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Think before you ink

23-02-2026

2026

Beauty

Tattoo regret is on the rise, but where once the only way to remove unwanted body art involved painful surgery, the latest laser technology is making the procedure a whole lot easier. Good Health; issue 0413; p060 - 063; Text Available

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caption60 goodhealth. Tattoo regret is on the rise, but where once the only way to remove unwanted body art involved painful surgery, the latest laser technology is making the procedure a whole lot easier. By Bonnie Vaughan INK before you N ow that getting a tattoo has become almost as commonplace as getting your eyebrows waxed, it’s no surprise that there’s a new trend on the rise: tattoo removal. According to a 2012 US poll, 14 per cent of inked adults suffer from tattoo regret, and the reasons vary: some people find their body art has become an impediment to getting the job they want, some simply grow weary of it, and others are ready to wipe the slate clean to make way for new designs. Fortunately, ink-removal technology has improved to keep up with the demand. The Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser, which targets the tattoo with a very specific wavelength of light energy to gently penetrate the skin and eliminate the ink, is the latest method for tattoo removal. But how does it work? Sue Salmon, practice manager at Illawarra Dermatology and Laser Clinic in Wollongong, explains. think  gm0413tatp60.pdf Page 60 12/02/2013, 11:18:39 AM

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caption61 gm0413tatp61.pdf Page 61 12/02/2013, 11:18:39 AM

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caption62 PHOTOGRAPHY CORBIS / GETTY IMAGES Why do you think tattoo removal is on the rise? I think it’s a combination of factors. There is obviously an increase in the number of tattoos in the general public. Also, more young people are getting tattoos. And now it’s quicker, easier and less painful to access removal. How popular has it become at your clinic? It’s defi nitely a growing part of the business. We see about 1000 clients a month. Of these, about fi ve per cent come in for tattoo removal. Who is your typical client? We’re seeing quite a variety – a good mixture of males and females whose ages range from 19 or 20 right up to people in their 60s and 70s. Do you see di erent patterns between the age groups? Among the under-40s, we see more males who want a tattoo removed because they’re having a new tattoo put on, or they’re having it changed because it didn’t turn out the way they wanted. The ones who want their tattoo removed because it’s no longer part of their life or they’ve moved on from it are more likely to be young females. How does Q-Switched laser removal compare with previous methods of removal? Once, you only had the option to surgically remove a tattoo. Then lasers came along, but they were very slow and it was a long, painstaking process. Q-Switched lasers are much faster. They’re also very precise, so we can trace the design without damaging any of the surrounding skin. How does it work? The laser beam passes through the skin and shatters the ink particles. Your body recognises there’s a foreign element there so the macrophages, or skin cells, come along to expel it. After the fi rst few treatments there will be a temporary whitening of the treated area and then, over time, the tattoo will fade and the skin returns to its normal colour. How many treatments are usually required? That would depend on the size of the tattoo, the location of it on the body, the colours used,

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caption63 PHOTOGRAPHY CORBIS / GETTY IMAGES because this is when the medical history is gathered and the risks, costs, expectations and aftercare is discussed with the patient. Are some colours more di cult to remove than others? Yes, black and dark-blue inks are the easiest to remove and are always treated fi rst. Oranges and purples usually fade as well. Blue, yellow and green inks are more diffi cult and may require extra treatments. Skin type also aff ects the number of treatments needed – generally, the darker the skin, the more treatments required. What advice would you give to someone who wants to have a tattoo removed? Make sure you go to a reputable medical clinic that has doctors or registered nurses performing the procedure. These lasers can cause permanent scarring, so you need to know what you’re doing. I don’t think the general public really has enough information about the risks associated with these procedures, when not performed by professionals. We see a lot of people who have been burnt by a laser or have scarring from tattoo removals done by other businesses. CREATING A FRESH CANVAS KATHRYN HARPER – a 24-year-old administrative assistant from Ballina, NSW, who is in the process of having both of her tattoos removed – is among the growing number of young women joining the race to erase their body ink. She was unhappy with the tattoo artist’s rendition of the black-ink tribal design she got on her left ribs fi ve years ago, and when she fi nally decided to have it lasered off , she fi gured she might as well get rid of the pink-and-purple butterfl y on her right hand while she was at it. “The butterfl y was okay, but I was never ecstatic about it,” Harper says. “So I’m choosing to make myself a fresh canvas again.” After eight treatments at Rethink Laser Tattoo Removal, Harper’s rib tattoo is almost completely gone. The butterfl y, however, is proving to be a bit more stubborn. “The colours