Laser Tattoo Removal
OK so, you got it wrong. Maybe it was the wrong tattoo, maybe you just don't want tattoos anymore or maybe you just feel your old tattoo is no longer "you" or perhaps you've seen something you want more and your existing tattoo has to go to make way for it. Whatever your reason for getting rid of your tattoo, the most likely way you are going to achieve this is with laser tattoo removal.
There are a number of other ways to remove an unwanted tattoo such as dermabrasion, salabrasion, removal creams, TCA (trichloroacetic acid) and surgery.
There are a, however, couple of things to remember, however you decide to remove your tattoo.
There are a number of other ways to remove an unwanted tattoo such as dermabrasion, salabrasion, removal creams, TCA (trichloroacetic acid) and surgery.
There are a, however, couple of things to remember, however you decide to remove your tattoo.
- None of them, with the exception of surgery, are guaranteed to completely remove the tattoo.
- None of them are cheap. It will cost more to remove the tattoo than it did to get it in the first place.
- Removal cream is the only painless method of removing a tattoo, though the effectiveness of these creams is a matter for debate.
- You could well end up with a scar and in the case of surgery you may even need a skin graft.
Laser tattoo removal offers no guarantees. It will completely remove some colours, fade others and have little to no effect on others, so whether it works or not depends, to a degree on what you have but it also depends on the quality of the laser being used to remove it. While I'm no expert this is an area I have really looked into as I was considering waging my own war on bad tattoos by getting into tattoo removal, I've also considered having one of mine removed to make way for another, I just can't say goodbye to it just yet.
How Does Laser Tattoo Removal Work?
In short, laser tattoo removal works by using a laser to break down the ink particles which then pass into your blood stream. Once in your blood stream your liver cleans the blood and the removes the ink particles and ultimately you pass them out of your body naturally. Simple.
If only it was so simple. As soon as the ink is put into your body, white blood cells do what white blood cells do, they attack impurities in your body. Over time they slowly erode your tattoo, taking it away a little bit at a time. This is why once crisp, clean tattoos blur and fade.
Using a laser, this process can be quickened by using the heat of the laser to break up large ink particles allowing the white blood cells to do their job more effectively. Of course, most tattoo inks gain their colour from the use of heavy metals. Some metals break down quite easily, some don't break down at all.
For a more scientific insight into exactly how laser tattoo removal works, check out this video by Smarter Everyday which goes into microscopic detail of how the use of a laser can remove your unwanted tattoo.
If only it was so simple. As soon as the ink is put into your body, white blood cells do what white blood cells do, they attack impurities in your body. Over time they slowly erode your tattoo, taking it away a little bit at a time. This is why once crisp, clean tattoos blur and fade.
Using a laser, this process can be quickened by using the heat of the laser to break up large ink particles allowing the white blood cells to do their job more effectively. Of course, most tattoo inks gain their colour from the use of heavy metals. Some metals break down quite easily, some don't break down at all.
For a more scientific insight into exactly how laser tattoo removal works, check out this video by Smarter Everyday which goes into microscopic detail of how the use of a laser can remove your unwanted tattoo.
Now, maybe you aren't especially bothered about how it works, at the end of the day, "How much does it cost?" and "Does it work?" are for more crucial questions. What is the point of going through the pain and and expense of multiple laser sessions if there is no guarantee that you won't still have a tattoo at the end of it?
All very good questions.
All very good questions.
Does Laser Tattoo Removal Work?
Of course, for some people it works very well, to illustrate this, here is the cautionary success story of former far-right skinhead, Bryon Widner.
Bryon's full story can be found in a variety of places on the internet, however I would like to purely focus on the removal of the tattoos that covered his face and hands. I'm not here to pass judgement on his previous lifestyle, why he chose what he chose or why he chose to remove them. We all make choices, some we get right, some we get wrong. In Byron's case leaving behind choices he decided had been wrong was more difficult than it is for the majority of us.
Bryon Widner got lucky. Lucky, If you consider 25 painful procedures, painful blistering, extreme facial and hand swelling, permanant scaring, damage to skin pigmentation, frequent migraines, having to stay out of the sun, having to live with death threats and a humungous medical bill to be lucky.
Bryon got lucky because, through turning his back on his previous life he was able to find an anonymous sponsor who, with a few caveats, agreed to foot the $30,000 (around £26,000 at today's exchange rate) bill and lucky because, after 16 months of painful laser surgery followed by painful recovery, laser tattoo removal got him the results he desperately craved. In this instance, the pictures say it better than I can.
