Decorative tattoos have a history dating back at least 5,000 years. The desire to remove them has probably existed just as long. Early attempts to remove tattoos included sanding, cutting, and burning of the skin, which left scarring. These removal techniques were replaced by dermabrasions, salabrasions, and C02 lasers, which still left scarring and could not differentiate tattoo colors. The advent of Q-switched lasers in the early 1990's permitted the removal of darker tattoo inks with very low risk of scarring. The latest generation of Q-switched lasers, developed in the late 1990's, is capable of removing multiple tattoo inks.

The laser uses an intense beam of light to remove and lighten the tattoo, without harming the surrounding healthy skin cells. The light energy may be delivered as a continuous wave of light or in pulses. When the ink particles of the tattoo absorb the light from the laser, they are broken up into tiny fragments. These fragments are then absorbed through the body's natural cleansing mechanism, fading and removing the tattoo. This cleansing process generally takes several weeks.

Tattoo Removal Options

We offer complete removal, lightening, or partial removal of tattoos. An example of partial tattoo removal is removing a name inside of a tattoo banner, skillfully removing the name without disturbing the surrounding tattoo.

We encourage customers to consider lightening existing tattoos before applying a professional cover-up. Existing tattoos are often visible underneath a cover-up. Lightening the existing tattoo creates the opportunity for a perfect cover-up from your artist.

Fading Older Tattoos in Preparation for a Cover-up Tattoo

If you are interested in replacing or covering up an existing tattoo with another tattoo, it's good to know that the cover-up will be much more successful when the existing tattoo is first faded out through the tattoo removal process. Fading the old tattoo will give the tattoo artist a better 'canvas' to work on and much more flexibility with the new design, as the old design won't be showing through.

Accidental / Traumatic Tattoos

What is a accidental or traumatic tattoo?
Accidental or traumatic tattoos are caused by the forceful penetration of the skin with particles of foreign matter. The skin heals over the object and results in a traumatic tattoo. This can include pencil lead, dirt, sand, grease, paint, grass, metal, gunpowder, wood, and asphalt (aka: road rash).

Car, motorcycle, and bicycle accident victims commonly have these kind of tattoos. In most cases these can be removed successfully in 1 to 2 treatments. Volatile substances such as gunpowder should not be considered for laser tattoo removal as they can still ignite.