Hello, I’ve not written much for my blog recently only because there’s not a great deal more that I can think of to tell you. So I wait until I have quite a bit to share and also I’m aware that a lot of potentially new clients do read my blog and find it very helpful (thanks for the feedback!)
Lets talk about blue/green ink. I often read on the internet that the Q switched Nd:YAG laser which I use in my studio is a good bet for blue ink. I can only speak from my own experience and tell you that I’m not sure this is true. I do laser blue ink and it will fade but I’m not convinced a YAG will ever 100% remove it. In fact, blue ink (and some ink that initially appears to be black) can lighten to a vibrant almost electric blue which will not completely go. Fine if you’re planning on a cover-up tattoo but not ideal if you wanted full removal. Green ink will not go. If a studio uses a YAG and says they can remove green ink proceed with caution. You really need an alexandrite laser for this (which may have more luck with vibrant blue too) …but this laser is reported to be the least successful for black ink.
Some clients are in a rush, they want that ink GONE like yesterday and will push to see me every 6 weeks (or sooner). That’s fine…pay me every 6 weeks…I like to see your face ….However, trust me when I tell you if I personally wanted laser tattoo removal I’d be going every 12-16 weeks for treatments. This is because A) it’ll cost less in the long run B) my skin gets much longer to heal/recover C) the ink is less likely to become resistant to lasering and D) I actually believe the process is no slower overall…say you see me every 12 weeks so 4 times in a year….and somebody else with the same tattoo sees me every 6 weeks (8 times in a year) I can almost guarantee you that both tattoos will look virtually the same with regard to fading but the 1st person has spent an awful lot less money. Ok maybe the 2nd person will be slightly ahead but, in my experience, 70% of the visible ink that’s going to go will have done so after 3-4 sessions…the rest fades over a much longer period of time.
Along the same lines, clients in a rush and who heal well/quickly often ask me to turn the power up as they think that’ll make the ink fade faster. It won’t…I’m not going to bore you with the science here, but it won’t. What it will do is increase the risk of poor/slow healing and scarring. Talking of scarring, I get clients come here saying ‘XYZ scarred me so I want to come here’. Let’s be honest, laser treatments provoke skin wounds and, whilst XYZ may have done something they shouldn’t have, it’s FAR far more likely that you have simply reacted very strongly to a superficial ‘burn’ for a few reasons and/or you’ve been sketchy with your aftercare. All responsible laser studios should patch test ink before lasering (in fact insurance companies insist on it) but, in my experience, even patch testing won’t always reveal that you’re going to have an extremely nasty and unexpected reaction to lasering. If you get a strong allergic response from lasering (usually to the ink becoming systemic) healing is disrupted/slowed down considerably and scarring can occur. There is no way to predict this accurately. Likewise aftercare advice should state not to soak (prolonged periods) lasered skin or go out in strong sunlight/use sunbeds without covering the tattoo/lasered skin or, as a minimum, applying Factor 50 sunscreen. I can’t stress enough how ignoring that advice increases the potential for problems with your skin and healing. Also, medications need to be researched thoroughly. I keep a list of medications etc that, if taken, would mean lasering cannot be done but this is far from exhaustive. I had a client recently who reacted way too strongly to lasering. We had checked her medication beforehand and all seemed ok to proceed (from my list and from the medication notes in the box itself re contraindications and adverse effects). Because her lasered skin proved slow to heal and needed kid gloves my client consulted a pharmacist 1st (for mild steroid cream as advised by me) and then her GP. Both confirmed that there was no infection and only that her skin was inexplicably slow to heal. Her GP even said she’d be fine to continue with laser treatments. I wasn’t convinced and good old Google proved me right to dig much deeper….the drug she was taking could indeed cause photosensitive and photoallergic/toxic reactions. So the moral of this story is if you are taking any medication whatsoever you/I need to do thorough research before commencing any treatments and we can’t just rely on the box. My client healed fine because we took appropriate action quickly but, unfortunately, I couldn’t continue her laser treatments.
Last but not least…numbing cream. I hear stories that some laser studios claim creams block the laser and make treatments much less effective…. I can honestly say that is not my experience at all …happy days
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A FAB 2020
