Cutera excel V

The Cutera excel V is a vascular and pigmented lesion laser that pairs a 532 nm green laser with Cutera's 1064 nm Nd:YAG source. Cutera introduced it at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in February 2011, received CE Mark approval for Europe that May, and marketed it to dermatologists and plastic surgeons. Cutera's securities filings describe a system that operates without costly consumables, so there are no dye kits or disposable cartridges to account for.

As originally shipped, the excel V came with two handpieces, each built around an optical fiber and lens and each able to fire either wavelength. One has a sapphire window cooling plate with temperature monitoring and can chill the skin before, during and after the pulse. Cutera's filings give it a spot range of 1.5 to 12 mm, adjustable in 0.1 mm steps. The second handpiece has no cooling plate. Instead it reads skin temperature with a non-contact sensor and projects two aiming beams so the operator can hold the correct working distance.

Cutera followed this model with the excel V+ in 2019, and the two share the same wavelengths. On the original excel V, spot sizes stop at 12 mm and there is no Dermastat tracing handpiece and no Green Genesis procedure; all three of those arrived with the V+. A console that came with one contact cooled handpiece and one non-contact handpiece with aiming beams points to the first generation. The model name on the rear serial label settles the question.

Because the excel V dates from 2011, its age and upkeep shape any offer. A dealer will look at the manufacture date on the label, the service records and any history of fiber or handpiece repair. Check that both handpieces fire on each wavelength, that the sapphire plate is clean and undamaged, and that the aiming beams on the non-contact handpiece still work. Photograph the startup screen showing the software version.