FAQs
We recommend a course of treatment where you undergo laser removal every 4 weeks. Occasionally we may want to extend this to 6 weeks but as a rule one treatment per tattoo every 4 weeks is ideal to ensure a smooth and efficient tattoo removal process.
Yep. Well I could tell you porkies and say that it tickles but the fact is that laser tattoo removal does have a sting to it. However the treatment is very quick in comparison to actually having the tattoo applied. For example, if you have a tattoo that is primarily black and it’s approx 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch squared then the actual treatment time will be approx 2 minutes.
Is that so scary? It feels like someone pulling an elastic band and flicking you with it multiple times very fast. You can get numbing cream from the chemist if you are concerned. Ametop and EMLA are numbing creams that help take the edge off your removal process.
It could, in theory, but the risk of this happening is very low (around 5% risk). Any treatment of tattoo removal carries a risk of scar tissue forming and some areas of the body are more prone to this than others. It is unlikely that you will scar but we cannot guarantee it.
If you experience any pinprick bleeding during/ after the treatment or blistering it is important not to pick the scab, pop the blister or take the skin off the area. Just take good care of it and use aloe vera creams to help sooth and repair your skin.
Yes, we will provide you with an after care sheet to help you post treatment. Keep this for future reference if your tattoo requires multiple treatments for removal/ reduction.
1. There is no guarantee of full removal of your tattoo, no one can guarantee this other than a surgeon performing a skin graft (which leaves a nasty scar) You are very likely to experience full removal if that is your ultimate aim but you may be left with a slight “ghosting” where the original tattoo was. From a distance it would look like a very mild bruise.
2. Immediately after your treatment you will see some white dots appear, this is water vapour and will usually disappear within 15 minutes. The tattoo area will become swollen and red making it feel tender (like a mild sun burn). Your skin may bruise or even experience pin prick bleeding, you may even blister. These are normal side effects and are not a cause for concern.
Look after your skin in the usual way that you would if you had any injury with plenty of TLC. If you do get worried then by all means contact us. If you are still concerned contact your local NHS helpline but seriously its a very mild form of treatment with little to worry about.
Imagine that you have a box full of marbles; it’s so full that you can’t fit any more marbles in that box, this image represents your tattoo and the ink with it. Now I come along with a larger marble and I throw it at high speed into your already full box of marbles.
What will happen is that some of those marbles will fall out of the box. The marbles now on the floor get cleaned up and thrown out as they’re no longer needed. Now each month I will repeat the same process until that box of marbles is empty. Essentially this is the process that happens with laser tattoo removal. The light shatters the ink particles of your tattoo into smaller pieces and the bits that have been broken down during each treatment will get removed by the immune system of your body. The better your immune system, the faster it will remove.
Darker colours are favoured by our laser system which is a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Black and red are the staple diet for our technology and are removed the easiest. As you get lighter through the colour spectrum the colours become harder to remove and thus take a few treatments more to complete. The colours which cannot be removed via our laser treatment are Green, Yellow and Orange.
Amateur tattoos are removed much quicker than professional ones; by amateur I mean tattoos that were done at school using a home made “machine” or simple needles probably using some sort of Indian ink.
Professional tattoos are done at a tattoo studio by a professional artist who is skilled in applying ink to the skin. These take a few more treatments to remove due to the levels of ink they will have used and the professional quality of the ink.
How long is a piece of string? Everyone is different. We’ve removed tattoos in one shot with our technology but equally it could be up to 12 treatments, some people take more. What you have to remember is that 90% of tattoo removal comes down to how well your body responds to the treatment. The laser we use will do it’s job on every treatment, that job is breaking through the collagen encasing your tattoo and shattering some of the ink into smaller pieces (remember the marbles in the box). After that it is up to your body to remove the ink in a timely manner. If it isn’t as effective as someone else’s body then you’ll need more repeat treatments.
Also, some areas of the body respond slower to tattoo removal in general. Areas such as the hands, ankles and the feet have a slower reaction time to treatment than places like the back, the arms and the legs. It’s just biology so please don’t worry. The tattoo will remove; it will just take a little more time.