Laser Tattoo Removal

What is Tattoo Laser removal?

During a laser tattoo removal procedure, the practitioner guides a laser over the area of the tattoo. Unlike a laser pointer that produces a continuous beam of light, tattoo removal lasers produce pulses of light energy.

Each pulse of energy penetrates the skin and is absorbed by the tattoo ink. 

Then, over the weeks following treatment, the body’s immune system flushes the tattoo ink particles away from the location, lightening the appearance of the tattoo. Each laser treatment breaks down more and more of the tattoo ink until none remains.

We use a Q-switching is a special type of laser, which is intensely powerful, brief pulses of energy – typically lasting just a few nanoseconds.  This fast, intense pulse of energy is a big part of answering the question of how laser tattoo removal works.

Tattoos come in every colour imaginable. And, just like all other objects around us, different colours of tattoos absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light at different rates. For example, a red tattoo looks red because it absorbs green light and reflects the red light (which is what we see).

We treat a multi-coloured tattoo. We use a variety of weigh lengths for treatment versatility. 

The wave lengths we use for our laser tattoo removal are 1064 nm through to 532nm.

Additional wavelengths we use are 755 nm and 694 nm – these wavelengths function very similarly and are useful for treating rare ink colours, such as bright blue or green.

Tattoo removal is not an instant fix – it’s usually a several-month commitment for most clients.

Most tattoos require between 5-10 session to achieve complete removal. The sessions are spaced apart at least 6 weeks.

 Clients often ask why tattoo removal requires so many treatments and why they must wait between sessions.

Laser tattoo removal requires multiple treatments because not all the tattoo ink can be shattered in one treatment session. When a tattoo is applied, the ink is injected at different depths within the dermis. As the laser light is applied to the skin, the shallowest layers of ink in the dermis absorb the energy and shatter, but the deeper layers may not have been affected. Only once the body flushes away the top layers of ink can the deeper layers being treated.

The process of flushing away the ink involves immune system phagocytic cells gradually moving the ink particles to the lymph nodes, where the pigments remain. Because the body can only flush away the ink at a certain speed, it’s beneficial to wait as long as possible between treatments to see maximum fading from each session. Also, the waiting period allows any scabs or blisters to heal, minimizing the possibility of over-treating the area and causing unwanted side effects.