Laser Tattoo Removal

People often get tattoos with the best of intentions - they may want to show their love for someone, or they may want to display a part of their personality in the form of a visual tattoo. Either way, tattoos can be an important part of a person's personality, but sometimes they can be unwanted after a certain time. If two people break up, or an individual does not believe that the tattoo on their body represents who they are anymore, then they may want to get rid of the tattoos.

In the past, there really was no way to do this, but thankfully we live in the age of laser tattoo removal. With lazer tattoo removal, that troublesome tattoo will be no more in a blink of an eye.

How Tattoo Removal Works

Essentially, laser tattoo removal works the same way as laser hair removal. Lasers release short bursts of high intensity light on the skin, which pass through the top layers of the skin and are absorbed by the pigment in the tattoo. The high energy of the laser then causes the tattoo to pigment and break into smaller particles that the body’s immune system removes.

Through several years of research into laser tattoo removal, the right wavelengths to remove tattoo ink have been found. The laser tattoo removal cost will also depend greatly on how much tattoo has to removed, the colors in the tattoo and even what kind of ink was used, and the color of your skin.

Does it Hurt?

Well, getting a tattoo hurts, so yes taking a tattoo off also hurts when you use laser tatoo removal. It is not incredibly painful, and is more like being snapped with a small rubber band on the skin each time the laser pulses. The amount of pain you feel also depends on the color of your tattoo as well. Black is easiest to remove and therefore the quickest, where as other colors need special wavelengths to remove the tattoos.

How to Prepare

In order to prepare for the procedure, you should take a Tylenol to help you handle the procedure. You should not use Aspirin as it can cause bruising after you have had the surgery.

The doctor may put an anesthetic cream on your tattoo about two hours before you have it removed. It will help to numb any pain you may feel having the tattoo removed.

How Long are Treatments?

The overall treatment takes only a few minutes but you may have to go for a few treatments to completely remove the tattoo from your body. The number of sessions that you have to take part in depends greatly on the type of ink used on your tattoo and how deep the ink injection is. Between each laser tattoo removal treatment, you will need about three weeks.

What follows the Treatment?

After you get the treatment, the doctor will put some antibacterial cream on the area hit with the laser. You can shower the next day but you should not scrub the area that was treated. Your skin in that area will feel sunburned and will remain red for several weeks. There is a chance that a scab may form, but over time your body will heal the area.

The only side effects of the procedure, which are rare, are hyperpigmentation, which is an increase in the color of your skin in the treatment area, hypopigmentation, which is a lack of skin color, infection and permanent scarring on the area treated. It should be noted that only five percent of cases actually suffer permanent scarring after laser tattoo removal.

Note: As of today home laser tattoo removal is not a possible option; however several companies offer home laser hair removal products.