Pigmentation Treatment in Edmonton

Four kinds of dark spot look alike and respond completely differently

Written by Shayse Tulloch, RN|Last clinically reviewed: July 20, 2026

Most pigmentation pages jump straight to the treatment. That skips the step that actually determines whether you get a result: working out which kind of pigmentation you have.

Sun spots, melasma-prone patches, post-acne marks and freckles can look nearly identical in a mirror. One responds predictably to laser. One can be made worse by it. One often clears on its own if you leave it alone and wear sunscreen. Treating them as one problem is the most common and most expensive mistake in this category.

Book a Pigmentation Assessment

Which kind do you have?

A guide, not a diagnosis. Assessment in person is what settles it, and several types can be present at once.

Sun spots, age spots, solar lentigines

What it looks like: Discrete, well-defined brown marks with clear edges. Face, backs of hands, chest, shoulders.
What causes it: Accumulated ultraviolet exposure over years. Nothing to do with age itself, despite the name.
How it responds to laser: The most predictable of the four to address. This is where laser earns its reputation.

Treated spots often darken for one to two weeks before they clear. That is expected, not a complication, and you should be told about it beforehand.

Melasma-prone pigmentation

What it looks like: Larger patches with softer, less defined edges. Usually symmetrical across cheeks, forehead and upper lip.
What causes it: Hormonal influence combined with sun and heat. Pregnancy, oral contraceptives and thyroid factors are all associated.
How it responds to laser: The most cautious of the four. Published evidence for laser alone is genuinely mixed, and over-treatment can worsen it.

Managed rather than cured. Sun protection does more of the work here than any device does, and any plan that ignores that is incomplete.

Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation

What it looks like: Flat brown or grey marks sitting exactly where a spot, injury or irritation healed.
What causes it: The skin's pigment response to inflammation. Common after acne, and more pronounced in richly pigmented skin.
How it responds to laser: Often the answer is patience rather than treatment. Many of these fade on their own with sun protection and time.

The honest recommendation here is sometimes to wait and protect rather than to treat. Aggressive intervention can prolong the very thing you are trying to clear.

Freckles, ephelides

What it looks like: Small, scattered, typically light brown. Often present from childhood and darken with sun exposure.
What causes it: Genetic, activated by ultraviolet exposure. They fade seasonally for many people.
How it responds to laser: Can be lightened, but they will return with sun exposure because the underlying tendency has not changed.

Worth being clear about goals here. Freckles are not damage, and many people decide against treating them once the trade-off is explained.

What it costs

$300

per treatment, full face

Sun-induced pigmentation: commonly 3 to 5 treatments spaced 3 to 4 weeks apart. A full course is $900 to $1,500 and runs roughly two to five months.

Melasma-prone pigmentation: from three treatments spaced every 3 weeks, quoted after assessment because the course is more variable and is reviewed as it goes.

Post-inflammatory marks: assessed individually. In some cases the recommendation will be sun protection and time rather than a treatment course, and you will be told so.

Series pricing is the treatment price multiplied out, with no bundle rate. Your plan may differ from these ranges. Results vary by individual.

Book a Pigmentation Assessment

"How do Koreans get rid of hyperpigmentation?"

This is one of the most searched pigmentation questions in Canada, and it deserves a real answer rather than being ignored because it is awkward.

There is no secret treatment. What differs is a culture of prevention, and it is genuinely more effective than anything sold as a quick fix:

Daily sun protection, applied properly and reapplied. Not just on beach days. Most people apply roughly a quarter of the amount used in testing, which is why real-world protection underperforms the number on the bottle.
Sun avoidance treated as ordinary. Hats, shade and long sleeves as routine rather than as a reaction to a burn.
Early intervention. Addressing pigmentation when it first appears rather than after fifteen years of accumulation.
Gentle and consistent over aggressive and intermittent. Inflamed, irritated skin produces more pigment, so harsh routines can actively work against you.
Barrier health first. A compromised barrier means more inflammation, and more inflammation means more pigment.

None of that is proprietary or unavailable in Edmonton. It is simply done consistently. If you take one thing from this page, take that: the prevention side outperforms the treatment side, and a treatment course without it is money spent on something you will undo.

Pigmentation and deeper skin tones

This deserves its own section, because pigmentation is the concern where getting it wrong on richly pigmented skin carries the highest cost.

Deeper skin tones carry a higher baseline tendency toward post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. That means an overly aggressive treatment can leave a darker mark than the one you came in to address. The irony is real: treating pigmentation too hard can create pigmentation.

Two things reduce that risk. The first is wavelength. The Aerolase Neo Elite delivers 1064nm Nd:YAG, which interacts less with melanin at the skin surface, and is the wavelength most widely used in dermatology for Fitzpatrick types IV through VI. The second, and just as important, is restraint: conservative settings, a cautious first treatment, and a willingness to go slower than the client would like.

If you have been turned away from pigmentation treatment elsewhere, or treated and left worse, it is worth having your skin looked at again. The outcome may have been the device or the settings rather than your skin. That is not a promise of a result, it is a reason to ask. Results vary by individual.

Pigmentation questions, answered

What is the most effective treatment to remove hyperpigmentation?

