How to Get Rid of a Tattoo
How to Get Rid of a Tattoo
Your ex is long gone but that tattoo you got of his name won’t disappear on its own. Find out about laser tattoo ink fade away.
Getting Ink Done
Tattooing has been practiced worldwide for centuries for many reasons
- Decoration
- Religious Symbol
- Mark of social status
- Tribal belonging
- Rite of passage
- Identification
- Punishment
- Egyptian mummies show evidence of blue tattoo marks as far back as 4000 B.C
REGRETS
1. Top 3 reasons for regret
- Because of the person’s name in the tattoo
- Don’t like the way it looks
- It was stupid
2. Women are more likely to seek tattoo removal than men
3. Most commonly, it is women between the ages of 24 and 39,who are white, single and college-educated who want to get rid of their ink.
17% of Tattooed Americans (7.6 million) who have regrets about getting inked
Getting Ink Undone
Tattoo removal Options
- Dermabrasion: Skin is “sanded” to remove the surface and middle layers. The removal of skin may result in scarring and the technique is rarely used today for tattoo removal
- Cryosurgery: The area is frozen prior to its surgical removal
- Excision: A dermatologic surgeon removes the tattoo with a scarpel and closes the wound with stitches in some cases involving large tattoos, a skin graft from another part of the body may be necessary
- Fading Creams: Chemical peels and salt solutions may be effective at slightly fading some superficial tattoos
NOTE: The top three techniques leave scarring and fading creams /balms are not very effective
Tat stats
- The most popular tattoo design in America are the butterfly, Tribal, Star, flower kanji (Asian characters)
- 45 million America have tattoo today
- Nearly 1 in 4 people aged 18 to 50 have been inked
- 36% of people aged 18 to 29 have at least one tattoo
Tattoo you
- In 1981 New yorker Samuel O’Rellly invented the first the first tattoo machine.
- Today’s tattoo machine is the most common method getting tattooed
- The machine moves a needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3000 times per minutes. The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimeter and disposes a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture into the skins dermis, the layer of skin under the surface.
- More than 100 types of ink are used for tattooing today
LASER*REMOVAL
Since 1980’s laser removal has become the safest and most effective at removing tattoos with a low risk of scarring
Three preferred lasers are used for tattoo removal; each targets specific colors with different wavelengths.
- Q-switched Alexandrite
(red light), 7.55mm:
Wavelength of choice for given, moderately effective for black, blue pigments. - Q-switched Nd; YAG
(invisible light offers two wavelengths:
1064mm laser of choice for black pigment, effective for dark blue pigments, and
532mm (green light) Wavelength of choice for red and satisfactory for black, dark blue and purple. - Q-switched Ruby
694mm (red light): effective for black, blue and green pigments
- The lasers look for contrast between pigments to target the correct cells. The greater the contrast (dark ink on light skin), the more effective the removal process. Black is the easiest to remove, because it absorbs the full spectrum of light. Green comes off the hardest and may require more sessions
- Each wavelength targets only the tattooed pigments, without affecting the surrounding pigments and layers of skin. Wavelength pass through the surface layers of your skin, where the light is absorbed by the tattooed pigments, which breaks them into smaller particles. Your body’s immune system then removes faster in areas of greater blood circulation since the immune system works best there. It’s more difficult to remove tattoos on the hands and feet, where there is less circulation
- Even session usually takes only few minutes. Several treatments (8-10 more) are usually needed to remove an entire tattoo. The number of sessions depends on the amount and type of link used and how deeply it was injected. Doctors can’t predict the exact degree of removal because they generally don’t know which ink was used. Laser removal may feel like not specks of bacon grease on your skin or like being snapped by a thin rubber band.
After Treatment
You may be given an ointment and dressing for the treated area. Your skin will feel slightly sunburned for a couple of days. You’ll need to wait 6 to 8 weeks or more between sessions to allow pigment residue to be absorbed by the body.
Advice And Conclusion
Tattoo removal, like tattoo application, carries with it the risk of infection and must be handled with extreme care
- Make sure the person doing the removal is a medical doctor
- Find a laser specialist who owns and uses at least three tattoo removal lasers, this will greatly increase your chances of effectively having your tattoos removed in safe and experienced hands.
After healing, the site will gradually fade and your once- permanent body art will become distance memory
