Many people get a tattoo to commemorate something or show their devotion to someone. But some of those things they commemorated, or the devotion they had for someone, displayed in living color on their arms, legs, back, etc, may now be something/someone they’d rather forget. If you’re living with a past tattoo that you now wish you could get rid of, I’d like to share some information about a new breakthrough in tattoo removal that you just might want to consider.
New PicoSure Laser Finally Blasts Off Old Tattoos
Tattoos are big business in the United States. People spend about 2.3 billion dollars a year on them. Once the hallmark of a convict or societal rebel, a recent Harris Poll showed that 21% of Americans from all walks of life, ages, moms, dads, kids, have some form of a tattoo. Surprisingly, women now outnumber men in having a tattoo at 23% to men at 19%. There’s even a reality show centered around getting “inked” on cable television. Tattooing has become so mainstream that true rebels are looking elsewhere to stand out.
But as popular as tattooing is, at some point, they can become just as unpopular or even downright depressing. The day you got your spectacular tattoo, you may have been in love with so and so whom you haven’t seen for 20 years now, or you believed in this or that philosophy that you’ve long since abandoned, or you were a fan of a certain rock group whose remaining living members are in their 70s now.
But, each time you look in the mirror, you see that reminder of what your life used to be. You’ve moved on into the 21st century but your skin is still back in 1968. It’s a reminder that, to some, can be emotionally upsetting. And you might now have a spouse who doesn’t share the same name with that old flame whose tattooed over your heart. They may not be so keen on being reminded of them either.
So, you’ve tried to get it removed only to be told that it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to remove certain colors of tattoos (blues, oranges, purples) which you just happen to have. And you also smoke here and there which makes tattoo removal even harder. What can you do?
Well, the first real breakthrough in tattoo removal in 20 years is offering real results to those wishing to get “Rosie” or that big yin/yang, or Ankh, symbol off their back or shoulder. It’s called the PicoSure laser because it offers laser pulses measured in very short picoseconds. It can start to break down a tattoo in a trillionth of a second. This means, depending on the size and colors used in your tattoo, you may be able to erase your tattoo memory in just a few sessions rather than the numerous ones in the past.
And, less visits mean less cost. Starting at about $400 up to 600 per session for the PicoSure, needing less treatments will save you some money. Well, a little. Getting a tattoo removed is not an economical undertaking by any stretch of the imagination. While a very simple name tattoo in black might be removed in just a few sessions, some very intricate and large tattoos can take multiple sessions and run into the tens of thousands to completely remove.
You’ll also want to deal with a reputable doctor trained in laser tattoo removal to avoid infections and scarring. You might want to visit the PicoSure website to see a short video on how this laser works to remove your tattoo.
You may also want to try the American Society of Dermatology Surgery’s website to find a surgeon in your area. My colleagues here complete about 200,000 tattoo removals a year. In fact, in the last decade the removal of tattoos has skyrocketed to 440%! It’s estimated to hit 83.2 million dollars by 2018.
Those numbers also tell me, as they should you, that tattoo memories are something you need to consider very carefully before committing them in ink to your skin. Yes, it’s fun and exciting to live in the moment and prove your loyalty to something, or someone, by literally immortalizing it on your body. But someday, those tattoos may become a painful reminder of someone, or something, that’s no longer part of your life.
And judging by current trends, the expense of removing those old memories can be even more painful.
Stay Well,
Jay Brachfeld, M.D.
America’s Booming Tattoo Economy, http://theweek.com/article/index/233633/the-tattoo-economy-by-the-numbers
Tattoo Removal Surges 440% over last decade, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tattoo-removal-surges-440-over-the-last-decade-2014-07-15
PicoSure, http://www.cynosure.com/product/picosure/
