Ruling on chemical peel in order to remove freckles and black marks from the body
Question:
Is it permissible for a woman to uncover her knees and calves in order to have a chemical peel done, to remove black marks, in the presence of a female doctor, or not?.

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: 

It is permissible to remove faults and deformities in the face and body, by natural or chemical means or laser, so long as that will not result in greater or equal harm. 

That includes treating freckles, acne and black spots, even by using some permissible foods, because of the general meaning of the evidence which shows that medical treatment is permissible, and because of the report narrated by Abu Dawood (4170) from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: The woman who does hair extensions and the woman for whom that is done, the woman who plucks eyebrows and the woman for whom that is done, the woman who does tattoos and the woman for whom that is done when there is no disease (that would justify doing that) are cursed. The hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

Ahmad (3945) narrated that Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him)said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbid the women who pluck eyebrows, file teeth, do hair extensions and do tattoos, except in case of disease. 

Al-Shawkaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The words “except in case of disease” apparently mean that the things mentioned are haraam only in cases where the aim is beautification, not in cases of disease or sickness, in which case it is not haraam. End quote from Nayl al-Awtaar (6/229). 

Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the medicines which remove freckles and beautify the face for the husband, I do not see anything wrong with them. Quoted by al-Safaareeni in Ghadha’ al-Albaab (1/432). 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: Recently there have appeared medicines which make the dark-skinned woman white; can she use them? Or is using these kinds of medicine haraam because it is changing the creation of Allaah? 

He replied: Yes, it is haraam so long as it is changing the colour of the skin on a permanent basis, because it is akin to tattooing, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the woman who does tattoos and the woman who has them done. But if it is done to remove a fault, such as if there is an ugly black mole on the skin, and a person uses something to remove it, there is nothing wrong with that. Hence we should know the difference between that which is used for the purpose of adornment and beautification and that which is used to remove faults. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) gave permission to the Sahaabi whose nose had been cut off to wear a nose made of gold so as to remove the deformity that resulted from his nose having been cut off, but he cursed the woman who files teeth for the purpose of beautification and the woman who has that done; this refers to women who file the teeth to create gaps between them and the like. But if we assume that there is a problem in the teeth, such as some of them are prominent and others are behind in a way that spoils the person’s appearance, then there is nothing wrong with doing something to make them even and straight. End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb. 

Secondly: 

It is permissible for a woman to uncover the knees and calves for the purpose of treatment, so long as she takes care to cover that which there is no need to uncover. 

It says in al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah (31/47): The fuqaha’ are of the view that the ‘awrah of a woman in front of another woman is like the ‘awrah of a man in front of another man, i.e. the area between the navel and the knee. Hence it is permissible for her to see all of her body except the area between these two parts. That is because of they are of the same gender and there is no desire in most cases. But that is haraam if there is desire and the fear of fitnah. End quote. 

As there is a need to uncover more than that for the purpose of medical treatment, there is nothing wrong with that, as has been explained in the answer to question no. 5693 and 95891. 

And Allaah knows best.

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