Sun Damage and Fine Lines Treatment in Edmonton
Sun-damage visits are quoted from this menu after the consultation.
- $450
- 3 for $1,200
- 6 for $2,100
Complimentary 30-minute consultation. Results vary by individual.
Brown spots and crepey lines often arrive together. The plan starts by separating them.
Edmonton summers are long on daylight and short on humidity. Years of that, plus winter light through a car windshield, show up as flat brown marks, a duller complexion, and fine lines that are there even when your face is still. Those three changes share a cause. They do not share a single setting on a laser.
This page is about that photoaging pattern. If the brown is a broad, symmetrical patch that worsens with heat or hormones, read the melasma section on the pigmentation and melasma page before you assume it is a sun spot. Book a consultation at Nurse Injector Shayse before any series is booked.
What this pattern looks like, and who it may suit
Solar lentigines, the marks people call sun spots or age spots, are usually small, with a readable edge, on the cheeks, the backs of the hands, the chest, or the shoulders. They are a record of ultraviolet exposure, not of a birthday. Fine lines in the same zones are often a surface crepe from thinned collagen, not the fold that appears only when you squint.
A visit may suit someone who wants those discrete marks and that crepey quality looked at together, on any skin tone the assessment clears. The device in the room is the Aerolase Neo Elite, a 1064nm Nd:YAG. That wavelength passes more deeply and couples less to surface melanin than intense pulsed light, which is why it may be considered for richly pigmented skin that has been turned away from other light treatments. It is not an automatic yes. A recent tan, a photosensitising medicine, or a mark that does not look like a simple lentigo changes the answer.
Freckles that darken every July and fade by November are a different conversation. Many people keep them once the trade-off is explained. You will be told at the assessment if what you are pointing at is freckling rather than a lentigo.
How a 650-microsecond pulse is used here
The Neo Elite releases 1064nm energy in a pulse of 650 microseconds. A microsecond is a millionth of a second. The short pulse is the practical detail: the energy is meant to act on its target before heat has much time to wander into neighbouring skin. For a brown spot, the target is pigment. For a crepey line, the target is water in the dermis, where a collagen response may follow over later months. One appointment can address both, with the pass and the settings changed between them.
The treatment is non-ablative. Nothing is sanded off the surface. That is also why it is usually performed without a thick layer of numbing cream and without a contact-cooling handpiece. You can read the device naming, the Health Canada context, and how this wavelength differs from IPL on the Aerolase Edmonton page. Course lengths for every concern sit on the laser treatment page.
Microneedling creates a collagen response by mechanical injury. It does not deposit energy into melanin. When the main request is colour left by the sun, the assessment usually starts with the laser. When the main request is etched texture and the colour is mild, microneedling may be the tool that is discussed instead, or the two may be sequenced. The clinic offers both, so the suggestion is not limited to the machine that happens to be switched on.
Sessions, spacing, and what the days after can look like
On this clinic's laser menu, sun damage is commonly planned as 3 to 5 treatments, 3 to 4 weeks apart. A series of three starts at $1,200. Pigment often shifts in the weeks after each visit. Collagen-related softening of fine lines is slower and can still be changing after the series has finished. Your count may be shorter or longer once the skin is seen. Results vary by individual.
Downtime is usually a return to normal plans the same day, with two caveats people should hear first. Brown spots frequently darken before they flake or fade, over about one to two weeks. The skin may be pink. Neither of those is a result you can schedule for a wedding the next morning. Daily SPF is what holds whatever change you do get. Without it, the next summer writes the spots back in.
Expression lines that exist only while the muscle moves are not a sun-damage target. If that is the pattern, the assessment will say so and the laser series will not be the recommendation.
Clinical photographs
Photographs below are from the Aerolase library. They are not photographs of this clinic's clients. Pigmented Spots pair files were not in this delivery, so those slots are omitted. Results vary by individual.
What it costs
$450
per treatment, face and neck included
Three treatments are $1,200. Six treatments are $2,100. Those are flat series fees on the clinic menu, before GST, not a per-visit calculation you have to do yourself.
