Tattoos can be a beautiful and distinctive way of conveying messages about an individual’s personality, marking out beliefs and philosophies, clan membership or spirituality. They can also be used for cosmetic purposes, with permanent make up such as eye and lip liner becoming more popular.
However, many people find themselves in the wake of this new craze regretting the decision they made to get a tattoo. The permanence and slight social negativity associated with permanent ink designs can hamper an individual’s career prospects, at worst becoming an object of anguish and shame.
A Permanent Reminder or a Transient Decoration?
At one time, a tattoo was the most permanent of all personal decorations. Having one meant making a lifelong commitment to the design, which is a difficult decision for people as they grow and change. These days, however, there are a number of methods available to remove tattoos when the individual decides that the design is no longer applicable to his life and situation.
Laser Tattoo Removal – an Efficient but Expensive Solution
Laser Tattoo Removal is considered by medical health professionals and dermatologists to be the most effective way of removing tattoo ink from the skin. Small areas can be treated under local anaesthetic cream (EMLA, Ametop) or local anaesthetic injections. Intravenous sedation can be given by an Anaesthetist to supplement this, or if the patient prefers, a full general anaesthetic. This would be usual if the whole face is treated. After treatment the skin is raw and may be covered with ointment or a dressing.
Laser treatment typically costs from £50 to £200 for a single session. At least five sessions are usually required to remove a tattoo completely.
How Laser Treatment Works
Lasers work by producing short pulses of intense light that pass harmlessly through the top layers of the skin to be selectively absorbed by the tattoo pigment. This laser energy causes the tattoo pigment to fragment into smaller particles that are then removed by the body's immune system.
Healing From Laser Treatment
Healing takes between seven and ten days, leaving the new skin red. Camouflage make-up is helpful in covering this. The redness usually fades after two to six months during which time sunshine should be avoided. Sun exposure increases the risk of the development of dark pigmentation. This is more common in patients with olive, brown or black skin.
A Note of Caution
Tattoos are meant to be permanent, so removing them is difficult. Few surgeons guarantee complete removal. Having said that, the degree of remaining color variations or blemishes depends upon several factors, including size, location, the individual's ability to heal, how the tattoo was applied and how long it has been in place. For example, a tattoo applied by a more experienced artist may be easier to remove since the pigment was evenly injected in the same level of the skin. New tattoos may also be more difficult to remove than old ones.
Further Information:
National Health Service online
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