BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Art tattoo removal questions

Hi all,

I am having one of my tattoos removed- it's on my wrist and I don't always want everybody to know I have tattoos anymore... I have had one laser treatment and have a few questions: First, how long does the tattoo continue fading inbetween treatments? My doctor wants me to have treatments every month but I'm pretty sure they fade for much longer than a month, so I think I would like to prolong the time between treatments. Also, is there anything that can be done to encourage the healing/fading process? Such as certain vitamins that improve the blood circulation... or something that helps the body detox the blood, thereby removing more ink particles? I'm just guessing there might be things that can be done to make the process more effective. Third, to anyone has had this done before, how long do the red marks from the laser usually stay on your skin? I've had them for over a week and wonder if this is unusual. Any tips I could get from those that have been through this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I can't comment specifically on laser removal as it's not something I've ever had done to me.

I have heard of people have monthly treatments. Part of laser removal revolves around what color(s) your tattoo is, and what your own skin pigmentation like.

If you can't talk to the doctor who is doing the removal for you about this, you might talk with another who does the same type of dermatological procedures, i.e. get a second opinion.

Hi... I had 2 tattoos removed. 1 on my shoulder blade and the other on the middle of my back. My doctor recommended monthly treatments also. I was ok with some color being left since I wanted to get a back piece (I just wanted something different, and didn't want to work around what I had and no longer loved). I did 9 treatments and still had some color left, about a year after my last treatment the rest of the color had faded, but I did have pretty bad scarring. My tattoo artist says it's from how frequent my laser sessions were. Of course the doctor says it was scarred from the tattoo. Which it was, but not nearly as much as after the treatments. Luckily, my artist is awesome, and the scars have not affected the flow of my piece.

Since laser removal is only about a decade old, just what it does to the body and how it really interacts with tattoing isn't fully known.

Scarring is most often a reaction by a person's skin to trauma. I would think some people could have scarring after laser removal and some people not as much.

I have met people who developed scar tissue in a tattoo from the tattoo process alone, but most do not.

Part of why I try and educate people about body art is so that they don't have to go back and edit or remove a tattoo later. It's both cheaper and easier if you don't have to.

Thanks for the replies. Wow. Mine doesn't seem like it will scar, but now I definitely want to wait longer between treatments- I can imagine that the frequency could do that. And 9 treatments, I can see how so many could be necessary. It's been only 10 days since my first, but there is barely any difference so far... it is so interesting though, everyday to check for the progress... <img src="/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> In a way, I feel kind of like when I got the tattoo- it's a permanent body-altering experience, it will change the way I see myself (physically), but this is kind of neat in that I can watch it (hopefully) evolve over the days, weeks and months ahead.