Laser tattoo removal is a great tool in the tattoo industry. You may not think of a tattoo removal as working with the industry but it’s a versatile service that has its place in artwork. Laser technicians can work on more skin issues but for the purpose of the tattoo blog I will just be focusing on the removal aspect, by no means is this all encompassing of the laser application world.
How It Works
There are different types of laser machines, but the principle is the same. Tattooing works by depositing ink into the second layer of your skin. When the ink is put in it creates a wound and your immune system rushes to your defense. The first line of defense in the immune system are macrophages. Macrophages act like little Pacmans trying to swallow up the foreign bodies. Their goal is to swallow up the ink and take it away. Unfortunately for our little Pacman macrophages the ink particles are not so small and simple to remove so it takes a really long time, years and years. These little guys are responsible for the fading and gradual expanding of ink in the skin as you age.
Laser tattoo removal speeds up this process by making the ink particles more digestible for our macrophages. The laser penetrates the skin to break up the ink particles and make them smaller so the macrophages can swallow them up and carry them away much faster. The different types of machines, as far as I can tell, break these particles up to different sizes; some are more capable of breaking them up into smaller chunks than others.
The most common laser machine is supposedly the Nd-YAG, this is the same machine you would experience if you were going to get laser hair removal as well. These machines break up the ink particles by using certain wavelengths of light, as well as the speed at which they send the wavelengths of light. This process is called photothermolysis. London Laser puts it best saying, “ For an ink particle to crack, it needs to be heated so that it expands due to thermal expansion. However, this has to be very fast to make sure that parts of the tattoo remain cool. The contrast in cool and hot temperatures is responsible for cracking the particles.”
Applications in the Tattoo Industry
In the tattoo industry laser machines are obviously used to remove tattoos that a person is no longer satisfied with. Most of the time laser has proven to be very successful in removing unwanted tattoos and giving the wearer a clean slate. There are a few things of note to consider when looking into this process. Tattoos are effectively scars that are holding ink, laser removal will remove the ink but once its gone the skin that remains will not be the same as the skin before it was tattooed. That’s not to say that you will still see the distinct scar in the shape of the tattoo, everyone’s skin and everyone’s laser experience will be different; much like how everyone’s tattoo experience is different. If you’re getting a tattoo removed from a poor tattooer there may be excessive scar tissue remaining. Removing tattoos isn’t always just to get rid of them for the sake of getting rid of them.
Black ink is notoriously hard to cover. Coverups are always complex and sometimes even one session of laser removal is enough to aid a coverup and open up your options. Coverups are limited by what is already in the skin, trying to incorporate and smooth enough of the tattoo so that the tattoo being covered blends away is really tricky. It is limited by what’s there to where the darkness in the new tattoo has to be in order to be effective. By doing a laser session and lightening that ink it can open up more options for subject matter in the coverup.
In Conclusion
Laser reaches many other industries and helps with a variety of concerns. In tattoo removal, laser can help you get rid of your unwanted ink or open up options for a coverup. There are however many variables, and like with any procedure an amount of risk. For any further queries definitely contact a laser specialist. It’s crazy how far technology has come, laser is a super interesting process that aids us in being able to provide quality coverups and help you to get rid of maybe that one questionable decision.
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