Does the picosure laser really make tattoos fade faster?

Question

Ive seen diagrams and such, but what was explained to me is that it breaks the ink down into smaller pieces so it can be passed easier. If your body has to pass the ink anyway and the system can only do so much, do smaller fragments of ink really make a difference?

Harold J. Kaplan, MD · Answer

Hi Daisy.  The answer is yes and no.  When a tattoo is placed in your skin, the ink particles are a large size such that they cannot be metabolized (or passed out of your system as you put it).Laser treatments use light, which is transferred into heat when the light hits the ink particles of the tattoo.  Together the light and heat break apart the larger ink particles into smaller ones that can then be removed and carried away by the body.  So part of the answer is that without a laser, the tattoo will not likely go away on it's own because the ink particles are too large to be removed.If you then move on to a different questions....does Picosure work faster than other lasers...the answer is again maybe and maybe not.  If you are treating light blue (aqua) or green color, the Picosure works great and faster than probably any other laser.  But if you are treating black or red, then it's not as good at getting rid of the ink as a traditional q-switched Nd:Yg laser.  The reason is that each type of light reacts with tattoo colors differently.  And the type of light in a Picosure (Alexandrite 755 laser light) is not as highly absorbed in red or black as the Yag wavelengths (532 and 1064).So, a Picosure is better than no laser at all, but how quickly it will remove the tattoo vs. other lasers depends on what colors you are trying to treat.  Hope this answers your questions and good luck.

Hratch Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

Picosure laser can fire repetitively in a shorter time frame (picosecond versus nanosecond) and this increases the pressure generated which breaks ink into smaller particles, allowing quicker clearance by the reticuloendothelial system (Langerhans cells).

Choon Kia Yeo, MD · Answer

Aloha Daisy,Yes. The PicoSure® laser really does makes tattoos fade faster.This is because of new technology. The PicoSure® pressure pulse is a trillionth of a second long and makes the action  strong and effective, yet safe. In addition to the laser effect, the PicoSure® pressure pulse breaks the ink into microscopic dusts making it easier to be removed from the body. PicoSure® is effective in removing even difficult ink colors such as blues and greens as well as previously treated tattoos.The difference is fewer treatments, faster recovery, and better results. Removal requires about three treatments compared to old technology which requires 12 or more treatments. The treatment is painful and so I usually use a local anesthetic to make the treatment pain free. This is the new gold standard. Best wishes,Dr. Yeo

Mark Taylor, MD · Answer

Treating tattoos is a complicated business because there are well over 100 different tattoo inks that are used to create tattoos.  There are a number of considerations in tattoo removal:  1)Wavelength (color) of the laser light 2) Pulse duration of the laser pulses 3) Power or the laser  watts/second/cm2  4) Spot size (diameter of the laser beam on tissue 5) Frequency of Hrz (how many shots per second) the laser will fire.  The only advantage right now with the PicoSure laser is a very short pulse that may be more effective in breaking up ink that is specifically sensitive to 755nm (red light) the color of the laser beam in a PicoSure.  Many other lasers will have three or four different colors of light available that may be more effective on a variety of colors of ink. (PicoSure does not do well with red ink).  There are other lasers that have faster Hrz, larger spots sizes, more power etc. that are also extremely effective in removing tattoos (Fotona QX-Max, Coherent Versapulse, Quanta Q Plus C).  Head to head studies comparing these lasers has not been done.

Does the picosure laser really make tattoos fade faster?

Answers (4)

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