Tattoo Removal

There are as many reasons for people wanting to have their tattoos removed as there are for people wanting to get them done in the first place!

Maybe their employers frown on tattoos........maybe the actual artwork is sub-standard.......maybe the tattoo was of a personal nature and those personal circumstances have changed........but probably the most common reason for people wanting their tattoos removed is that they rushed into the decision or choice of tattoo in the first place.
Tattoos are personal and the #1 thought in your mind when you decide to get one should be "I will have this tattoo for the rest of my life"

During the process of getting a tattoo, ink is injected deep into the dermis, which is the secondary layer of skin, with the intention of the tattoo lasting a life-time, with this in mind it's easy to see why tattoo removal can be a very involved, not to mention painful process.
Tattoo removal will usually result in some scarring or at the very least a lightening of the skin at the site of removal.

The success rates of tattoo removals can be affected by several factors, the size and colour of the tattoo and the location on the body being the two main ones.
Very small tattoos can often be removed by excision, the tattoo is simply cut out and the skin stitched back together, this will usually result in a scar but as the tattoo was small so will the scar be.
Larger tattoos can also be removed using this method, although the procedure may have to be carried out several times allowing each procedure to heal before the next one is carried out. Larger tattoos removed in this way can often lead to quite extensive scarring.

One of the most popular methods of tattoo removal is laser treatment, lasers are used to break up the coloured ink used in the tattoo and the bodies cells attack and eradicate these coloured cells naturally, again this method will involve a number of repeat treatments with larger tattoos and whilst scarring can still occur skin lightening is a more common side effect of this procedure.

One final thing to bear in mind, often tattoos that are of a personal design, such as names or dates etc. can, as an alternative to removal, be modified by a competent tattooist and turned into a totally new and original tattoo.....this is something that is definitely worth considering in my opinion.

Images

Before and after images of a tattoo successfully removed using laser treatment