Laser tattoo removal
There is not one kind of tattoo removal but several aims: removing a tattoo as far as the skin allows, fading part of it, such as a name or a detail, or lightening it enough for a new design to cover it. Each session breaks up the ink a little more, and the tattoo fades in stages, over months. Permanent make-up can be treated too, with caution, as some pigments darken under the laser. Complete clearance is never guaranteed: progress is reviewed before each session, on what the skin shows.
Examination of the tattoo — age, ink, colours, location — and of your skin, screening for contraindications, reference photographs and a written plan. A test on a small area comes before the first session; its reaction, observed over a few weeks, shows how the ink and your skin respond. It is essential for light shades and permanent make-up, which can darken under the laser. No session takes place on the day of the first consultation.
Protective goggles, cleansed skin, then a numbing cream or local anaesthetic depending on the area, and cooling of the zone. The laser passes over the tattoo in successive pulses: the skin whitens at once — this is frosting, which fades on its own within about half an hour. The settings are recorded at each session and adjusted to the response to the previous one.
Redness, swelling and a sensation of heat are usual for the first few hours; small blisters or crusts may follow and last a few days. A dressing and a healing cream as prescribed, without scratching the crusts or bursting the blisters; no baths, swimming pools or hammams until fully healed. No sun on the treated area, and SPF 50 protection is essential once it has healed.
The fragmented ink goes on being cleared for weeks: that is why we wait at least six to eight weeks before the next session, sometimes longer on darker skin. In the meantime, the area stays out of the sun, and any light or dark patch is reported. Before each session, the tattoo is photographed and reassessed; when fading stops progressing, we say so, and the decision to continue is made together.
The number cannot be stated before the examination, and it is often high. A dense, colourful professional tattoo usually needs more sessions than an amateur one; tattoos on the extremities, and some colours, hold out longer. As sessions are at least six to eight weeks apart, tattoo removal stretches over many months.
Not in the same way. Black and dark blue respond best; red responds depending on the wavelength used; green, light blue and yellow are more resistant. White and flesh tones, common in permanent make-up, can instead darken under the laser: that is the reason for the prior test.
The sensation is often compared to splashes of hot oil or the snap of an elastic band, sharper over bony areas. Depending on the area, a numbing cream or local anaesthetic is offered, and cooling during and after the session brings relief. The area stays tender for a few hours, as after mild sunburn.
It is possible. Complete disappearance of the tattoo cannot be guaranteed, and a shadow of the old design sometimes remains. The skin may also lighten (hypopigmentation) or darken (hyperpigmentation), especially on darker skin; these changes often soften with time, though not always. A scar is rare: picking at crusts, sun exposure and a tendency to keloids make it more likely.
Yes. They include pregnancy, tanned or recently sun-exposed skin, photosensitising medication — isotretinoin in particular, with a gap of several months after stopping it — and an infection or wound on the area. A history of keloid scarring calls for caution. All of this is checked in consultation, and it may lead to the treatment being postponed or declined.
Getting ready
What is asked before the session, what to tell us, and what the aftermath looks like.
A tattoo fades over several sessions, and its complete disappearance can never be promised. What the examination decides, what to prepare, and how to care for the skin afterwards.
This page is informative. It does not replace a medical consultation and is not a promise of results: outcomes and suitability depend on each person.
The initial consultation examines, explains and proposes a written plan. It commits you to nothing.