Tattoo Removal: Stories

I've been getting a tattoo on my ankle removed for over two years now. I've had 15 treatments and it still isn't totally gone. However, it has faded quite a bit. It only had black ink, so it should have been relatively easy to remove, but it has taken a lot longer than I expected. Even though they gave me numbing cream, getting the laser treatment hurt a lot most of the time. The numbing cream seemed to work better after it expired though! Two weeks after each treatment, I got a rash or hives that lasted for like four weeks. I think I was allergic to the ink breaking down in my body. The doctor and nurses apparently never saw such a thing happen before. They were nice though, and the doctor gave me free medicine to help with the rashes.

Since the tattoo didn't disappear in the amount of time they said it would, I got free treatments for a year. They spaced my treatments really far apart so I really only got four free treatments, but it's still pretty good I guess. I'll need to pay for any more treatments, but that is ok because my tattoo is almost gone. I think I may need only 1 or 2 more treatments.

One bad thing though, is that my skin has changed where I got the treatments. It is all purple and looks like a bruise. Plus the texture is all rough, which may be from me scratching it so much. Even after three months of not getting any treatments, the appearance or texture of my skin hasn't improved. :( I have another tattoo next to the one I removed, which has faded a bit from the laser so I'll need to get it touched up. Even though my ankle is now discolored and it has taken forever and I had to live with a chronic rash all over my body for two years, it was worth it because now I can wear shorts and dresses and not be embarrassed!