Bryon's full story can be found in a variety of places on the internet, however I would like to purely focus on the removal of the tattoos that covered his face and hands. I'm not here to pass judgement on his previous lifestyle, why he chose what he chose or why he chose to remove them. We all make choices, some we get right, some we get wrong. In Byron's case leaving behind choices he decided had been wrong was more difficult than it is for the majority of us.
Bryon Widner got lucky. Lucky, If you consider 25 painful procedures, painful blistering, extreme facial and hand swelling, permanant scaring, damage to skin pigmentation, frequent migraines, having to stay out of the sun, having to live with death threats and a humungous medical bill to be lucky.
Bryon got lucky because, through turning his back on his previous life he was able to find an anonymous sponsor who, with a few caveats, agreed to foot the $30,000 (around £26,000 at today's exchange rate) bill and lucky because, after 16 months of painful laser surgery followed by painful recovery, laser tattoo removal got him the results he desperately craved. In this instance, the pictures say it better than I can.
Ok, so Bryon is a one off, so why show the extreme? What I'm trying to illustrate is that laser tattoo removal is not a cheap, quick or pleasant process. If you were thinking "ZAP....and it's gone", think again, especially if you are thinking facial, hand or neck tattoos are the way you want to go..
So to answer the question, "Does laser tattoo removal work?" Well, yes, it certainly can. The results achieved for Bryon Widner are exceptional and the man the came out of the process is unrecogniseable (in more ways than one) from the one that started it. However, Widner suffered 16 months of procedures and healing and the cost was enormous. It's unlikely that these kind of results could be achieved by going to his local tattooist, charging £50 a session and that's not necessarily the failure of the person performing the treatment. The inks used, the laser and even Bryon's own body were part and parcel of this success. Do these tattoos with different inks, treat them with a different laser and put them on a different person and the results could have been far less impressive.
How Much Does Laser Tattoo Removal Cost?
As you can see from Bryon Widner's photographs it cearly can work, but by the same token when you look at how much it cost, you'd be right to be disappointed if it didn't. Having spent some time researching the subject though, I suspect that, given the cost and the excellent results obtained in Widner's case, (and the fact that at some stages a general anaesthetic was used to reduce his suffering) this is not a job that was done at his local tattooists and that this was not done with a cheap laser.
You'd think a laser is a laser is a laser, right? Well, maybe not but this certainly is not the case. At the time of writing you can source a used tattoo removal laser on eBay for under £250 and a new one from China for £550, to some a lot of money but for a laser this is peanuts and frankly, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. So surely, paying £4,000, £5,000 or even £10,000 will get you the best? Sadly, not. For a laser designed specifically to treat (note, I don't say remove) tattoos from award winning laser manufacturers Lynton Lasers, widely acknowledged as the best in the UK, you are looking at circa £20,000. That is a lot of money to most people. At this price, only the best practitioners of the laser removers craft can afford to buy one and the best as they, costs money.
Even a small tattoo will take 4 or 5 sessions to remove and even at the cheap end at £30-£50 a session this is going to set you back between £120 and £250 to remove. While there are many places you can get laser treatment at these budget prices, according to an article in the The Telegraph, the national average is around £200 a session. At that price, even a small tattoo is going to set you back £800-£1,000 to be rid of. In the UK you can in some instances get a tattoo removed by the National Health Service (NHS), however you will have to prove that the existence of the offending ink is causing, "significant distress or serious mental health problems", so I wouldn't hold your breath for free tattoo removal, just yet.
When it comes down to it your expectations and your budget will determine what you decide to do. Some lasers may only fade the tattoo rather then making it almost as if you never had the tattoo in the first place, if you are looking at having another in it's place this is quite probably going to be enough for you but if you absolutely hate the sight of it and don't want to be tattooed ever again, it probably won't be.
You'd think a laser is a laser is a laser, right? Well, maybe not but this certainly is not the case. At the time of writing you can source a used tattoo removal laser on eBay for under £250 and a new one from China for £550, to some a lot of money but for a laser this is peanuts and frankly, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. So surely, paying £4,000, £5,000 or even £10,000 will get you the best? Sadly, not. For a laser designed specifically to treat (note, I don't say remove) tattoos from award winning laser manufacturers Lynton Lasers, widely acknowledged as the best in the UK, you are looking at circa £20,000. That is a lot of money to most people. At this price, only the best practitioners of the laser removers craft can afford to buy one and the best as they, costs money.
