Finally Removing My Tattoo After 9 Years of Regret!!! - Dallas, TX

I originally got a small "tramp stamp" my sophomore year of college when my roommates and myself played hookey from school and somehow ended up at a scummy tattoo parlor. The artist's work was very poor to say the least and my small tattoo was etched so deep it is basically very thick scar tissue across the middle of my lower back. 12 years later it is still elevated on my skin. 9 years ago I decided to cover up the unsightly thing with a larger more artistic image. I initally liked the art and the colors were so vibrant and pretty. Now almost a decade later I don't know what I was thinking!! In reality, my boyfriend at the time got into a tattoo kick, covering his own body with tattoos and offered to purchase it for me so I abliged. UGH!! I had a consultation about 3 years ago where they zapped me with a q switched laser so I could feel the intensity of the treatment and told me I'd pay $500/session and would need at least 15 appointments to see results. Needless to say I never scheduled. Now I'm 31 and have a professional career and basically feel my tattoo is from a former life and desperately want it gone ASAP. I found a clinic in Dallas that specializes in tattoo removal with the picosure laser and I had my first session today. They are charging me $1,400 for 10 sessions and said they will treat it until it is gone. The procedure was VERY painful and I'd like to think I have a pretty good pain tolerance. Holy cow it hurt but the session was over in less that 5 minutes! =) Hopefully that means it's working ;) Anyways they feel confident I will have great results but point blank refused to let the laser hit the small portion of scarring from my very first tattoo...they explained that it can worsen the scarring to hit it with the laser and that the red will likely not respond well to the treatment anyways (this area is also the only red portion of my tattoo for the most part) I will most likely seek out consultations elsewhere once I have comleted my sessions. They treated roughly 80% of the surface area of my tattoo so thats not too shabby, right? I took 800mg ibuprofen before leaving the clinic and am about to apply my second ice pack. Before going to bed I will apply more aquafor and reapply the bandage. I can shower tomorrow as long as im very gentle with the treated area. I don't have pictures currently but I go back to the office next Tuesday and will see if I can get the photos they took of the first before and after.

The top picture was taken by a photographer about a year after I'd had the tattoo done. He has brightened the colors a lot but you can clearly see the older tattoo in the center of the heart that I covered up. And the bottom picture is from today. 24 hours after my first treatment with picosure.

It has been so difficult to find consistent documentation regarding laser tatto removal and the process as a whole. I'm hoping to post frequent pictures of my tattoo so that others can see what to expect. It's been especially difficult for me to find good before and afters of large colorful tattoos that have been removed. So today I am posting my tattoo 3 days after my first treatment with picosure. You can see at least one small blister and some light scabbing in a few areas. It's not painful but I do feel it pulling and breaking the scabs when I bend/twist my torso.