LaseMD Ultra vs. Moxi: Same Wavelength, Different Philosophy

Patients bring me screenshots. Usually it’s an Instagram ad or a med spa website claiming their laser “beats” everyone else’s. The two names I hear compared most often are LaseMD Ultra and Moxi, and almost every article ranking one above the other is written by a practice that only offers one of them.

Here’s what most of those articles won’t tell you: LaseMD Ultra and Moxi are the same wavelength. If someone told you they’re completely different technologies, that’s not accurate, and I think correcting it is more useful to you than picking a winner.

The Part Everyone Skips: They’re the Same Core Laser

Both devices are 1927 nm thulium fiber lasers, a category known as non-ablative fractional resurfacing. That number, 1927 nm, matters more than the brand name stamped on the machine. At that wavelength, the laser’s energy is absorbed primarily by water in your skin rather than by melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color. Older resurfacing lasers that targeted melanin directly carried real risk for patients with deeper skin tones, since melanin-seeking energy can trigger unwanted pigment changes. A water-targeting wavelength is comparatively forgiving across a wider range of skin tones, which is a large part of why both of these devices exist and why they’ve become so popular.

So the honest starting point is this: LaseMD Ultra and Moxi are close cousins, not competitors from different families. The differences that matter are in how each one is engineered to deliver that shared wavelength.

Where They Actually Diverge

LaseMD Ultra: Built for Range

LaseMD Ultra, made by Lutronic, delivers up to 20 watts of power and is continuously tunable, meaning I can dial the energy anywhere across a wide range, roughly 5 to 20 mJ, and adjust microbeam density from about 60 to 100 microbeams per square centimeter. In practice, that means one machine can deliver a session so light it barely shows downtime, or a session strong enough to meaningfully address stubborn pigment, sun damage, or melasma, depending entirely on what your skin needs that day.

LaseMD Ultra also includes a serum-infusion step: the laser first creates microscopic channels in the skin, then a cosmeceutical serum is applied so it absorbs far more deeply than it would on intact skin. I also use LaseMD Ultra at very low energy as one component of my hair restoration protocol alongside KeraFactor, which gives you a sense of just how wide its adjustable range really is. You can read more about that on my hair restoration page.

Moxi: Built for Consistency

Moxi, made by Sciton, uses the same 1927 nm thulium wavelength but takes a deliberately different approach: roughly four fixed settings rather than a continuous range. That’s not a shortcoming, it’s the design intent. Moxi was built for what’s often called prejuvenation, light, low-downtime maintenance treatments, typically done in a series of three to four sessions roughly eight to ten minutes each. Moxi has its own dedicated, peer-reviewed research behind it, including a 2023 study in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine specifically evaluating its effect on dyspigmentation. This is a legitimate, well-studied device, not a lesser version of anything.

Why I Reach for LaseMD Ultra for the Patients I Treat

I want to be precise about what I’m claiming here, because it matters. There is no head-to-head clinical trial comparing LaseMD Ultra and Moxi directly, so I’m not going to tell you one is proven superior to the other. What I can tell you is how I think about it in my own practice.

A significant portion of my aesthetic patients come to me for melasma and pigment correction across a genuinely wide range of skin tones, and those cases don’t all respond to the same intensity. Some patients need a gentle, low-energy pass. Others need me to push further to make real headway on stubborn discoloration. LaseMD Ultra’s continuous tunability lets me set that intensity precisely for the person in front of me, in the same session, rather than choosing from a handful of preset options. Paired with the serum-infusion step, that range is what makes it my primary tool for corrective pigment work.

That’s a clinical preference grounded in the patients I see most, not a statement that Moxi underperforms. If your goal is light, low-downtime maintenance on a predictable schedule, Moxi’s simplicity is a real advantage, and it’s a device I’d recommend without hesitation for the right patient. The better question isn’t “which laser is best.” It’s “which laser, at which setting, fits your skin.”

How I Approach Laser Resurfacing at My Practice

1. A skin assessment first. I look at your skin tone, your specific concerns, whether pigment, texture, or fine lines are the priority, and your tolerance for downtime before recommending anything.
2. A treatment plan matched to your goal. Corrective pigment work and light maintenance are different clinical goals, and they call for different tools and settings.
3. Energy customized to your session. With LaseMD Ultra, I’m not locked into a preset. I adjust the intensity to what your skin can handle and what your goal requires.
4. Honest expectations. I’ll tell you how many sessions to expect, what downtime looks like, and when you’ll actually see results.
5. Follow-through. Pigment and texture improve gradually. I check in as you progress and adjust the plan if needed.

If you’re curious what a session actually looks like, I’ve written more about the treatment itself in my post on LaseMD Ultra and on my LaseMD Ultra service page. I’ve also covered how it fits into a broader skin care plan in this post. And if RF microneedling is more what you’re weighing, I’ve done the same honest breakdown for Genius RF vs. Morpheus8.

Whether LaseMD Ultra, Moxi, or something else entirely fits your skin best comes down to your specific pigment, tone, and goals, and that’s worth a real conversation rather than a guess from an ad. Schedule a consultation and we’ll figure out the right approach together.

Sophia Rahman MD is located at 1212 Coit Rd, Suite 105, Plano, TX 75075. Accepting new patients in Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Murphy, and the surrounding Collin County area.