Acne has terrible timing. It rarely waits until you finish treating the breakouts before leaving behind redness, enlarged pores, uneven texture, pigmentation, and scars.
Fortunately, PlaDuo Pro doesn’t make us pick a lane.
PlaDuo Pro is a completely needle-free dual plasma treatment that uses two different gases to accomplish two very different—and very complementary—jobs in the same appointment.
Argon plasma is the calm-it-down side. It targets the bacteria, excess oil, inflammation, and redness associated with active acne and rosacea.
Nitrogen plasma is the rebuild-it side. It delivers controlled energy designed to stimulate collagen and elastin, improve texture and tone, soften acne scarring, refine pores, improve pigmentation, and address fine lines, wrinkles, and skin laxity.
Put them together, and PlaDuo Pro becomes one of our best tools for treating active acne and acne scarring simultaneously.
Instead of waiting for every breakout to disappear before addressing the damage left behind, we can work on both sides of the problem: helping active acne resolve, reducing the cycle that can lead to additional scarring, and remodeling existing acne scars at the same time.
And because treatment is highly customizable, we can keep things gentle with little to essentially no downtime—or turn up the intensity when your priority is getting a bigger result from each treatment.
Better skin now. Better skin later. No lane-picking required.
Traditionally, acne patients have often been told to finish treating their active acne first and worry about the scars later.
We aren’t big fans of watching new scars form while everyone waits politely.
PlaDuo Pro allows us to take a more proactive approach.
The argon plasma component targets several of the factors involved in active breakouts including excess sebum, inflammation, and acne-associated bacteria while nitrogen plasma supports collagen remodeling and improvement in the texture and discoloration left behind by previous acne.
That means your treatment plan can work toward multiple goals at once:
For patients with more significant acne scarring, we can also combine PlaDuo Pro with treatments such as Scarlet SRF RF microneedling for a more aggressive scar-remodeling strategy.
Because sometimes teamwork really does make the dream work.
The old rule was simple: finish isotretinoin, then wait months before considering energy-based skin treatments.
Modern dermatology has become considerably more nuanced.
For appropriate patients, being on Accutane®/isotretinoin does not automatically mean you need to wait six months before we can begin addressing acne-related skin concerns. PlaDuo Pro may be incorporated during an active medical acne treatment plan when your dermatologist determines that your skin, medication regimen, treatment settings, and goals make it appropriate.
That can be especially valuable for patients at high risk of scarring: rather than spending an entire acne course watching scars accumulate and planning to address them later, we can evaluate whether a proactive combination strategy makes sense now.
This is not a one-size-fits-everyone decision. At RAD, concurrent treatment is determined medically and customized to the individual patient.
If you’re taking isotretinoin, don’t assume you have to wait. Ask us.
One of our favorite things about PlaDuo Pro is that we don’t have to force every patient into the exact same treatment.
Think Club RAD.
Regular, lower-downtime PlaDuo Pro treatments can be incorporated into a maintenance plan designed to improve skin quality progressively helping manage breakouts, redness, pores, texture, tone, and early signs of aging while keeping your calendar intact.
Month after month, the goal is simple: keep moving the skin in the right direction instead of waiting until there’s a bigger problem to fix.
We can go stronger.
Higher-energy rejuvenation protocols can create a more significant collagen-remodeling response and more noticeable improvement per session, with the understanding that redness, swelling, bronzing, flaking, or several days of recovery may come with the territory.
Neither strategy is inherently “better.”
The best plan is the one that matches your skin, your goals, your schedule, and how quickly you want to get there.
Yes, and that is one of the biggest reasons we love it for acne patients.
PlaDuo Pro uses argon plasma to target active acne, excess sebum, inflammation, and acne-associated bacteria while nitrogen plasma stimulates collagen and addresses texture and existing acne scarring. Instead of waiting until your acne is completely clear before beginning scar treatment, we can often work on both problems during the same overall treatment plan.
For deeper or more established acne scars, PlaDuo Pro can also be combined with Scarlet SRF RF microneedling and other RAD modalities for more intensive remodeling.
Potentially, yes. Being on isotretinoin does not automatically mean you have to sit on the sidelines for six months.
Modern evidence no longer supports a blanket waiting period before every type of dermatologic procedure. At RAD, patients taking isotretinoin are evaluated individually by their dermatology team to determine whether PlaDuo Pro is appropriate and which treatment settings make sense for their skin.
If you’re currently taking Accutane®, tell us when you book your consultation so we can build the safest and most effective plan for you.
PlaDuo Pro is a highly versatile dual plasma treatment used to improve active acne, acne scars, rosacea, facial redness, excess oil, enlarged pores, uneven texture, dullness, pigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles, and loss of skin elasticity.