Even a small tattoo will take 4 or 5 sessions to remove and even at the cheap end at £30-£50 a session this is going to set you back between £120 and £250 to remove. While there are many places you can get laser treatment at these budget prices, according to an article in the The Telegraph, the national average is around £200 a session. At that price, even a small tattoo is going to set you back £800-£1,000 to be rid of. In the UK you can in some instances get a tattoo removed by the National Health Service (NHS), however you will have to prove that the existence of the offending ink is causing, "significant distress or serious mental health problems", so I wouldn't hold your breath for free tattoo removal, just yet.
When it comes down to it your expectations and your budget will determine what you decide to do. Some lasers may only fade the tattoo rather then making it almost as if you never had the tattoo in the first place, if you are looking at having another in it's place this is quite probably going to be enough for you but if you absolutely hate the sight of it and don't want to be tattooed ever again, it probably won't be.
What You Need To Know About Laser Tattoo Removal
Just as you should do your homework before getting a tattoo, you need to do your homework before getting it removed. Here are a few things to consider before you head off to get zapped.
Know what you want to achieve.
Complete removal of a tattoo is far more difficult and expensive than merely fading so that you can have another in its place. If you just want to replace the tattoo consider getting a cover up this will be quicker, cheaper and less painful than a removal.
If the tattoo you want won't cover the old one or nothing your tattooist suggests as a cover up is really what you want then fading the old tattoo to the point where what you want can go over it is your next option. How long it takes and how much it will cost will depend on what you already have and the laser that will be used to fade it.
You may, on the other hand, not want to be tattooed anymore. Maybe getting tattooed was the product of a drunken night in Magaluf and now you've sobered up you've remembered you don't like tattoos. In all probability you are going to want that tattoo completely removed. How easy or difficult that will be will depend on what you have, what colours are in it, do you smoke and again, the type and quality of the laser being used.
Many clinics and tattoo studios will offer a free consultation prior to treatment. Be clear in what results you expect and make sure you understand what they can and can't achieve with the equipment they have.
If the tattoo you want won't cover the old one or nothing your tattooist suggests as a cover up is really what you want then fading the old tattoo to the point where what you want can go over it is your next option. How long it takes and how much it will cost will depend on what you already have and the laser that will be used to fade it.
You may, on the other hand, not want to be tattooed anymore. Maybe getting tattooed was the product of a drunken night in Magaluf and now you've sobered up you've remembered you don't like tattoos. In all probability you are going to want that tattoo completely removed. How easy or difficult that will be will depend on what you have, what colours are in it, do you smoke and again, the type and quality of the laser being used.
Many clinics and tattoo studios will offer a free consultation prior to treatment. Be clear in what results you expect and make sure you understand what they can and can't achieve with the equipment they have.
Understand the tattoo you have.
That may sound like a strange thing to say but what your tattoo physically is, is going to have an effect on how long it will take to get rid of and even if it can be got rid of.
Home grown amateur tattoos are easier to remove than professionally done tattoos. They are usually not as deep and the ink used is usually less dense than the inks used by professionals. Consequently, the laser is more effective at breaking these inks down which ultimately means, generally speaking, a better result in less time.
Colour is also going to have an effect on the success and duration of the removal process. Black, brown and dark blue tattoo inks are considered to be the easiest to remove. Reds, oranges and yellows are more challenging while pastel shades and the new ultra-vibrant colours are among the hardest to remove. The jury appears to be out on green ink with some reports saying it is one of the easiest to remove, some say it's one of the hardest while others I've read say it can't be removed at all. White ink is in a league of its own when it comes to getting it out again. Not only is it THE single hardest ink to remove there is also a chance that it will simply go black under treatment.
Where your tattoo is placed is also going to have an effect on how long the removal of your tattoo is going to take. Some parts of your body have a stronger blood flow than others so tattoos on your torso will have a quicker result than tattoos on your hands or feet. In relation to this, smoking can also have an effect on how long it will take to remove your tattoo. Smokers very often have a poorer blood circulation and have more toxins in their blood than non-smokers, consequently it takes longer for the white blood cells to do their work. What could take five sessions for a non-smoker could take eight or nine in a smoker.
Perhaps the most obvious consideration is the size of the tattoo. If you have a tiny tattoo it is clearly going to take less time to remove than if you have a full sleeve that you no longer want.
By understanding exactly what you have you can manage your own expectations on what can be achieved and also help you to prepare for what could be a very expensive bill.
Home grown amateur tattoos are easier to remove than professionally done tattoos. They are usually not as deep and the ink used is usually less dense than the inks used by professionals. Consequently, the laser is more effective at breaking these inks down which ultimately means, generally speaking, a better result in less time.
