Question
What's the best way to get rid of tattoos?
time to get rid of tatoos on arms and chest. youth and rebellion are in the past. what shouldI do to get rid of the tatoos. unfortunately the tatoos are large and filled with lots of colors.
does it make a difference if my skin is brown toned in what I do?
Cath, Fresno, CA
Asked by: Anonymous
Answers (2)
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1
November 8, 2007
At Celibre, we do a fair amount of tattoo removal. We also own the Palomar Q-Yag 5 laser and the Hoya Conbio Medlite C6.
Although the Palomar laser is a good laser, it is significantly less powerful than the Medlite C6. The Palomar is better with certain skin types and certain tattoo colors because it has the added advantage of being able to blend two different wavelengths of light simultaneously. It has a bit more flexibility than the Medlite C6 because the Medlite has the same two wavelengths but cannot be blended.
Our opinion is that if you have just a blue or black tattoo, the Medlite C6 is the machine of choice because it's high power will get rid of the tattoo sooner. If you have multiple colors and an ethnic skin type, you might also want to check out the Palomar Q-Yag 5 because it is more flexible with these conditions.
2
August 20, 2007
Answer by Eric Berger, MD
For tattoo removal, I choose the Palomar Q-YAG 5. Palomar’s tattoo laser is powerful, and power is absolutely necessary to vaporize the thousands of different inks used by tattoo artists.
- Color selection in an “on the handpiece” dial was also a consideration, and the ease of spot size selection makes treating complex designs much easier.
- The Palomar laser is also easy to calibrate (check for accuracy), without a technician and without disassembly.
- Tattoo removal is an uncomfortable process and, with my Palomar Q-YAG 5, fewer treatments are required for a good result. I’ve seen the unfortunate results of other lasers after 10 to 14 treatments with scarring and residual ink. The lasers used didn’t have the power to vaporize the ink without severely burning the surrounding skin!
Comments (2)
11/5/08
Hi I have a few tattoos that I would like to have removed, I live in Long Island and I am having a hard time finding a local
tattoo removal Dr. Can you please
let me know if you know of any and
where they are located
thank you
Anna Guzman
11/6/08
Hi Anna,
You can also try posting to our provider recommendation forums or using the "Find a provider" section of our site.
Good luck,
--Sharon