Question:
Removal may not be of interest to most on this NG - but some may want a poor
tattoo removed and wonder about laser treatment.
I have two tattoos on my right forearm and three on my left that I wanted
removing. I signed up for laser treatment at Laserase in Liverpool in
February 2003 and had three treatments there before they went bust! I then
moved to Laserase in Bolton and have now had a total of fourteen treatments.
Major problem is that they cannot give you any realistic idea of how many
treatments will be required because a lot depends upon how effective your
body is at disposing of the pigment that has been 'pulverised' by the laser.
It was suggested to me that my tattoos should be gone within 6 to 12
treatments. I've had 14 and there is still a long way to go. Not one of the
five tattoos has completely gone although two are almost there. The cost
goes down as the area to be treated reduces - the problem is that the
tattoos 'fade' rather than vanishing in chunks and so the area being treated
remains constant for much of the time. The laser removes the pigment in
layers - starting off with low power and a wider 'pulse' area and then, in
later sessions, gradually increasing the power to go deeper but with a far
more concentrated and tiny area treated with each pulse (about diameter of a
pencil lead now). The treatment also become far more painful at these higher
levels - feels like having hot fat splashed on your skin. Today's treatment
took 1,280 pulses - down on the previous 1,860 total time to treat all five
tattoos around 40 - 45 minutes. I began by having treatments every four
weeks (which is the minimum) but this was a mistake because the pigment
continues to fade after a single treatment for up to three months. I now go
every two months. Treatment cost was initially £275 per session at Liverpool
and £250 per session at Bolton. This is now reduced to £170 at today's
session - still painful on the wallet. Total cost of treatment so far -
£3,235! A damn sight more than the bloody tattoos cost to have put on
Laser Tattoo Removal Houston. Anyone know?
Answer:
- I would have just gone to a good tattoo artist and asked them
to come up with a better design to cover up the old ones, that
would have cost a lot less 8o)
Why do you want them removed that bad? Is it a work thing
or is just that you chose something embarassing? 8o) I can
just think of a lot better things that I would spend £3,235 on
- I had them all done when I joined the Navy - between the ages of 16 - 18.
They were poor tattoos and because of that I had some of them covered over
with fresh tattoos. This may seem like a good idea but over the years (I'm
57 now!) the tattoo beneath and the tattoo above tend to merge into a messy
blob. I don't want it to sound snobbish but I simply move in different
circles today than I did as a teenager and the tattoos were just an
embarassment to me - I very rarely wore short sleeved shirts or T-shirts for
example. I still have a chinese dragon on my right upper arm - this was a
good tattoo and even with short sleeves does not show. The cost of having
this removed as well would have been prohibitive however.
