The Picoway laser by Candela, named after its high-intensity and speed which is measured in picoseconds, allows for fast and safe skin treatments that are effective with little to no downtime. Traditional lasers produce photothermal effect to breakdown pigments, which can cause skin heating and damage to the surrounding tissue. The Picoway system delivers short-pulsed durations in picoseconds (one trillionth of a second) that produce a nonthermal photoacoustic effect, a mechanical force that breaks down the tattoo pigments under the skin into microscopic particles which are metabolized by your body’s white blood cells.