Beauty Doc Blog

Tattooing has become a popular fashion statement for the current younger generation, and in fact has been gaining in popularity for the past 20 years. These days going to the swimming pool or  the beach is a guarantee of seeing tattoos on various exposed body parts. Tats are not just for sailors anymore. But tattoos can become unsightly with age, and many people later in life regret the impulsive decision of their youth and want to have the tattoos removed. Several methods of tattoo removal are available and have proven to be quite successful.

Unfortunately in most cases some color variations or scarring remain. How conspicuous the blemishes are depends on many factors, among them size, location, the application method used to apply the tattoo, and the length of time that the tattoo has been on the skin.  As an example, a tattoo performed by a more experienced tattoo artist may be prove to be easier to remove since the pigment is more evenly injected in the same level of the patient’s skin. A tattoo that has been on the skin for a considerable length of time may prove to be  more difficult to remove than a new tattoo.

Recent advances in laser technology  show that both the Q- Switched YAG and Alexandrite lasers when used in conjunction with each other offer the most complete and effective tattoo removal service. These are pigment specific lasers which fade or remove the ink with light energy. The laser will remove ink though use of a specific color of light that passes through normal skin and becomes absorbed by the ink without damage to the surrounding tissue. Rapid absorption of the light energy will cause the ink pigment to break up into small granules for easy removal by the body’s natural filtering systems.

How many  treatments it will take to remove the tattoo depends on the amount, color and type of ink used, the depth of ink in the skin and the method and age of application of the tattoo. Professionally applied tattoos may require ten or more treatments. Self applied tattoos may fade and go away after as few as four treatments, conducted at six week intervals for the first four treatments and after that at six week intervals. Most patients don’t develop scarring with this method. However, there is no guarantee, and some scarring may occur. Also some patients experience minor textural change on the treated areas.