Dangers of laser tattoo removal
Thought experiment: if somebody took away all your knowledge and told you to go with the most popular route – laser removal – would you do it?
Hmmm… thought experiments. They push you to think about your position in a whole new way.
Would I do a laser removal if it was the only thing I knew for getting ink off my skin? No I wouldn't. The risks are simply not worth the benefit.
And I don't care if I had my ex-girlfriend Maria's name tattooed across my chest in big block letters, and my current girlfriend was fuming about it. I’d explain my situation to her using exactly what I'm about to tell you right now:
Laser removal damages skin cells
When you go into a laser removal consultation, either the doctor or his assistant will tell you that the laser they use is highly precise and specifically calibrated to target ink pigment cells.
All of this is correct. But what you may not hear is that vaporizing ink pigment heats up the skin cells around the ink, and can cause the skin cells to suffer water loss and premature death.
Fresh, living skin below the surface where the ink lies, are killed as a result of laser tattoo removal. The only question is how many?
Too many living skin cells killed and there is a substantial risk of scarring. Each and every time you visit the laser clinic, you contend with this issue.
Which brings me to my second point: Since vaporizing subsurface ink is relatively hard on the skin, doctors have to spread out treatments over months and years before the level of fade is good enough to call the job finished. It's just more opportunity for the skin to get damaged each time.
Infection risk
What happens to your body when it's knocked out of its natural balance? Opportunists quickly take advantage. And that's exactly what happens after a laser session that leaves your skin cells weak and unable to protect themselves. Infections can and do occur.
Scar formation
An overgrowth of scar tissue called Keloid scarring is one of the more unfortunate side effects of laser removal surgery. Not only does an unattractive scar appear over the skin, but it is usually raised and textured as well. Unfortunately, these are not temporary scars either.
Laser removal is uneven
The effectiveness of ink removal lasers is dependent on the laser's ability to target the specific ink pigment that produces the tattoo's color. If you have a multicolored tattoo, this is bad news. It's very unlikely that a black, blue, and red tattoo will remove evenly.
Is the risk worth it?
Even if we make-believe that there are no natural tattoo removal methods, there's always the cover-up option. A coverup takes what you thought was a tattoo that couldn't be turned into anything else, and makes it something completely different. I've seen ex-girlfriend's an ex-boyfriend's names turned into unicorns, tribal symbols, you name it. It can be done.
So my answer again to the question "laser tattoo removal or nothing" is absolutely nothing (or the coverup instead).
Okay, now that we're back to reality, and natural methods do exist, theLaserless Tattoo Removal Guide will be of help to anyone who doesn't feel like spending months and thousands of dollars on an inherently more risky procedure than simple home-based exfoliation methods. Check out the guide here.