At RAD, we may also incorporate PlaDuo Pro into customized treatment plans for periorbital and eyelid tightening, stretch marks, body acne, and other textural concerns, depending on the patient’s skin and goals.
If your skin has more than one issue which, inconveniently, most skin does—PlaDuo Pro is particularly useful because different settings and plasma gases can address several concerns within the same treatment plan.
No.
Traditional plasma pens create controlled ablative points at the skin’s surface. PlaDuo Pro uses a specialized needle-free delivery system to administer argon and nitrogen plasma without puncturing the skin, allowing us to target superficial and deeper concerns with a very different treatment experience and recovery profile.
Same word “plasma.” Very different tool.
Anywhere from essentially none to several days, depending on what we’re trying to accomplish.
For active acne, rosacea, facial flushing, and regular maintenance, we can use gentler protocols with very little to essentially no downtime.
Pore, texture, and periorbital treatments typically involve minimal recovery.
Stronger collagen-remodeling or full rejuvenation treatments may cause several days of redness, swelling, bronzing, flaking, or peeling.
In other words, PlaDuo Pro lets us adjust the treatment to your life rather than demand that your life adjust to the treatment.
PlaDuo Pro works best as a series rather than a one-and-done treatment.
A typical plan may include:
Your actual plan depends on your starting point, skin type, treatment intensity, other therapies you’re combining with PlaDuo Pro, and how ambitious we’re being with the end goal.
For patients who want ongoing improvement without repeatedly “starting over,” Club RAD membership is an excellent way to make skin maintenance part of the routine rather than an occasional rescue mission.
It depends on what we’re treating.
Patients treating active acne, oiliness, redness, or rosacea may begin noticing changes relatively quickly, with improvement building through the treatment series.
Changes related to collagen remodeling such as acne scars, pores, texture, fine lines, and laxity develop more gradually over the weeks following treatment as your skin produces and reorganizes collagen. A generalized increase in plumpness of the skin can be seen right away as collagen redensification occurs.
That gradual improvement is exactly why consistency matters.
One treatment can make a difference. A thoughtfully designed series is where things get much more interesting.
Here’s the question we’d rather answer:
How do we keep your skin performing at its best for as long as possible?
We can turn back certain signs of aging. We cannot stop the clock.
Your skin continues to age after treatment just as your body continues to change after you leave the gym. Getting into great shape takes work and staying there takes maintenance.
Skin is no different.
How frequently you should maintain your PlaDuo Pro results depends on your:
Think of aesthetics more like fitness than a home renovation.
You don’t go to the gym six times, declare yourself permanently fit, and cancel the membership.
We build the result. Then we protect the result.
That is exactly why Club RAD is designed around consistent, intelligent maintenance rather than waiting until everything we improved has gradually returned.
Most patients describe PlaDuo Pro as warmth rather than significant pain.
Lower-energy acne, redness, and maintenance protocols may not require topical numbing at all. When we’re using stronger settings or combining PlaDuo Pro with another treatment, we can apply topical anesthetic first for comfort.
After a stronger treatment, your skin may feel warm or sunburned for several hours.
PlaDuo Pro gives us considerable flexibility across skin types because protocols and settings can be adjusted according to the patient’s Fitzpatrick type and treatment goal.
Acne and rosacea protocols can be appropriate across Fitzpatrick skin types I–VI, while deeper rejuvenation settings require more careful customization in higher Fitzpatrick skin types.
Which is exactly why the person choosing the settings matters just as much as the device providing the energy. At RAD, we pride ourselves in being able to offer a wide variety of fully customized treatment options, so no matter the skin type, we’ve got you covered!
Absolutely. In fact, combination therapy is one of the ways we get some of our best results at RAD.
Depending on your concerns, PlaDuo Pro may be incorporated alongside Scarlet SRF RF microneedling, regenerative therapies, exosomes, medical-grade skincare, and other RAD treatment modalities.
For acne scarring in particular, pairing therapies that control active acne while addressing collagen loss, scar architecture, pigmentation, and texture can create a much more comprehensive strategy than asking one device to do absolutely everything.
Your consultation is where we decide what deserves to be combined—and what doesn’t.
Your skin probably doesn’t have just one concern.
Your treatment shouldn’t have just one trick.
PlaDuo Pro gives us the ability to calm active acne and redness, improve existing acne scars, refine pores and pigmentation, smooth texture, and stimulate collagen all within one highly customizable platform.
Choose regular, low-downtime treatments for progressive monthly improvement through Club RAD, or let us build a more intensive treatment plan when you want to push for greater improvement per session.
Either way, the goal isn’t a generic protocol.
It’s better skin with a plan for keeping it that way.
PlaDuo Pro is available at Regenerative Aesthetics and Dermatology in Laguna Hills, serving patients throughout South Orange County.
We would love to hear from you.
We would love to hear from you.