Colour is also going to have an effect on the success and duration of the removal process. Black, brown and dark blue tattoo inks are considered to be the easiest to remove. Reds, oranges and yellows are more challenging while pastel shades and the new ultra-vibrant colours are among the hardest to remove. The jury appears to be out on green ink with some reports saying it is one of the easiest to remove, some say it's one of the hardest while others I've read say it can't be removed at all. White ink is in a league of its own when it comes to getting it out again. Not only is it THE single hardest ink to remove there is also a chance that it will simply go black under treatment.
Where your tattoo is placed is also going to have an effect on how long the removal of your tattoo is going to take. Some parts of your body have a stronger blood flow than others so tattoos on your torso will have a quicker result than tattoos on your hands or feet. In relation to this, smoking can also have an effect on how long it will take to remove your tattoo. Smokers very often have a poorer blood circulation and have more toxins in their blood than non-smokers, consequently it takes longer for the white blood cells to do their work. What could take five sessions for a non-smoker could take eight or nine in a smoker.
Perhaps the most obvious consideration is the size of the tattoo. If you have a tiny tattoo it is clearly going to take less time to remove than if you have a full sleeve that you no longer want.
By understanding exactly what you have you can manage your own expectations on what can be achieved and also help you to prepare for what could be a very expensive bill.
Patience is essential.
Laser tattoo removal is not a quick fix. While each session may only take a few minutes it isn't advised that you return for another session for 6-8 weeks and some dermatologists claim it should be the full eight weeks. There are three reasons for this;
- Firstly, it can take the full eight weeks for the full effects of a session to be realised. The condition of your skin and the strength of your immune system my shorten this by a week or two but generally you will need eight weeks for your body to breakdown and process the ink.
- Secondly, your skin will need this time to heal and recover properly. Laser tattoo removal treatment is traumatic for your skin and needs time to recover, especially if you have R20 treatment (I'll explain later).
- Finally, the most important reason for waiting the full eight weeks. If you have further laser treatment before your body has had time to fully clear the broken down ink particles and recover from doing so, you are actually interfering with the process. Having more treatment too early can actually slow down the process and, as a result, mean your results happen less quickly and you need more treatment. More treatment means more money.
What kind of laser will be used to remove your tattoo?
There are different types of laser that will produce different results and will be used for different colours. If you know what these do and you know what type of equipment the person who is going to attempt to remove your tattoo is using you can have an idea of what results to expect.
- Intense Light Pulse (IPL). First off, IPL is not a laser. It works on the same basic principles, i.e. it uses light pulses to break down the inks in your tattoo. Where it differs is that while lasers are focused, using different wavelengths to treat specific conditions (and, in the case of tattoos, different colours), IPL's are, to quote Greg Absten of The Laser Training Institute, "a broad shot-gun approach to skin conditions...It’s not the best at any one thing, but it works pretty well”. While IPL treatments are able to destroy the pigments in tattoo ink, they are not focussed enough to pentrate the dermis where the majority of the ink is located, leading to a less satisfactory end result. Also, as they are not as specialised as lasers, scarring is more common with IPL treatments than it is with laser treatment. IPL wavelengths are measured in milliseconds (one thousandth of a second) which, while that may sound quite fast, in terms of the wavelengths used by lasers, it is positively sluggish. The faster the wave length, the higher the energy produced and the more effective the removal is.
- Q Switch Lasers. Lasers are specialist tools for specific jobs. A laser used to treat one skin condition may not work on another and, consequently, those used for tattoo removal are designed with tattoo removal in mind. There are three common types of Q Switch laser used to remove tattoos; Nd:YAG, Ruby and Alexandrite. Each of these lasers is able to treat a different range of colours and use different wavelengths to remove the tattoo pigment. While none of these lasers are cheap to buy it's worth considering that each machine is considerably more expensive than the last and as a result, treatments will be more expensive depending on the laser type used. The wavelengths used by Q Switch lasers are measured in nanoseconds (one thousand-millionth of a second), thus producing much more energy and a better result than you would expect with an IPL.
- Q Switch Picosecond Lasers. If you thought a nanosecond laser was quick, may I introduce the Picosecond Laser. These lasers operate on wavelengths measured at one trillionth of a second (that's a million-millionth) which is...well...very fast indeed. There are some issues with Picosecond lasers so it may not be worth your time hunting down somebody who actually has one. So what's wrong with them? Without going into the depths of the science (which I've done and, trust me, it's a very dry read), so it's probably best is I let the experts explain...
