The desire to remove tattoos has been around just about as long as their existence. Recent technological advances in lasers have now made it possible to remove tattoos without leaving an equally undesirable scar. You may have seen creams marketed to remove tattoos; some are currently being investigated for their effectiveness, but there isn't a great deal evidence for them as yet. Early attempts to remove tattoos have had less than worthwhile results. Early attempts to remove tattoos included sanding, cutting, or burning of the skin, which resulted in scarring.A tattoo is meant to be for life. Unfortunately, what a customer might want these days may not be what they want in two or even twenty years time. Both the procedure and cost of acquiring a tattoo are relatively minor in comparison to having it removed at a later date. It may be wise to bear these facts in mind in before visiting your local tattoo artist with design and cash in hand.
Two of the most commonly used methods for removing an unwanted tattoo are also two of the most unsatisfactory. The first method involves removing a piece of skin from a less-noticeable area of your body and grafting it over the tattoo. This strange sort of "plastic surgery approach" covers up the tattoo but also leaves scar tissue as the skin is no longer in it's normal state.
Another method is to go to a tattoo artist and have a different design tattooed on top of the unwanted one. With this course of action, the black outline from the original tattoo can be noticeable around the new one; the larger the original, and the more black ink it has, the more difficult it will be to cover it up.
A surgical method which is just as unsatisfactory is called dermabrasion. In layman's term, you can think of it as rubbing at your skin with sandpaper. Even if this method is performed by a licensed doctor, you will likely conclude that the resulting scar is worse than the original tattoo. The reason for the scarring is that removing a tattoo with this method will entail going throughout the tattoo and the underlying skin. The scarring left by this method will most likely leave that portion of your skin a much lighter color and a different texture to the skin surrounding it. Of all the tattoo removal methods currently in use, dermabrasion will leave the most noticeable scarring.
Excision of the tattoo rarely presents a satisfactory alternative either. As its name implies, the excision method of tattoo removal involves having the tattoo surgically cut out of your skin and the surrounding skin sewed back together. The scar may well not be as noticeable as the one from the dermabrasion course, but the rather gruesome excision method itself more than makes up the difference in terms of a procedure which you won't enjoy.
An assortment of creams are sold for tattoo removal. Tattoo artists usually state that they are a complete waste of money and time, as they don't work. Whatever new combination is sold under the guise of being a sure way to remove tattoos, purchasers should keep in mind that since the tattoo isn't simply on the top of the skin but deep into its layers, over-the-counter creams sold to remove tattoos will do little if any anything. The chemical peel method which uses trichloroacetic acid produces some degree of results, as it obviously removes the layers of the skin.
Currently, the use of lasers is one of the the most popular methods to remove tattoos. In practice it isn't as simple as it may sound. First of all, depending on the size and detail of the tattoo, removal by laser can have up to ten sessions to achieve a satisfactory degree of results. One source states that each session can cost between $250-$850. It has also been said that the laser removal method can be very painful.
The latest way to remove tattoos is Intense Pulsated Light Therapy. Although it is thought to be less painful, and produces better results than removal by laser, it is also much more costly.
The most common sense way of looking at the subject is if you're planning to get a tattoo, you ought to plan on keeping it. None of the methods currently available to remove tattoos are guaranteed to give satisfactory results, and those that show any amount of success in the final results are quite high-priced
By Mark F Hargreaves
