Laser Tattoo Removal - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Tattoo Removal But Were Too Afraid To Ask

Laser tattoo removal is not the only option open to you if you wish to have a tattoo removed from anywhere on your body. There are variety of ways to return your skin to it's almost original pristine condition.

One quick warning though... don't try to use kitchen or garage equipment to remove a tattoo yourself. No don't laugh... it happens. Whilst the costs of having your tat's removed by a professional are usually high, from a safety and aesthetic perspective, you won't have much to worry about. There are some idiots though, who have tried battery acids, power sanders as well as a range of other household utensils and cleaners, to attempt a home tat removal. If you are looking for a definite reason to visit your local emergency room then this is a sure path to their front door. The results of these uninformed adventures are always unsightly and lead to the doors of high priced professionals anyway. At worst, you can get an infection which can have disastrous consequences for your health and at best you will suffer pain and discomfort, not to mention a few laughs from your friends and family.

So, with that warning behind us, what is it that you can do to have your tattoo removed with the minimum of fuss and bother? You need to understand that tattoos are a permanent fixture in your skin. The inks are firmly ensconced in between layers of dead skin, live skin and a boundary layer of your skin that is there for your survival. While many adverts will lead you to believe that creams and potions can penetrate to the ink and remove it, the truth is that only a medication with small enough molecules can pass through the boundary layer of your skin and reach inside your body. These medications will need to be prescribed by a doctor and approved for the purpose by the FDA or other national health body.

You can either fully or partially remove your tattoos depending on what you want to achieve. Whatever your final decision, the process of removing a tattoo is both painful and expensive. You may get lucky and be in an area where the state will pay for your gang tattoo removal. The rest of you will have to cough up the cash yourselves.

So, before you consider the option of having a tattoo erased using a laser, what other less expensive option do you have? The first option would be dermabrasion. This process is one where the layers of skin are removed using an instrument not unlike a sanding machine. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand the extreme pain you are going to endure as the skin is slowly but surely stripped away. Even with anaesthetics and pain killers, you are going to experience a level of pain that you will not have endured before. Unless of course, you've come off your bike and had the pleasure of stripping away layers of skin on the asphalt or concrete highway. Let me assure you that it is not going to be fun. And neither is salabrasion which entails having your skin scrubbed away with salt. Just imagine being dragged along the seashore on your butt and you'll get the idea.

Then you have the option of cryosurgery. Remember those warts you had as a child and the sadistic doctor who offered to burn them off you with dry ice? OK, you can stop hyperventilating now... that's the fun sort of afternoon you can expect when you pitch for your torture, I mean appointment. Just thinking about having to remove a tattoo with dry ice makes me want to run a mile. However, making use of cryosurgery to remove a tattoo is characterised as a minimally invasive procedure. To me that says it all... instead of being knifed up by your surgeon, he'll just insert a cryoprobe and freeze your a@$#. OK, it's not as painful as the other methods described above and the scarring is less. You'll also pay less for the popsicle effect on your tat. But there is a downside to the procedure. You run the risk of damaging the surrounding tissue as well as possibly damaging the nerves. But hey, you've got to take the good with the bad. You'll find that cryosurgery is fairly painful, but nothing that you can't handle with an aspirin or ibuprofen. Heck, they are even giving paracetamol, and that's about as useful as taking a knife to a gun fight. Expect to have a nice blister as well as an awesome scab that will peel off to reveal... your tatoo, just a little bit lighter. So you'll have to go back for some more of the same until it's completely gone.

Well, there's always the next option, which is to have the tattoo surgically removed by excision. Yip, you guessed it, your doc will hack the offending piece of meat right out of your body and then graft on bits of other skin, which he or she has peeled off your unadorned parts, usually your legs or butt. Heck, this makes me squeamish just thinking about it. Excision is usually reserved for larger tattoos. So if you have that nice big tattoo across your shoulders and back then this is the procedure for you... I think? Well maybe not.

So what's left? Laser tattoo removal is probably the most patient friendly process and is achieved with Q-switch lasers. The laser light is used to break up the pigments used in your tattoo and is most effective in removing darker ink colours as well as black tattoos. The process is non-invasive and for my money I'd definitely highly recommend laser tattoo removal.