Why do my spots get darker before they fade?

Because the pigment is being broken up and brought to the surface on its way out. For a few days a treated spot can look like coffee grounds sitting on the skin. It lifts off with the normal turnover over one to two weeks. If nobody warned you, it is alarming; it is also the clearest sign the session worked.

Is my pigment sun damage or melasma?

They look similar and behave completely differently, which is why the consultation starts there. Sun damage tends to be discrete spots with defined edges, usually on the areas that catch the most light. Melasma is patchier, symmetrical, often on the cheeks, forehead and upper lip, and it is driven by hormones as much as by sun, so it responds more slowly and is expected to need maintenance.

Will melasma come back?

It can, and we would rather say so now. Melasma is linked to hormones and to sun, and neither of those stops because you had a treatment. Daily sunscreen and a maintenance plan set at your consultation are what keep the result. Pregnancy and a change of contraception are the two things most likely to bring it back.

How many sessions are in the plan?

Four: two peels and two laser sessions. Your practitioner reviews your skin at the end and tells you whether more would help. For deep or long-standing pigment, sometimes they would. Nothing further is added without being quoted first.

Is it safe on darker skin?

Yes, with conservative settings and a practitioner who knows why that matters. The risk with any pigment treatment on deeper skin is provoking more pigment rather than clearing it, so the peel is chosen gently and the laser is set low. A picosecond laser is the better tool here precisely because it works by shattering pigment rather than by heating the skin around it.

What should I use at home?

A broad-spectrum sunscreen every morning, which does more for your result than any other product will. Beyond that, your practitioner will tell you what suits your skin and when to restart retinoids or acids. Do not start a new active in the middle of the plan without saying so.

Can I just do the peels?

Yes, and for surface pigment and general dullness that is a reasonable plan at a lower price, available at all three clinics. What peels cannot do is reach the pigment stored below the layer that sheds, so for a defined spot that keeps returning, they will lighten it and not clear it.

How much does it cost and where is it done?

The combined plan is $799 for two peels and two laser sessions, at the Monkland clinic, where the picosecond laser is. Chemical peels on their own are offered at all three clinics. Your practitioner confirms the plan at the consultation. Taxes extra.

A physician at Ideal Body Clinic examines sun spots on a patient's cheek with a handheld skin magnifier in Montreal.

Skin rejuvenation

Dark spot and melasma treatment in Montreal

A dark spot usually sits at more than one depth. Some of the pigment is in the surface cells, where it can be lifted off, and the rest sits deeper, in clusters that only a laser reaches. When one level is treated alone, the spot fades for a few weeks and returns from the other. This plan treats both levels at once: peels clear the surface, and a picosecond laser breaks up what is underneath.

Monkland
Consultations in French and English

Monkland
Consultations in French and English

Treatment time: 20 to 40min; A peel is quick; a laser pass across the face takes longer
Downtime: 0 to 2days; Light redness after a peel; treated spots darken for a few days after the laser
Results appear: 2 to 4weeks; Pigment lifts and flakes away over the weeks after each session
Results last: Long term; As long as the skin is protected from the sun. Melasma is hormonal as well, so it can return
Price: $799; Confirmed at your consultation.

Dark spot treatment

How it works

What does dark spot treatment do?

It fades dark spots at the surface and deep below.

Dark spots come from sun, hormones or old breakouts. Some of the colour sits on top of the skin and some sits deeper. Peels lift the top layer, and a laser breaks up the deeper colour so your body can clear it. Spots fade over 2 to 4 weeks after each session.

01
Colour builds up at two depths
02
Peels and a laser treat both layers
03
Spots fade over 4 sessions

Results

Your results, step by step

4 visits: 2 peels and 2 laser sessions. Spots fade over 2 to 4 weeks after each one.

Your visit · 20 to 40 min
A peel or a laser session
A peel tingles and feels warm, and you go back to your day. During a laser session, each pulse feels like a light flick of elastic. Treated spots darken before you leave.
1 to 3 days
Spots look darker first
Treated spots turn darker, sometimes like coffee grounds. That means the session worked.
5 to 14 days
The dark spots flake away
The darker colour lifts off as your skin renews. Let it go on its own, gently.
3 to 6 weeks
The deeper colour fades
Your body carries away the broken-up colour little by little, so the deeper part fades over weeks.
After 4 sessions
Your result, and how to keep it
The practitioner takes photos in the same light as before. Sun spots usually stay gone with daily sunscreen. Melasma gets a maintenance plan, because hormones can bring it back.

The same patient at a later visit, with the sun spots on the cheeks clearly faded. — Sun spots faded on the cheeks

Patient photographed before treatment, facing the camera against a white clinic wall, with brown sun spots on the cheeks. — Sun spots faded on the cheeks

These photos (or videos) are published for informational purposes to illustrate the nature of the procedure. They do not constitute any guarantee of results. Results vary from person to person.

8 areas

Where dark spots are treated

Where this treatment is used. Your plan is confirmed at the consultation.

