by Jessi Marlatt
You can cut it out, rub on toxic cream, sand your skin or shoot it with a laser. Tattoos can be artistic expressions of personality or a big mistake.
Black fades to blue as years of sunlight break down ink of tattoos. The colored prom queen’s face sags with time and never actually looked like her. The name of a past sweetheart on the inside of a wrist is a constant reminder of love gone sour. A gang tattoo carries social connotations that can keep someone from obtaining a job.
There is hope. These self inflicted blemishes can be removed, but at a cost.
Whether a tattoo has faded, sagged, no longer represents personality or never looked right from the beginning there are multiple procedures which can be used in fading and lightening or surgically removing a tattoo.
According to Tattoo Removal Reality, “tattoos are not like bad haircuts that eventually grow out, they also do not remain permanently the same forever. Tattoos fade with age, apparently something many people fail to realize. This is evident in the rising number of tattoo removal procedures performed.”
In 2006, the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that 24 percent of Americans between ages 18 and 50 have at least one tattoo. Between ages 18 and 29 the number jumps to 36 percent.
“Researchers estimate that although 20% of tattooed individuals are not satisfied with their inked body markings, only about 6% actually choose removal,” stated a release from Medical News Today.
Experts emphasize that to date there is no form of tattoo removal that can guarantee your skin will look like it did before the tattoo.” Often the tattoo will be faded or scar tissue will remain in the shape of the removed tattoo. “Usually, the darker tattoos leave a shadow of the image,” said a tattoo removal practitioner from Colorado West Dermatology. She asked to remain nameless.
There are four main types of tattoo removal. The options are not pretty. One procedure, called
Dermabrasion, sands the surface of the skin down to the ink of the tattoo, another is a surgical procedure that involves cutting the inked skin away and pulling the untattooed skin together. Lasers and light intensity are also common practices that place gel in the skin before burning the tattoo out. Finally, there are the creams, which are supposed to fade tattoos with potentially dangerous chemicals.
According to Katie Maher, and early apprentice tattoo artist at Stone Cold Tattoo in Gunnison, Colo. There are not very many inquiries about tattoo removal within the town. She did comment that the removal of a tattoo “definitely costs a lot more than getting the tattoo initially.” And she is right.
Gary Betz, of Tattoo-Must-Go, charges $129 for a two inch square each visit. “I see a lot of college students who want to get a marijuana leaf removed so that they can get a job,” he said.Gary Betz, of Tattoo-Must-Go, charges $129 for a two inch square each visit. “I see a lot of college students who want to get a marijuana leaf removed so that they can get a job,” he said.
Each tattoo will take a different amount of sessions based on the quality of the tattoo and the type of inks used, Betz claimed the standard black tattoo will take anywhere from four to eight sessions under the laser. Colored tattoos can take up to twelve visits.
Many people are concerned about the potential pain of tattoo removal. Betz said he has differing reactions from his clients. Some say it hurts more and some say less, Betz said this is because “it is hard to compete with drunk.”
Betz has only been open in Denver for one and a half years, but has removed over one thousand tattoos in that time. He said that most people have tattoos removed because they don’t want a tattoo in that location anymore, but “about 10 percent are freeing up real estate so they can put a different tattoo there.”
Betz’s customers are usually in their twenties or early thirties, but he has seen clients looking to remove tattoos that are eighty years old.
“It seems to be a growing trend. More people are realizing that the tattoo they got was a bad idea. I had a few girls come in to get their tattoos removed the day after they got them,” said the tattoo removal practitioner at Colorado West Dermatology in Grand Junction, Colo.
Laser surgery is the most common form of tattoo removal, and the laser technology has radically changed in the last three years, according to Betz who owns a $100,000 laser.
According to TattooHealth.com, pulses of laser light penetrate the skin and “break the pigments into tiny fragments, and then the body’s own processes begin clearing away the fragmented ink and the tattoo fades over time.
According to Betz, “there are different lasers for different colors.” This means that one tattoo might take four different wavelengths of laser light to remove.
A numbing gel is rubbed on the skin and then the laser shoots a highly concentrated beam of light onto the skin. Tattoos begin to fade immediately.
“People are usually really happy with the results. Even if a tattoo is not completely gone, that least it looks better than it was,” said Colorado West Dermatology.
Tattoos are a commitment. The once life-long union of ink and body now has a diverse court. Laser surgery is costly, but it is safe and effective.
Western State Writers Spring 2009 