Chest, hands, or a skin tag treated as an additional area is $50 each, which matters here because sun spots often sit on the chest and the backs of the hands as well as the face.
A longer or shorter plan is quoted at assessment. Results vary by individual.
When this is the wrong next step
See a physician, not a cosmetic laser visit, if a mark is new, changing, bleeding, or irregular. Lentigines and melanomas are not distinguished by a website. You will be redirected if a spot should be examined medically before anyone aims a laser at it.
- Pregnancy, or a plan that would overlap breastfeeding, until it has been discussed in person
- Acne medication (taken by mouth) in the last 6 months, when a waiting period still applies
- A photosensitising prescription, including some antibiotics, or a fresh tan or self-tanner on the area
- Open skin, a cold sore about to erupt, or infection where the handpiece would pass
- Melasma-prone patches, which can darken if they are treated like ordinary sun spots
That list is not exhaustive. Book a consultation at Nurse Injector Shayse. The treatment is declined when it does not fit.
Assessment at Nurse Injector Shayse
Shayse Tulloch, RN. Sun-damage visits are at 8813 63 Ave NW, Edmonton, inside Vivere Skin & Body. The practice also sees people from Sherwood Park, St. Albert, and Strathcona County.
The clinic's injectable practice is why a sun-damage visit includes the question of whether a line is photoaging or muscle movement. If laser is a poor fit, you will leave with that answer rather than a series on the books. The device itself is explained on the Aerolase hub, and the full concern menu is on laser treatment in Edmonton.
Sun damage questions
How much does sun damage treatment cost in Edmonton?
At Nurse Injector Shayse, an Aerolase Neo Elite visit is $450 and includes the face and neck. Sun-damage plans are commonly quoted as a series: three visits are $1,200 and six visits are $2,100. A spot on an extra area the menu already lists, such as the chest, the hands, or a skin tag, is $50. Prices are before GST. The visit count is set after your skin is seen at the assessment. Results vary by individual.
How many sessions do sun spots and fine lines usually take?
Sun-induced pigment and the fine lines that come with it are commonly planned as 3 to 5 treatments, spaced 3 to 4 weeks apart. That span is a starting range from this clinic's laser menu, not a quote. Crepey lines that depend on new collagen often keep changing for months after the last visit. Results vary by individual.
Is sun damage laser treatment suitable for darker skin?
It may be. The Neo Elite uses 1064nm Nd:YAG, a wavelength dermatology uses widely on Fitzpatrick types IV through VI because less of the energy is taken up by melanin at the surface. Deeper skin tones can still develop darker marks if treatment is too aggressive, so the first visit is cautious. Skin type is recorded at the assessment before any settings are chosen. Results vary by individual.
Does treatment for sun damage hurt?
The pulse is 650 microseconds, which is why this platform is often done without numbing cream or a cooling tip. People describe a quick snap of heat. Cheeks, the upper lip, and the chest are not equally sensitive, and the settings for pigment are not the settings for fine lines. You will be told what your plan is likely to feel like. Sensation varies.
What is the downtime after sun damage treatment?
This is non-ablative: the surface is not removed the way it is with ablative resurfacing. Most people return to ordinary plans the same day. Treated brown spots often look darker for one to two weeks before they fade, and the skin can look pink. Makeup timing and sun avoidance are covered at the visit. Results vary by individual.
Will sunscreen fade the spots I already have?
Daily SPF stops new ultraviolet exposure from laying down more pigment and from undoing a course you have already paid for. It does not lift a solar lentigo that is already sitting in the skin. You will be told at the assessment if a mark is more likely to be left alone than treated. Results vary by individual.
Book the assessment first
Bring a list of medicines and a sense of which marks bother you. You should leave knowing whether they are sun spots, whether laser is appropriate, and what a course would cost. Results vary by individual.
8813 63 Ave NW, Edmonton, inside Vivere Skin & Body. Questions about the device: Aerolase Neo Elite.