Thanks for your question. Tattoo regret is very common. We have our patients wait 6-8 weeks after getting their tattoo to allow the skin to completely heal. Q-Switch or nanosecond lasers came out about 20 years ago. Picosecond laser came out about 3 years ago. The majority of former Q-Switch patients we see have significant hypopigmentation (ghosting) around and under their tattoo. The Q-Switch lasers have trouble differentiating between the melanin in your skin and ink. The technology uses heat to burn the pigment out of your skin. In addition, we have seen patients with raised scars as if they have been branded. Both of these condition are irreversible. Picosecond lasers (like the PicoWay & PicoSure) fire 1000 times faster, using a pressure wave rather than heat to shear the ink molecules apart. After using the PicoSure for almost 2 years, we have only seen pinpoint hypopigmentation in a very small number of patients usually of darker skin tones. We cannot say it is impossible to get burned with a Picosecond laser, but it is highly unlikely. We tell every PicoSure tattoo patient to expect at least 6 treatments, but don’t be surprised if it takes 10 to 12. Patience is the key for our patients. We typically see our tattoo removal patients every 6 to 8 weeks initially. If they have more time than money, we encourage them to come every 6 months as the tattoos seem to continue to fade while they wait.We recommend waiting 6 weeks until your tattoo is healed and then finding an experienced physician in your area. Treatment prices vary by market. The cost for picosecond treatments will be higher, but you should need less than half the treatments compared to a nanosecond laser.
