PicoSure Full Removal- Large Multi-colour on Calf - Calgary, AB

Figured it would be helpful if I eventually finalized this review.

Ultimately it took 2+ years, and about 14 sessions for this result.

I have permanent hypo-pigmentation on a great deal of the skin where the tattoo has been removed. There is a tiny bit of ink still left in a couple spots also. I didn’t want further pigmentations so I didn’t pursue further sessions.

Here’s some pictures...

Here are some pic from dec 2016.

Most of the ink is gone now. Will post some final pictures soon.

Technically I still have a couple treatments left, haven’t had one for about 6 months. I probably won’t do any more, I don’t want to lose any more skin pigment.

I have quite a bit of hypo pigmentation in a bunch of blotches and the web is now mostly white (pigment removed from skin)

If you are planning to do tattoo removal be prepared that you very well may end up with permanent damage afterwards.

So on July 4th I had my 3rd treatment with Pico at Institute for Skin Advancement in Calgary, I know I gave a bit of an update but didn't get pictures up. So here are so pictures post treatment 3, I didn't see as much fading as I would've liked to this time, but that may have been partially due to the pain and them using a lower power setting (I don't know why I've had such a hard time the past two treatments).

I've also taken a couple of pictures today, these may not have been in the best lighting, but hopefully it will help. For those of you (especially locals) who want to know the drama that has ensued with Institute for Skin Advancement see below. I went for a consult at SkinPossible today, the other Calgary area clinic with a Pico, they were very knowledgeable and I will be doing my 4th treatment there on August 22. They advised me to wait more than 6 weeks between my treatments because there is actually a lot more fading the occurs when you wait the extra time, especially with tattoos further from the heart. I feel really good about the consult and will update you all after treatment 4.

Institute for Skin Advancement UPDATE:

So I've found out there is actually another clinic with Pico in my area (it's technically just outside of the city so ISA claim that they are the only with Pico- is true, just misleading). The other clinic is called SkinPossible.

I've had some pretty major problems with ISA. I'm actually switching clinics and I would advise you don't go to this clinic either (at least until they've had time to clean up their act). I've kept the rating for staff high as I suspect what's happening is above the heads of the techs and other staff and that they are just caught in a bad situation.

I was supposed to have a follow-up this morning, as they missed 3 parts of my tattoo on the last treatment, on treatment two they actually missed one spot as well, but I wasn't as concerned.

Earlier this week I received a phone call from the receptionist telling me that the Pico wouldn't be available at the clinic for a couple months and they were 'switching me back to Q-swiched'. I told her no, that I started with Pico and that I wanted to know why because I started for a full removal. I finally talked to the tech yesterday after phone tag all week who told me that they were getting a wavelength upgrade and that the machine was going to Europe and when they got it back it would be a Pico with 4 wavelengths of a Q-Switch. Instantly this seemed off. I thought that couldn't be true since there is currently no information anywhere online though Cynosure the manufacturer that this type of thing would be happening (I research frequently and figured I would've heard about it). So I did a bunch of digging, talked to a very reputable source who is connected to some at CynoSure and was assured that there is no FDA approval for this type of thing currently and it was not the case. The only thing they could be having is a power boost, which changes the machine from operating at 700ps to 500ps (which others on this forum have also mentioned- but it wouldn't take months).

They also had a strange message a couple weeks ago saying the name of the clinic was changing to Derm.ca (which is another existing clinic in Calgary) but after a few days it was gone. When I enquired with reception about this they were thrown off and had to put me on hold to get someone that could help me. Then the same girl came back saying no we're not Derm.ca but our email might still change to that. So I asked if they are connected to that clinic in anyway and she said well no, I'm sorry I know it's confusing, we were going to change but then that didn't go through.

Bottom line is that there seems to be some business changes happening at this clinic and it's effecting how they deal with their patients as well as how knowledgeable the staff is. I'll stay away for now.