"Picosecond lasers are q-switched lasers that have a pulse of picoseconds, which is much faster than a nanosecond. That is really the significance. They are more expensive machines (often double the price of a nanosecond q-switch laser) but often only use one wavelength. Only having one wavelength means it is effective for only one tattoo colour and will mean you will again spend more money trying to get a half decent tattoo removal.
Picosecond systems are vastly underpowered compared to nanosecond systems. This forces practitioners to use smaller laser spot sizes when fluence (energy dispersion) levels need to be increased. No picosecond system gives practitioners the flexibility to effectively treat the full spectrum of tattoo colours and patient skin types. A study comparing tattoo fading responses from picosecond and nanosecond lasers found that “the qualitative nature of the ink changes were no different between that of tattoos treated with the two types of lasers.”
Producing picosecond lasers with high pulse energy have proven to be both difficult and prohibitively expensive. Because of these difficulties, the picosecond systems that have made it to market have not delivered on their marketing promises and are plagued with reliability issues." Renude Laser Clinic, Syndey
Full article here.
In short, it is believed that Picosecond lasers are no better at removing tattoos than nanosecond lasers. The claims made by the people producing these machines are considered to be somewhere between exaggerated and outlandish, one might say misleading. It t will cost you and arm and a leg to be treated with one and it might break down mid-flight.
How well trained is the person performing my treatment?
Once upon a time I met a man who removes tattoos. This chap was a tattooist who preferred to remove tattoos on account that he made more money and he made it faster removing tattoos than he did actually doing them, not what you'd exactly call a slave to his art. That said you can't blame a guy for wanting to make a living. My concern came when he told me he qualified to remove tattoos online after doing a course that cost him around £30. He then printed off a certificate and went off to buy a laser for a few hundred pounds. At the time of speaking to him he had just upgraded to one costing around £2500.
Now, I can't find anything online that offers a laser qualification for £30, though this was a couple of years ago and this may no longer be available. However, if this tale is true there may well be people making a living out there removing tattoos with the bare minimum of training, as with everything tattoo related, my advice is to ask the important questions before you go ahead. Cheap is not always a bargain.
Personally, I would be more comfortable with being treated by somebody who has invested time and money into qualifying, in all honestly I'd be looking for somebody trained by the Lynton Group. The Lynton Group (who are a "...world leading manufacturer and supplier of aesthetic, surgical and conservation lasers, combining unrivalled, specialist knowledge with high quality equipment...") have set the gold standard when it comes to the manufacture and development of cosmetic laser technology, even the Vatican chose them when they needed their ancient statues cleaning.
Lynton know what they are doing.
Who better to learn from than the world's best? Lynton offer courses in all aspects of cosmetic laser and IPL use and some of these courses are conducted in conjunction with the University of Manchester, one of the world's finest universities for scientific study and research. When I finally make the leap into laser tattoo removal, Lynton will be the first people I ring. Lynton training costs £300 per module (that's £300 for basic knowledge, £300 for tattoo removal, £300 for hair removal etc etc) and clinical updates are a further £120 each.
My advice? Look for somebody who has invested time and money into not just removing your tattoo but understanding their equipment, how it works, why it works and what to do if it doesn't go entirely to plan.
Now, I can't find anything online that offers a laser qualification for £30, though this was a couple of years ago and this may no longer be available. However, if this tale is true there may well be people making a living out there removing tattoos with the bare minimum of training, as with everything tattoo related, my advice is to ask the important questions before you go ahead. Cheap is not always a bargain.
Personally, I would be more comfortable with being treated by somebody who has invested time and money into qualifying, in all honestly I'd be looking for somebody trained by the Lynton Group. The Lynton Group (who are a "...world leading manufacturer and supplier of aesthetic, surgical and conservation lasers, combining unrivalled, specialist knowledge with high quality equipment...") have set the gold standard when it comes to the manufacture and development of cosmetic laser technology, even the Vatican chose them when they needed their ancient statues cleaning.
Lynton know what they are doing.
Who better to learn from than the world's best? Lynton offer courses in all aspects of cosmetic laser and IPL use and some of these courses are conducted in conjunction with the University of Manchester, one of the world's finest universities for scientific study and research. When I finally make the leap into laser tattoo removal, Lynton will be the first people I ring. Lynton training costs £300 per module (that's £300 for basic knowledge, £300 for tattoo removal, £300 for hair removal etc etc) and clinical updates are a further £120 each.
My advice? Look for somebody who has invested time and money into not just removing your tattoo but understanding their equipment, how it works, why it works and what to do if it doesn't go entirely to plan.