Tattoos are more popular than ever before — but just as more people are deciding to get permanent body art, more people are also opting to have their unwanted tattoos removed.
Whether it didn’t turn out as you expected, didn’t age well, or simply no longer fits your lifestyle, regrettable ink can be an aesthetic annoyance. Luckily, board-certified physician Dr. Nidal Hasan and our team at Cosmetico MedSpa can help.
Erasing a tired tattoo may not be as simple as changing your mind, but laser tattoo removal makes it as easy as possible. Here’s how we can help you say goodbye to your undesired ink safely, and with excellent results.
Tattoos are frequently referred to as “permanent ink” because of the way the chosen image or words are applied to your skin: The tattoo artist uses an electrically powered needle that sets the ink in your deep skin layer (dermis), well below the skin surface (epidermis).
Deep dermal cells are more stable because they’re protected by epidermal cells, which turn over and regenerate more often along the surface of your body. Indelible by design, tattoo ink is even more enduring when it’s inserted into these stable and protected skin cells.
Not long ago, scarring surgical excision and painful dermabrasion treatments were the only way to remove permanent skin ink. Today, thanks to ongoing advances in noninvasive laser technology, you can safely get rid of unwanted tattoos with minimal discomfort.
Noninvasive aesthetic laser technology makes it possible to substantially lighten — or totally erase — unwanted tattoos with minimal risk of scarring or skin damage.
How does it work? Using brief, “pulsed” bursts of targeted energy, the laser device shatters dense, concentrated areas of ink into tiny particles. Specifically, when we pass the laser device over the treatment area, it emits various wavelengths of light energy into the unwanted ink, superheating its pigment cells and breaking them apart.
After each treatment session, these miniscule, destabilized ink particles are gradually absorbed by your lymphatic system and flushed from your body. The energy reaches the ink deposits that are closest to the skin surface first; each successive treatment targets the next remaining ink layer until the tattoo is gone (or significantly faded).
Many people who are considering laser tattoo removal ask the same three questions:
While most people agree that laser tattoo removal isn’t nearly as intense as getting a tattoo, it does feel a lot like having a tiny, high-powered rubber band repeatedly snapped against your skin. To minimize discomfort, we apply a topical numbing cream before each session.
Virtually all tattoos require several laser treatments to attain complete clearance or significant fading. We can give you a more accurate idea of how many sessions you may need after we assess the size, color, quality, age, and location of your unwanted ink.
The average tattoo disappears or fades dramatically after about six laser treatments. Each 30-minute session is scheduled six to eight weeks apart to allow your skin time to heal — and to give your lymphatic system time to flush the pulverized ink particles.
Even with a small or relatively simple tattoo, it takes several laser treatments to remove the varying depths of ink that have been applied to your skin. Dark, vibrant, or new tattoos tend to be more stubborn, requiring more treatment sessions than lighter or older tattoos, which tend to disappear faster.
Blue and black inks are easiest to erase; green, red, and yellow inks can be more difficult. Our pulsed laser works very well on multicolored tattoos, and has an excellent track record for providing complete results. After we evaluate your tattoo, we can give you a better idea of the level of clearing you can expect.
If you’re ready to make that unwanted tattoo disappear for good, Cosmetico MedSpa can help. Call or click online to schedule a tattoo removal consultation at your nearest office in Munster, Indiana, or Orland Park, Illinois, today.
