CO2 Laser Stretch Mark Treatment in Montreal

No, and no device does. A mature stretch mark is a scar in the dermis, and scars are improved, not erased. What the CO2RE changes is the depth of the band and the texture across it. After a series, the aim is a mark that is shallower and smoother, so it shows less through fitted clothing. That is a real change, and it is what people mean when they say the marks are gone, but it is not removal. How far it fades varies from person to person and mark to mark.

We use the word treatment on this page on purpose. We have not seen a stretch mark disappear entirely under a laser, and we will not sell you that.

On the face, deep settings mean 7 to 10 days of social downtime. Body skin heals more slowly than the face and holds redness longer, so plan for the surface to take at least that long to close, and for a pink or ruddy tone over the area to last weeks to a few months afterwards.

The social side is easier than a face, because the abdomen, hips, thighs or arms are under clothing and nobody at work needs to know. The rest does not get easier. No exercise, pools, saunas, hot showers or alcohol while healing, soaks and ointment several times a day, and zero sun on the area. Our exosome protocol shortens that window and makes it more comfortable, but it does not remove it. Book against a quiet stretch and keep the beach out of the plan.

The first few days. Significant redness and swelling across the area, and a sensation like a severe sunburn. The heat is most intense in the first few hours and swelling peaks in the first 48 hours. The skin weeps a clear or yellowish fluid while you soak and reapply ointment.

The crusting and peeling phase. The weeping stops and the surface dries into fine bronze or brown micro-crusting with a sandpaper feel. The marks darken before they clear. Then peeling begins in uneven patches with bright pink new skin underneath. On body skin this phase runs longer than on a face, and it is where the exosomes earn their place.

Once the surface has closed. Peeling finishes and the pinkness starts fading. A pink or ruddy tone stays over the marks for weeks to a few months, which is normal.

Months 1 to 6. The result builds as collagen fills the band. What you see at two weeks is not the outcome.

More than one. Stretch marks are treated as a series, spaced far enough apart for body skin to heal fully between visits, and each session lifts the band a step further. How many steps depends on how deep and wide the marks are, the site, your skin tone and how your skin responds to the first treatment. The doctor gives you a realistic range at the consultation rather than a promise, and the plan gets adjusted after session one based on what your skin actually does.

We photograph each visit so the change is judged against where you started, not against memory.

Stretch mark treatment on body areas runs from $500 to $1,000 or more per area, depending on the size of the area and the depth the doctor sets. A hand-sized patch on one hip and a full lower abdomen are not the same procedure.

You get a written quote at your consultation once the doctor has assessed the marks and given you the likely session range. Ask for it to include the aftercare products, which are not optional with this treatment. The consultation itself is $100.

Both have defined roles. Our medical director, Dr. Danielle Eiböck, conducts the consultation, assesses the marks and your medical history, decides whether you are a candidate, writes the prescription and treatment parameters, and provides medical oversight for your course of treatment. Quebec law requires that prescription for this laser. The CO2RE sessions themselves are performed by our fully trained, specialized cosmetic nurse, who works to the plan the doctor has set. You meet the doctor at consultation and see the nurse for your treatments.

Reach and recovery. Stretch mark microneedling punctures the skin without removing tissue, needs a course of sessions, and costs you little or no downtime rather than a week or more of healing. It suits early red or purple marks, faint or shallow marks, deeper skin tones where an ablative laser carries pigmentation risk, and anyone who cannot protect a real recovery window.

CO2 removes tissue and reaches the scarred band directly, which is why it does more on deep, mature, silver marks and why the recovery is real. If your marks are faint or new, the gentler route is the better trade and we will say so. If they are wide, deep and years old, or if you have done a course of microneedling and the depth never changed, that is usually the signal you need the laser instead.

Just as strict. Zero direct sun on the area while you are healing, then rigorous protection for months. New skin after ablative treatment has almost no defence against ultraviolet light, and exposure causes post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. A darkened patch across the abdomen or thighs is harder to correct than the stretch marks were, and it can be permanent.

Clothing helps, and it is why body areas are easier to protect than a face. It is not enough on its own. That means no beach, no pool deck, no tanning and no sunbathing for the period we specify, and broad-spectrum SPF 50 on the area whenever it is uncovered once we clear you to apply it. If you have a holiday booked, tell us at the consultation and we will schedule around it.

You risk a permanent scar and you risk infection. The crust is a temporary barrier over a wound that has not closed. Pulling it off early tears skin that is still knitting together, and picking is the single most common cause of a poor outcome from this treatment. On the body there is an extra trap: waistbands and straps rub, and it is easy to catch a crust getting dressed.

It will itch, sometimes intensely, and it will look ready to come off before it is. Keep it greasy, since ointment reduces the itch, and let every piece fall away on its own. If the itching becomes unbearable, call us instead of touching it.

Not immediately, and not when the redness fades. Once peeling finishes the marks look smoother and pinker, and that is the early part. Collagen remodelling runs for three to six months after each session, and it is during that stretch that the band fills and the depth difference shrinks. On body skin the remodelling runs longer than on a face. Judging the outcome at two weeks, or after a single session, is the most common mistake people make. We photograph each visit so you can see the change against where you started.

Usually not with this laser, and usually not yet. A red or purple mark is still inflamed and still carries blood supply, which is why it has colour. At that stage a vascular laser or stretch mark microneedling is often the better first step, and it costs you no week of healing. The colour also tends to fade on its own as the mark matures.

CO2 comes into its own once the mark has turned white or silver and sunk below the surface, because that is when the problem is depth and texture rather than colour. If you have a mix, which is common after a pregnancy, the doctor will tell you at the consultation which marks are ready and which should wait.

The abdomen, hips, thighs, breasts and arms. Those are the sites where mature stretch marks are most common and where the CO2RE has room to work. Each is priced and planned as its own area, and the doctor decides at the consultation whether one area or several can be treated in the same session, since numbing and healing time both scale with the size of the surface.

Two things hold across all of them. Body skin heals more slowly than the face and holds redness longer, so the settings are conservative and the result is built over a series. And pregnancy and breastfeeding rule the treatment out until both are finished, which matters most for abdominal and breast marks.