 652 patients in 2023 and found reduction ranging from about 30 to 84 percent depending on the device, the hair and the skin type, with most patients needing six or more sessions and occasional maintenance after that. We do not offer laser hair removal at The Wellness today. It is a real treatment with real evidence behind it, and it will appear here when we do offer it, priced and evidenced like everything else. We would rather say so plainly than sell it to you.

Question 5

How many sessions do I need for acne scars?

Accepted Answer

Three to six, built over months, and the honest framing is that scars improve by grades rather than resolve. Liu and colleagues compared fractional carbon dioxide against fractional erbium in a 2024 meta analysis and found carbon dioxide modestly more effective for atrophic scarring, with an odds ratio of 1.81 and a 95 percent confidence interval of 1.08 to 3.01, at the cost of longer downtime. Which of the two suits you depends on your scar type and your skin tone, and on how much recovery time your life allows. Icepick, boxcar and rolling scars respond differently, so the consultation maps which you have before anything is chosen.

Question 6

What is the difference between laser and radiofrequency?

Accepted Answer

They are different technologies and only one of them is laser. A laser delivers a single wavelength of light that is absorbed by a specific target in the skin, which is why one platform suits pigment, another suits blood vessels and another suits water in the tissue. Radiofrequency and focused ultrasound deliver energy as heat to tighten tissue instead. Thermage, Ultherapy and focused ultrasound tightening are commonly sold on pages headed laser and none of them is a laser. Where one of them is the right answer for your diagnosis a doctor here will say so and point you to it rather than relabel it.

Question 7

Can I have laser on darker skin?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with the platform and the settings chosen for your skin type, which is the part that matters. Darker skin carries a higher risk of pigment change after treatment, so the wavelength, the fluence and the interval all change, and some platforms are ruled out. Your skin type is recorded at the consultation and drives the choice. Where the risk of pigment change outweighs the likely benefit the doctor will tell you that, and a topical plan may be the better answer.

Question 8

Who will treat me, and how is the treatment decided?

Accepted Answer

A GMC registered doctor examines you, reaches a diagnosis and decides the treatment from it. The doctor who will carry out the treatment is the one who discusses it with you and takes your consent, which is what the GMC guidance on cosmetic interventions requires and is never delegated to reception. Treatment follows that medical assessment, and there is a cooling off period of two weeks between the consultation and the first session so the decision is made without pressure.

Question 9

Which laser platform will you use on me?

Accepted Answer

The one your diagnosis calls for, which is the point of assessing first. Pulsed dye laser or intense pulsed light for visible vessels and background redness. Q switched or picosecond platforms for sun induced brown marks. Fractional carbon dioxide or erbium for texture and scarring, ablative where the damage is deep and downtime is acceptable and non ablative where it is not. Chang pooled four studies covering 141 participants in 2021 and found no statistically significant difference between pulsed dye laser and intense pulsed light for facial redness, which is a good illustration of the principle. The platform is not the treatment. The diagnosis is.

Question 10

Does it hurt, and how much downtime should I expect?

Accepted Answer

Most people describe it as a hot pinprick or a flick, and topical anaesthetic and surface cooling are used where the setting warrants it. Downtime is the honest trade off. Non ablative treatment usually means redness for a day or two. Ablative resurfacing means several days of redness and peeling and a longer recovery, with a higher risk of pigment change and prolonged redness, and rarely of scarring. You are told which category your plan falls into, and how many days to keep clear, before you book the session rather than after.

Question 11

Can I have laser if I use a retinoid or have had a chemical peel?

Accepted Answer

Often yes, with timing. Retinoids are usually stopped for a period before treatment and restarted afterwards, and a recent peel means waiting for the skin to settle. Isotretinoin is the one that matters most and needs a longer gap and a specific conversation. Bring a list of everything you take and everything you apply, including anything bought without a prescription, and the consultation will set the timings around it.

Question 12

What happens if the doctor says laser is not right for me?

Accepted Answer

Then that is the answer, and your consultation fee is credited against whatever is right instead. For a share of the people who come to us the honest answer will be a topical plan, a different modality, or simply photoprotection and time, and we would rather tell you that than treat you. You will not be turned away with nothing. You leave with a written plan for the thing that will actually help, even when that thing is not laser and not ours.

The laser
suitability check.

Select Treatment

The lasersuitability check.

Select Treatment

The laser
suitability check.