Tattoo Removal

If you have a tattoo, you’re not alone. An estimated 20 million Americans do. If you want it removed, you’re also not alone. About half of those with tattoos report they would now like their tattoo to disappear—but without a disfiguring scar left in its wake.

Laser technology has made great strides in eliminating tattoos, so this may be a good time to seriously consider tattoo removal. Everything from small, single-color tattoos to large, multicolored ones can now be significantly faded, if not completely erased, by the beams of light that new, special lasers produce. And, as importantly, there is little risk of the scarring or loss of pigmentation that other lasers and technologies can cause.

Understanding Tattoos

Tattoos are created by embedding ink (colored pigments) in cells in the dermis, the layer of skin below the top layer of skin. In the past, if you had a tattoo, you had it for life. Then along came dermabrasion, cryosurgery, and other techniques, and tattoos could be removed, but they left a scar or visible white, unpigmented area.

Now there’s the new VersaPulse® Aesthetic Laser, a state-of-the-art system specially designed to treat the full spectrum of tattoos.

Understanding Laser Treatment

A laser produces a beam of highly concentrated light. Different types of lasers produce different colors of light. The color of light produced by a particular laser is key to the laser’s effect on tattoo ink. Particular colors of light are absorbed by specific colors of tattoo ink; for example, green light is absorbed by red ink. The laser’s light energy vaporizes or fragments the targeted ink. The body then absorbs the tiny particles of ink, and the color fades.

The VersaPulse® Advantage

Other lasers emit a light beam of only one color of light. This meant that doctors sometimes needed as many as four different lasers to treat multicolored tattoos. The VersaPulse® C Aesthetic Laser produces short pulses of a wide range of light colors to treat the full spectrum of tattoo ink. The entire treatment involves no incisions.

Depending on the depth of the tattoo pigment (professional tattoos are often deeper), removing a small tattoo of one color may take one to ten laser treatments; multicolored tattoos often take several sessions depending on their size and type of ink. Sessions are usually spaced 4-8 weeks apart and are performed in the doctor’s office without the costs and risks of hospitalization or general anesthesia.

The laser treatment itself feels like numerous snaps with a rubber band. Most patients do not require anesthesia during the procedure. Topical or local anesthesia is provided for those who do.

The appearance of the treated area immediately after a laser session will vary from patient to patient depending on the extent of treatment. Immediate after-effects may include redness, light crusting, or tenderness, all of which disappear in a short time. Deeper pigmented tattoos can leave superficial blistering.

Your physician will be happy to tell you more about your treatment and what you can expect. We’re here to help.