Tattoo Removal Methods

TATTOO REMOVAL METHODS TO AVOID

TATTOO REMOVAL MUST BE APPROACHED WITH EXTREME CAUTION – AFTER ALL WHO WOULD YOU TRUST YOUR SKIN TO? GET EXPERT ADVICE FIRST.

The history of Tattoo Removal is almost as old as the history of tattoos. However, previous methods were heavily painful and unsafe. These include skin graft or excision, demabrasion, acid treatments and more recently tattoo removal creams and chemical peels. Most people develop a reaction to most of these methods, and if not, there is always a horrible looking scar as a reminder of all the pain.

  • ACID PEELS
    Are very dangerous as they employ very powerful industrial acids. Unfortunately we have had clients with horrific permanent scarring after using acid peels – making their tattoo more difficult to remove later with laser.
  • TATTOOING PASTES OR LACTIC ACID BASED LIQUIDS
    Chemicals and pastes have, in the past, been tattooed in over the top of an existing tattoo in an effort to fade or remove the tattoo. By injecting a chemical and abrading the skin you will be exposed to infections and scarring.
  • DERMABRASION & SALABRASION
    Dermabrasion is a painful type of surgical skin planing that was practiced before the advent of lasers and involves the controlled wearing away of the upper to mid layers of the skin. A variety of strong abrasive devices including a wire brush, diamond wheel or sterilized sandpaper are used. This method can cause serious scarring.
  • SKIN GRAFT OR EXCISION
    A fairly drastic measure that was once thought a viable solution for tattoo removal. Smaller tattoos can be removed via excision (cutting out the skin containing the ink) but once the skin is cut it will most likely leave a scar.
  • ARGON OR CO2 LASERS
    Early laser treatments for tattoo removal used lasers that were not really suited to the job and have now been abandoned due to newer lasers showing better results with less side effects.
  • FADE CREAMS
    Don’t work. We have had many clients who have tried fade creams for months and even years with no effect. Since Tattoo ink lies beneath the skin and these creams are applied to the surface of the skin, it is unreasonable to expect they would be able to fade your tattoo successfully.
  • IPL OR INTENSE PULSED LIGHT
    IPL or Intense Pulsed Light should never been used for Tattoo Removal. Using this modality can lead to scarring, ink retention and de-pigmentation.

The gold standard and widely recognized means by which to remove a tattoo is via Q-switched laser technology.

SUCCESSFUL LASER TATTOO REMOVAL REQUIREMENTS

There are several factors that are important when looking at Laser Tattoo Removal and the capabilities of the machine that is aiming to remove the tattoo pigment.

  • The color of the laser light must be more highly absorbed by the tattoo pigment than the surrounding skin. Different tattoo pigments (colours) therefore require different laser colors. For example, red light is highly absorbed by green tattoo pigments (Ruby Laser)
  • The pulse duration of the laser must be very short, so that the tattoo pigment is heated to fragmentation temperature before its heat can dissipate to the surrounding skin. Otherwise, heating of the surrounding tissue can cause unwanted side effects to occur.
  • A sufficient amount of energy must be delivered during each laser pulse to heat the pigment and cause it to fragment. If the energy is too low, pigment will not fragment and no removal will take place. This is why Class 4 Lasers achieve far superior results to Class 3.

There are cheap laser machines that claim to remove coloured tattoos but they are usually so underpowered (Class 3b) at most they will only achieve a minor fading of a black tattoo, and are unable to do anything to coloured tattoos. They only target one colour and after a series of treatments of little or no results they will have to source out a Class 4 Q-Switched laser that targets all colours to properly remove the tattoo.

The Medlite C6 has got four wave lengths so it targets all colours. It uses nanosecond technology and is a high powered Class 4 machine that is fully customisable by the Laser operator and it is known worldwide as the best technology for Laser Tattoo Removal treatments.

The Ruby laser has one wavelength and is very popular due to its ability to target and remove green ink which is a difficult to remove colour.

Our laser operators are licensed and experienced and are dedicated to getting you the best results. Come in today for a free consultation so we can go through the differences in tattoo removal technology and answer any questions you may have.