Skin Health Current Topics in Skin Health

So You Want to Get Rid of Your Tattoo

Summary & Participants

Find out what it takes to lose the ink.

Medically Reviewed On: August 12, 2008

Webcast Transcript

TRACEE , HAS TATTOO: I am never getting another tattoo again once this is over. I'm, I change my mind too much.

ANNOUNCER: As long as people have been getting tattoos, they’ve been trying to get rid of them

JEFFREY L. RAND, MD, TATTOO REMOVAL CENTER: Historically, there have always been methods of tattoo removal, but they were painful and they left scars and they were often very ineffective what they left was quite worse than the tattoo that was trying to be removed.

ANNOUNCER: But how does modern tattoo removal work?

JEFFREY L. RAND, MD, TATTOO REMOVAL CENTER: What we do is use lasers, very specific type of lasers that are specific for tattoo removal and they do not burn the skin. What they do is they send light, a special type of light through the top section of the skin or the epidermis into the dermis where the ink particles reside and they break them down into smaller particles that your own skin, your own body can actually mobilize and remove.

ANNOUNCER: And you might be surprised to learn what tattoo colors are easiest – and hardest - to remove

JEFFREY L. RAND, MD, TATTOO REMOVAL CENTER: Broadly speaking, black ink, although it's counterintuitive, is the easiest ink, because it absorbs the wavelengths that are really -- readily available in more than one laser. The second would be red, by and large, red is an easier ink. Greens, very difficult. Yellow, extraordinarily difficult, sometimes impossible. Certain flesh tones, sometimes are impossible and may even darken.

ANNOUNCER: But how safe is laser tattoo removal?

JEFFREY L. RAND, MD, TATTOO REMOVAL CENTER: it is a very holistic process where you're not scarring the body or doing anything destructive. It is a Food & Drug Administration-approved procedure and, to date, there are no indications of any long-term problems associated with laser tattoo removal, at all.

ANNOUNCER: Despite the high cost, for Tracee, tattoo removal’s been the right move.

TRACEE , HAS TATTOO: Getting it removed has been liberating because I’m watching it disappear and it's really weird and cool, when, like, I go out and people are like, "what is that on your back?" You know? And they're like, "oh, that's a tattoo?" And I’m like, "well, it was"

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily!