Aerolase Era Elite

The Aerolase Era Elite is an erbium:YAG laser that emits at 2940 nm and is used for ablative skin resurfacing. It fires a 300 microsecond pulse, and Aerolase's company history dates its commercial launch to 2018, the same year as the Nd:YAG Neo Elite. Aerolase states that the Era needs no external cooling and uses no consumables. Listed indications include resurfacing, acne and surgical scar revision, wrinkle reduction, and benign lesions such as solar lentigines.

Treatment depth on this system is set largely by which optical module sits on the handpiece. The Era Elite accepts four interchangeable modules, which Aerolase sometimes calls lenses: AfterGlow for sub-ablative passes, a 10mm module for full field passes, a 6mm module for deeper ablation, and a Hybrid Fractional module with 16 microchannels. Published ablation depth is 3 to 14 microns for the 10mm module and 10 to 25 microns for the 6mm, while hybrid channels reach 150 to 200 microns. The Elite spec sheet lists fluence from 1.5 to 6.0 J/cm2 at up to 2.0 Hz.

The model most easily confused with it is the Era Focus, which runs only the 10mm module and is limited to 1.5 to 2.0 J/cm2 at up to 1.5 Hz. A unit with several modules points to the Elite. Aerolase also sells the Era alongside the 1064 nm Neo as a pair it calls Neo + Era, with a separate handpiece for each laser. The company holds a LightPodEra trademark as well.

Because the modules define what the laser can do, a dealer will want each one listed and photographed, with a close view of the optics showing any scratches, chips or residue. Add the model and serial label, the main screen with its settings menu and any usage or pulse count it displays, the software version and the service records.