There is no single answer, and that is the honest response rather than a dodge. It depends entirely on which type of pigmentation you have. Sun-induced spots respond well to laser and to pigment-targeting topicals. Post-inflammatory marks left by acne often fade substantially on their own with sun protection and time, and aggressive intervention can prolong them. Melasma-prone pigmentation is hormonally driven and is managed rather than eliminated, with sun protection doing more of the work than any device. Getting the type identified correctly is the step that determines whether anything else works.

How much does it cost to address hyperpigmentation in Edmonton?

Aerolase Neo Elite treatments are $300 each at Nurse Injector Shayse. Sun-induced pigmentation is commonly addressed over 3 to 5 treatments spaced 3 to 4 weeks apart, which is $900 to $1,500 for a full course. Melasma-prone pigmentation starts at a minimum of three treatments spaced every 3 weeks and is quoted after assessment because the course is more variable. Post-inflammatory marks are assessed individually, and in some cases the recommendation will be to wait rather than treat. Results vary by individual.

How do Koreans get rid of hyperpigmentation?

This question comes up constantly and the answer is less exotic than people expect. There is no secret treatment. What differs is a culture of prevention: daily broad-spectrum sun protection applied properly and reapplied, sun avoidance treated as routine rather than exceptional, intervening early when pigmentation first appears rather than after years of accumulation, and consistent gentle routines rather than aggressive intermittent ones. Barrier health is prioritised because inflamed and irritated skin produces more pigment. None of that is proprietary. It is simply done consistently, and consistency is what actually moves pigmentation.

Can hyperpigmentation be permanently removed?

Not in the way the question hopes. Individual sun spots that are cleared often do not return in that exact spot, so in that narrow sense the result can hold. But the skin that produced them is still capable of producing more, and further sun exposure will do exactly that, which is why daily SPF is not an afterthought. Melasma-prone pigmentation is recognised in dermatology as a recurring condition and is managed over time rather than cured. Any clinic offering you permanent clearance on pigmentation is overselling. Results vary by individual.

What is the difference between sun spots, melasma and post-inflammatory pigmentation?

Sun spots, also called solar lentigines or age spots, are discrete well-defined brown marks caused by accumulated ultraviolet exposure, usually on the face, hands, chest and shoulders. Melasma-prone pigmentation appears as larger symmetrical patches, commonly across the cheeks, forehead and upper lip, and is influenced by hormones as well as sun. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation is the flat brown or grey mark left behind after a spot, an injury or an irritation has healed, and it sits exactly where the original inflammation was. They look similar to an untrained eye and they respond very differently, which is why assessment comes before any treatment plan.

Why does pigmentation keep coming back?

Usually one of three reasons. Ongoing ultraviolet exposure, including through car and office windows and on overcast days, continues to stimulate pigment production. Heat itself can be a trigger for melasma-prone pigmentation, which is why some people notice it worsen in summer independent of direct sun. Or the underlying driver was never addressed, most often ongoing inflammation from acne or irritation from an overly aggressive skincare routine. Treatment that clears existing pigment without changing what caused it produces a temporary result by design.

Does pigmentation treatment work on darker skin tones?

It can, and wavelength selection matters more here than for any other concern. Richly pigmented skin carries a higher baseline risk of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, meaning an overly aggressive treatment can leave a darker mark than the one being addressed. The Aerolase Neo Elite uses a 1064nm Nd:YAG wavelength that interacts less with surface melanin, which is why 1064nm is the wavelength most widely used in dermatology for Fitzpatrick types IV through VI. Conservative settings and a cautious first treatment matter as much as the device. Shayse assesses skin type before treating.

How long does it take to see pigmentation improve?

Treated sun spots often darken briefly before they fade, which surprises people who were not warned about it. That darkening typically resolves over the following one to two weeks as the skin clears the treated pigment. Because treatments are spaced 3 to 4 weeks apart, a course of 3 to 5 runs roughly two to five months from start to finish. Improvement is cumulative across the series rather than complete after a single visit. Results vary by individual.

Will sunscreen alone fade existing dark spots?

Sunscreen prevents new pigmentation and stops existing pigmentation being reinforced, and for post-inflammatory marks that alone often allows substantial fading over months. It will not actively clear established sun spots, which are already deposited in the skin. The useful way to think about it: sunscreen is what protects any result you achieve, and without it a treatment course is money spent on something you will undo. It is the least glamorous and most load-bearing part of any pigmentation plan.

Where can I get pigmentation treatment in Edmonton?

Shayse Tulloch, RN, offers pigmentation assessment and Aerolase Neo Elite treatment at 8813 63 Ave NW, Edmonton, inside Vivere Skin & Body, serving Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert and Strathcona County. Every plan starts with identifying which type of pigmentation you have, because that determines whether laser is the right tool at all.

Start with an assessment

You will leave knowing which type of pigmentation you have, whether laser is the right tool for it, and what a course would involve. Sometimes the answer is sunscreen and patience, and you will be told that if it applies.

Book a Pigmentation Assessment All Laser Treatments

8813 63 Ave NW, Edmonton, inside Vivere Skin & Body. Curious about the device itself? Read about the Aerolase Neo Elite.