01
Cheeks and cheekbones
02
Forehead
03
Upper lip
04
Nose and bridge
05
Jawline and lower face
06
Backs of the hands
07
Chest and décolleté
08
Shoulders and upper back

Reviews

Google reviews that mention this treatment

★★★★★
Came in about one dark spot and was told to see a dermatologist about it first because it had changed. It turned out to be nothing, but I appreciated enormously that they did not just laser it.
Martine Dubois · October 2026 · Google
★★★★★
J’ai la peau brun moyen et on m’avait refusé un traitement de la pigmentation ailleurs. Ici, on a utilisé des réglages doux en m’expliquant le raisonnement, et cela s’est éclairci sans me laisser de nouvelles marques. C’était toute ma crainte.
Priya Raman · September 2026 · Google
★★★★★
The dark spot treatment on the backs of my hands worked better than anything on my face did. They warned me the spots would go darker first, which was good because they really did, like coffee grounds for about a week.
Hélène Brochu · August 2026 · Google
★★★★★
I had been fighting the dark spots on my cheeks with creams for three years. Two peels and two laser sessions and they are gone. Nobody had ever explained to me that half the pigment was too deep for anything I was putting on my face.
Isabelle Charpentier · July 2026 · Google
★★★★★
Mon mélasma est apparu après ma deuxième grossesse et rien n’y faisait. On m’a dit honnêtement que c’était hormonal et qu’il faudrait l’entretenir plutôt que de me promettre une guérison. C’est amélioré d’environ quatre-vingts pour cent et je sais quoi faire pour que cela reste.
Geneviève Fortin · June 2026 · Google
★★★★★
They told me straight out that my melasma would not respond to this laser and sent me to a different plan. I did the leg veins with the excel HR instead and they cleared in two sessions. I would rather be told the truth than sold the wrong thing.
Chantal Morin · October 2026 · Google
★★★★★
J’ai la peau olivâtre et les peelings m’ont toujours inquiétée à cause de la pigmentation. On y est allé doucement, avec un temps de pose court, et on m’a dit que la crème solaire n’était pas négociable. Aucune tache foncée.
Sofia Mancini · July 2026 · Google

Compare

Both levels, or the surface on its own

Peels on their own are a real treatment and cost less. They clear the pigment held in the surface layer. What they cannot do is reach the deposits underneath, which is what the laser is in the plan for.

Compare with

	Dark spot treatmentThis treatment	Chemical peelsView treatment →
What it reaches	The surface and the pigment below it	The surface layer only
Best for	Defined spots, melasma, stubborn pigment	Dullness, uneven tone, mild surface pigment
The plan	2 peels and 2 laser sessions, $799	3 light peels, $599
Where	Monkland, where the laser is	All three clinics
Price	$799 for 2 peels + 2 laser sessions	3 peels for $599

Each treatment’s facts come from its own page. Prices and timings are confirmed at your consultation.

Your visit

Four appointments, alternating surface and depth

Performed by trained practitioners, after an assessment that identifies which kind of pigment you have.

At the consultation
At the consultation
Your pigment is identified and photographed
Sun damage and melasma are treated differently and expected to behave differently, so this is the most important ten minutes of the plan. Anything that looks like it has changed shape or colour is referred on before anything else happens.
20 minutes
20 minutes
The first peel
The solution is applied, left for a set time and neutralised. It tingles and warms; it does not hurt. You go back to your day straight afterwards.
20 to 30 minutes
20 to 30 minutes
The first laser session
Pulses are passed over the pigmented areas. It feels like a light flick of elastic, and the treated spots darken before you leave, which is what you want to see.
Over several weeks
Over several weeks
The plan is repeated, then reviewed
The second peel and the second laser session follow at the spacing your practitioner sets, which depends on how your skin cleared the first round. After the fourth session the area is photographed again in the same light: sun damage that is protected tends to stay gone, while melasma is given a maintenance plan, because it is hormonal.

No sun, sunbeds or self-tanner for two weeks
New pigment at the surface changes what the laser sees and what the peel reaches
Pause retinoids and strong acids for a week
They thin the surface, and a peel on top of that is more than was planned
Tell us if you are pregnant or have changed contraception
Both drive melasma, and both change what is worth doing now
Come with clean skin
Make-up and sunscreen have to come off before anything is applied

Safety

Side effects, and who it is not for

Both halves of the plan are worked at settings chosen for your skin tone, because the one real risk with pigment is provoking more of it. Deeper skin tones are treated more conservatively for exactly that reason.

Your pigment is identified before it is treated
Settings are chosen for your skin tone, not for the spot alone
Anything that looks like it needs a dermatologist is referred, not treated

Common and temporary

Treated spots darkening for several days before they flake away
Light redness and a tight feeling after a peel
Fine flaking for a few days as the surface renews

Less common

Pigment that darkens rather than clears, which is why settings are conservative on deeper skin tones
A pale patch where a spot used to be, usually temporary
Melasma returning within months, because hormones continue to drive it

Wait, or choose another option, if

You are pregnant or breastfeeding
You are tanned or have used a sunbed in the last two weeks
The spot has changed shape, size or colour: that needs a dermatologist first
You have an active infection, cold sore or open skin in the area
You are taking a medication that makes your skin react to light
You have taken oral isotretinoin in the last six months

Call the clinic or seek care right away if

The skin blisters, weeps or breaks; the area becomes hot and increasingly painful after the first day; or a treated spot does not begin to flake within two weeks and is still darkening.

Right for me