This tattoo is my third tattoo. I LOVE my first 2 and I think the art on this one is also great, but after getting it I realized it is too big and bulky for my liking in that placement. It caused me severe depression and anxiety when I first got it. Now it really only affects my anxiety. It is on my forearm so I do not feel comfortable showing my arms which is hard when it's warm outside. I can't wear a lot of the clothes I have and I find myself doing things that I used to love (running, going to the beach, etc.) less because I don't like it showing. I thought about removal since the day after getting it and finally started the process. I know treatments can be done every 6-8 weeks but I'm going to space them apart as much as possible. I just paid off my undergrad loans and am now paying for grad school so money is very tight for me. The first session cost $400 which is about what I expected. The Finery was great. The staff were super nice. The whole removal process was quick and relatively painless. I am experiencing some pain and swelling now about 6 hours after, but that is to be expected. They used the RevLite at today's session but will probably use Picoway at the rest they said. I have pretty high hopes for the process as most of the shading is already disappearing on the first day. I am a pretty healthy 23 year old. I have never smoked, I eat very healthy majority of the time, drink plenty of water and tea, and I exercise pretty regularly. I do drink coffee at least once a day so I'm considering trying to cut that out. I also tend to get sick easily so I'm going to ensure I am eating as many antioxidant-rich foods as possible. The photos I am posting now are from right before the first treatment, immediately after, and then about 6 hours after. I will post another photo update when the redness and swelling go away. Updated on 10 Feb 2020: These 2 photos are from my original post but zoomed in and next to each other so you can see the differences from just a few hours. The lighting in the first picture is definitely better but you can still see where fading has already begun. The removal specialists told me that my intake of 1 cup of coffee per day is totally fine so I will not be changing that. I am going to purchase vitamin E oil tomorrow to begin daily application. I also created a daily health checklist to make sure I am doing everything necessary to aid in the removal of this tattoo on my part (taking multivitamin, fish oil, drinking adequate water, eating foods with vitamin C, getting 7-8 hours of sleep, etc.). As stated in my first post I am already a very healthy person but there's always room for improvement! Updated on 7 Jun 2021: I really suck at updating on here but this photo of the tattoo was taken in October 2020, 8 months after my first treatment! I have since gotten a second treatment the following December 2020 and will post an update of my current status later this week. Spacing out the appointments definitely helps in my opinion. It's also crazy to look back on here at the before photo compared to this photo!
So I got a tattoo in the village (NYC) when I was 16. It's terrible LOL. I finally convinced myself to start removal and it's amazing! I feel super liberated and the progress is sooooo good. Also, it is not as painful as getting a tattoo, sorry not sorry. It feels like a thin rubber-band flicking you over and over. It is not some crazy painful thing. It is super expensive. I opted for a payment plan. I'm sure if it was bigger I would be paying more. I'm paying around $3500 (I'm rounding up) for 13 sessions.I was told the yellow in the star cannot be removed. I don't care because I have a pretty yellow skin tone. The pink will mostttt likelyyy nottt come out. I might not go through with all 13 sessions. Updated on 1 Apr 2018:
After doing a little research on real self, Yelp and Google, I decided to make an appointment at Tataway in NYC, for picosure laser to remove a tattoo I've had for the past 20 years on my right boob of a Scorpio. The day of the appt I arrived 20 min late but the ladies there were friendly and quick to get me seen. Initially I was just going for the consult but after Erica the laser technician explained to me the pro and cons of the two lasers for my skin I was excited to start plus the pricing was good, $180 for revitalite and $350 for picosure, they do offer discount packages unfortunately I wasn't able to purchase a package but fortunately they do not push them if you're not interested. I'll just pay as I go. Erica numbed the area w an ice pack and started w the picosure patch test which took a min, I loved it I see more of a ink breakup w the picosure she laser the rest of the Scorpio w the revitalite. my tattoo is about 3 inches has purple, red, yellow, black, white and blue ink. I was made aware that the red and yellow would probably not erase but I see fading after first treatment , keeping my fingers crossed**I'm not gonna lie this removal will probably take 2 yrs and 15 laser sessions at 8 wks apart I mention this because ppl tend to think that with 1-3 sessions is enough then they're disappointed w the results even though I saw immediate change with the first laser which was revitalite to start; next appt my technician will be using picosure and I'll post pics just in case any1 is interested. Be prepared for a little pain but it's not that bad either or maybe I'm just so ready for this to b gone I do have redness and bruising haven't blistered yet but I'm ready w my vitamin e oil and a clean lil pin just in case I have to pop it I was told only pop if the blister is bigger than a dime