Tattoo Removal Process - How Effectively One Can Remove

Say Tattoo and what comes in our minds is a typical longhaired rowdy biker with lot of drawings on every inch of himself and flaunting them most obviously. Another picture sails across my mind is a typical Indian rural woman with lot of green dots all over her face and neck and a couple of names on her wrists and inside of her hands.

Be it in a crude format of Indian villages or be it done in a body art studios in modern days, tattoos have a charm and most of us do get interested when we see a tattoo on someone – strategically placed or otherwise. Apart from beauty, in India and many other countries, tattoo is considered a tradition.

In Indian culture, especially in rural India, specific types of tattoos are marked on specific parts of bodies in accordance to the castes of people. For example in Hindu culture it’s believed that images of certain gods would relieve pain. In Iraq a tattooed dot is made on a child’s nose to guard it against any illness.  In many religions it’s believed that certain religious text or images tattooed have magical powers and would protect one from the evil spirits.

Tattoo is basically a permanent or a temporary mark or design made on the body through inserting pigment in the skin layer. Traditionally it was done with the help of needles by tearing the top layer of the skin but now different types of tattoo machines are used.

Also previously and even today in some parts no ink is inserted but the body pigments and blood cells give a permanent dark green or black mark on the skin. However, today with modern trends colored inks are used for better designs and look.

These tattoos become a permanent part of ones skin and removing them would need a lot of treatment and still a few thought processes say that absolute removal of a tattoo is not possible. Since the tattoos are a part of our skin, removing them completely is not an easy task. Still a complete removal of tattoos is claimed and there are several methods that this is done.

Though the claims are made of vanishing tattoos, there are number of factors which will affect the results, like the size of the tattoo, the place on the body where the tattoo is marked, Color shades and variations, expertise of the artist who has applied it.

If the tattoo artist is well experienced then the tattoo will be applied evenly and so it will be removed easily. So, until the removal work is started the degree of removal cannot be guessed.

Laser is the most recent and proved as the most effective way of tattoo removal. However, before that there were several other methods available. Of course these methods are used even today and deciding which method to use again depend upon the number of factors like the size of the tattoo, how old the tattoo is and of course the subject’s budget.

Dermabrasion is the method in which the tattoo is rubbed off the skin. Part by part the portion of the tattoo is anesthetized and then using a rough rotating tool it is scraped off or peeled off with the skin. This method is painful and bleeding may occur during this method. Hence dressing and medication may be necessary. Because some bleeding is likely to occur, a dressing is immediately applied to the area.

When the tattoo is smaller the Excision method may be used as an effective tool. In this method after applying local anesthesia the tattoo is removed surgically. In fact the part of tattooed skin is cut out and the edges are stitched together. Hence this is more effective for smaller tattoos.

If the tattoo is big then this may have to be done in stages, starting with the centre of the tattoo going towards outer part of the design. But this will take very long to work on the complete tattoo in that case or skin grafting from another part of the body may have to use if the tattoo is large. But in this method the bleeding is very little.

Light Amplification by the stimulated Emission of Radiation or LASER is a treatment, which works like an answer to many questions. Naturally, it does help tattoo removal too; in fact, this has become the most common solution tool to tattoo removal.

Laser is the treatment with minimum side effects, without bleeding and hence is preferred over other treatments. Laser treatment means passing the intense light through short pulses in the top layer of the body. This causes the tattoo color pigments to break in smaller particles and then they are removed naturally through the body’s immune system.

While these methods are painful and bleeding, there are other methods, which may help removing a tattoo like creams to apply or fading a tattoo with saline solutions or simply covering one tattoo with another tattoo. But these treatments are not very effective though they are less painful.

In fact, getting a tattoo applied or removing it are both difficult and painful methods. More so, some scarring and coloring may remain even after the best treatment is used to remove the tattoo. Healing time is another factor, which must be considered in the tattoo removal.

This time depends on the size of the tattoo, colors used, skin variation and personal healing power. Hence before the tattoo application is decided the details and possibilities of removal should be discussed and also once the removal procedure is over, the care for the treated area should be discussed and followed to avoid any further complications.

If taken proper care, tattoo application could be enjoyed and also the experience of tattoo removal would not be regretted.