Soprano is one of 11 laser hair removal devices in this Index
Laser hair removal · 11 indexed products · Lasers & Light
Soprano is not an alternative to laser hair removal — it is one implementation of it. This Index groups it under laser hair removal, together with 10 other devices. Soprano (Alma Lasers, Inc.) is FDA cleared under a 510(k): record K230371, first cleared Apr 14 2009, 8 FDA records in all, the most recent Feb 22 2023. The published evidence for the technique — 744 papers on PubMed, 30 registered on ClinicalTrials.gov — belongs to all 11 of them, not to any one brand. Every one of them carries an FDA record matched here, cleared under it.
The short name drops words from this Index's modality id — it never adds one. What this measuresThe short name in this page's title is not a synonym written here: it is the product's own modality identifier in this Index with words removed and none added, which is why it reads as the ordinary word rather than the clinical one. The full label this Index gives the technique is printed beside it, and the query behind every evidence figure is published verbatim on the methodology page. Two techniques can shorten to the same ordinary word, and where they do this page names the other one and links to it rather than letting one stand for both.
Methodology →
What the FDA record says about Soprano
A 510(k) device is cleared, not approved — a different route, not a lesser one. What this measuresA 510(k) clearance means FDA agreed the device is substantially equivalent to a device already legally on the market. It is a clearance, not an approval: it is not a finding that the device is effective, and not a comparison against any other product.
Methodology →
Full record for Soprano, every identifier and every source query →
What laser hair removal is, as this Index counts it
Laser hair removal
Counted for the technique, from one fixed query the brand name is not in. What this measuresNumber of PubMed records matching a fixed, hand-written title/abstract query for the MODALITY, not the brand. It measures how much has been PUBLISHED about a technique. It is NOT a quality score, NOT an efficacy measure, NOT a count of randomised trials, and NOT comparable across modalities of different ages -- an older technique has had more years to accumulate papers. Query text is stored next to every count so you can run it yourself. Registration is not completion, not publication and not a result. Counts include studies of any status, size or sponsor, and the recruiting figure is a snapshot taken on the run date. Device studies are under-registered relative to drug studies. Counts are computed per MODALITY, never per brand. Brand-name literature searches reward manufacturers with big marketing departments and punish equally good devices with quieter names. Ranking brands by their own name-hits would be a popularity contest dressed as evidence.
Methodology →
The 10 other laser hair removal devices in this Index
| Product | Applicant of record | Pathway | First decision | Identifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apogee Elite | Cynosure, Inc. | 510(k) · cleared | K034030 | |
| Clarity II | Lutronic Corporation | 510(k) · cleared | K183566 | |
| Diolaze | Inmode MD , Ltd. | 510(k) · cleared | K180719 | |
| Elite iQ | Cynosure, LLC | 510(k) · cleared | K240396 | |
| GentleLase | Candela Corp. | 510(k) · cleared | K140732 | |
| GentleMax Pro | Candela Corporation | 510(k) · cleared | K201111 | |
| LightSheer | Lumenis, Ltd. | 510(k) · cleared | K170179 | |
| Motus | El.En S.P.A. | 510(k) · cleared | K241459 | |
| Soprano this page | Alma Lasers, Inc. | 510(k) · cleared | K230371 | |
| Splendor X | Bios S.R.L. | 510(k) · cleared | K243445 | |
| Vectus | Palomar Medical Technologies, Inc. | 510(k) · cleared | K120622 |
Study and trial figures on this site are counted per TECHNIQUE, never per brand. One fixed query is run for the modality and the brand name appears nowhere inside it, so every product that shares a technique carries exactly the same number. That identical figure is EXPECTED and it is not a claim about either product: it is not a finding that they are equivalent, not a measurement of either one, and not evidence that one works as well as the other. It is a fact about the published literature and nothing else. Brand-name literature searches were rejected for the opposite reason — they reward the manufacturer with the larger marketing department and punish an equally well-built product with a quieter name.
Assembled by a program from public records; no figure here was written by hand. What this measuresThis page was assembled by a program from the public records this Index already holds: the openFDA 510(k) and PMA releasable databases, PubMed counts and ClinicalTrials.gov counts, on the run date printed at the top. No sentence on it was written about these products by hand, no figure was estimated, and a value the source does not publish is an em-dash carrying the reason rather than a filled-in guess. Which products appear beside each other is an editorial choice about observed search demand, described in the note beside it. Putting two products on one page is not a recommendation for or against either of them.
Methodology →