African American Tattoo Removal

Tattoo removal is absolutely safe and feasible for darker skin. If you find a physician who is experienced using a pigment laser on darker skin tones for tattoo removal, you shouldn't have any problem. Your doctor will customize the laser settings for your particular skin tone and tattoo, and depending on the depth of ink placement, how old it is, and the color, you should be able to get full clearance of the tattoo (or close) in a series of sessions. See my video below, as it fits your... more

Tattoo removal is best done with Q-switched Nd:Yag laser, can be safely done in ethnic skin, though multiple treatment sessions may be required. Any surgical procedure including laser surgery has potential risks of secondary infection or hypertrophic scarring. I would start with Q-switched Nd:Yag laser with conservative energy as there may be risks of pigmentation changes.

Tattoo removal on African American skin can be difficult since the biggest risk of treatment is hypopigmentation. That being said we have had good success in removing the tattoos on our African American patients using the q-switched laser. However, a larger number of treatments are required since the power settings have to be lower to minimize lightening of the surrounding skin. If a lighter skin color in the area of the tattoo to be removed is not a big concern, than you can proceed... more