Tattoo removal can be more painful than getting a tattoo. The more popular tattoo removal procedures are costly and take a number of treatments before the tattoo is removed. Sometimes, the tattoo cannot be completely removed. Different pigments are harder to remove than others. Red and yellow tattoos are the hardest to remove, according to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Laser, excision and dermabrasion are the most popular tattoo removal procedures.
Laser
The laser tattoo removal procedure is painful and takes multiple treatments before the tattoo is removed. Not all tattoos can be completely removed by laser. It is still one of the more popular tattoo removal treatments because of minimal or no scarring from the lasers. The type of laser will depend on the size and ink color, or pigment, of the tattoo. The Q-Switched Ruby Laser works well on green colors. The Q-Switched Nd works well for dark blue, black red and orange colors. The Q-Switched Alexandrite Laser works well on green and blue-black colors.
An initial appointment is necessary to determine the type of laser treatment to be used on the tattoo. The laser tattoo procedure starts by numbing the skin with a local anesthetic. The laser pulses a quick intense burst of laser light into the skin breaking up the pigments in the tattoo. This enables the body to clear away the tiny fragments of ink over time. Different ink colors, or pigments, require different wavelengths of laser light to break down the color inks. Multicolor tattoos can require a variety of lasers to break down the different colors of ink, according to the Mayo Clinic.
After the procedure, the skin may swell or blister. Antibacterial ointment is applied to the skin and the skin is allowed to heal for a couple of weeks. Repeated treatments may be necessary to remove the tattoo entirely.
Dermabrasion
The procedure for dermabrasion is simple. Chilling with ice or using a chemical spray to freeze the area to be treated numbs the surface skin. A hand-held rotary tool is then used to sand off the surface of the skin with the tattoo. Removing the top layers of the skin allows the tattoo inks to seep from the skin. The treated skin is raw and an antibacterial ointment is applied. Surgical bandages are wrapped around the area to keep the skin from becoming infected. It takes up to 10 days for the area to heal. Sometimes, it takes more than one treatment to remove the tattoo. Not all tattoos can be completely removed using dermabrasion, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Excision
Surgical excision is another tattoo removal procedure. This procedure works best on small tattoos. The tattooed area is numbed with a local anesthetic. Using a scalpel, the tattoo is cut away from the skin. The skin is then sewn together, treated with antibacterial cream, and bandaged. This tattoo removal procedure will get rid of the tattoo completely, but it does leave a scar in its place. One advantage to using excision for tattoo removal is that it only takes one treatment. Most other methods of tattoo removal take multiple treatments over a period time that can take up to a year.
About this Author
Caroline Thompson has been a professional photojournalist since 1999. She combines writing and photography in her stories. Thompson’s work has appeared in the “Sacramento Bee,” “People Magazine,” “Newsweek” and other publications. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in photojournalism from California State University Hayward (CSUH) and a personal trainer certification from the Health and Fitness Institute out of CSUH.
