Tattoo Removal Science

Tattoos consist of thousands of particles of tattoo pigment suspended in the skin. Tattoo pigment particles are too big to be removed automatically. Laser treatment causes tattoo pigment particles to heat up and fragment into smaller pieces.These smaller pieces are then removed by normal body processes. 

Los tatuajes consisten de miles de partículas de pigmento suspendidas en la piel. Estas partículas de pigmento del tatuaje son demasiado grandes para ser eliminadas. El tratamiento con láser hace que las partículas de pigmento del tatuaje se calienten y se fragmenten en pedazos más pequeños. Estas fragmentos más pequeñas de pigmento se van eliminando mediante procesos corporales normales.

At each session, some but not all of the tattoo pigment particles are effectively fragmented, and the body removes the smallest fragments over the course of several weeks or months. The result is that the tattoo is lightened over time. Remaining large particles of tattoo pigment are then targeted at subsequent treatment sessions, causing further lightening

En cada sesión, algunas, pero no todas, las partículas de pigmento del tatuaje se fragmentan de manera efectiva, y el cuerpo elimina los fragmentos más pequeños en el transcurso de varias semanas o meses. El resultado es que el tatuaje se aclara con el tiempo. Las partículas grandes restantes de pigmento del tatuaje se trabajan con el laser en sesiones de tratamiento posteriores, causando un mayor aclaramiento.

Laser tattoo removal is a successful application of the theory of selective photothermolysis (SPTL). However. unlike treatments for blood vessels or hair, the mechanism required to shatter tattoo particles uses a photomechanical effect. In this situation, the energy is absorbed by the ink particles in a very short time, typically nanoseconds. The surface temperature of the ink particles can rise to thousands of degrees but this energy profile rapidly collapses into a shock wave. This shock wave then propagates throughout the local tissue (the dermis) causing brittle structures to fragment. Hence,  tissues are largely unaffected since they simply vibrate as the shock wave pases. 

At Tattoo Removery we use Q-switched lasers as well as Picosecond Lasers, which produce bursts of infrared light at specific frequencies that target a particular spectrum of color in the tattoo. 

The laser light is absorbed by the tattoo pigment, causing it to heat so rapidly that it shatters and breaks down the ink particles into much smaller fragments. 

The body's white blood cells are then able to remove these smaller ink particles via the lymph system. 

This process continues for months following each treatment. 

Success can depend on a wide variety of factors including skin color, ink color, and the depth at which the ink was applied. 

Sufficient energy must be delivered during each laser pulse to heat the pigment to fragmentation. If the energy is too low, pigment will not fragment and no removal will take place. Q-switched lasers and Picosecond lasers are the only commercially available devices that can meet these requirements.

Before the development of laser tattoo removal methods, tattoo removal techniques included dermabrasion, TCA Acid injections (Trichloroacetic acid removes the top layers of skin, reaching as deep as the layer in which the tattoo ink resides), salabrasion (scrubbing the skin with salt), cryosurgery, and excision, which is sometimes still used along with skin grafts for larger tattoos. Many other methods for removing tattoos have been suggested historically, including the injection or application of tannic acid, lemon juice, garlic, and pigeon dung.

THIS IS A SAFE LASER PROCEDURE. NO RISK OF CANCER

Studies show  that there is no detectable mutagenicity in tissues following irradiation with the Q switched tattoo lasers. This essentially shows that the treatment is safe, from a biological viewpoint, with no detectable risk of the development of cancerous cells.

The number of sessions depends on various parameters, including the area of the body treated, skin color, ink color present, scarring, and amount of ink present. 

Complete laser tattoo removal requires numerous treatment sessions, typically spaced at four to eight weeks or more apart. 

The depth of the tattoo, how saturated it is, or in other words, how much ink was placed in the skin will impact how quickly, or slowly results occur from laser tattoo removal treatments.

As the tattoo pigment granules come in contact with blood and lymphatic vessels in the dermal layer, they are immediately engulfed by keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and phagocytic macrophages, which line up under the dermal layers.

It is this molecular arrangement that allows laser tattoo removal to work. During the laser tattoo-removal process, photons penetrate the molecules of pigment, which try to absorb the energy, but fail to and thus break the bonds of the pigment molecules reducing them to smaller-sized molecules. 

The macrophages then absorb the smaller molecules and return them to the lymphatic circulation. 

Blood and lymphatic supply vary by anatomic region, as does the efficacy of laser tattoo removal in such corresponding anatomic areas. 

The head and neck maintain the largest amount of regional lymph nodes and have a large vascular network and hence tattoos in these areas of the body are absorbed much faster than tattoos on the extremities. 

During the treatment process, the laser beam passes through the skin, targeting the ink resting in a liquid state within. While it is possible to see immediate results, in most cases the fading occurs gradually over the 4-8 week healing period between sessions.