After a Year and a Half... - Sydney, AU

Think it's time I shared my story after a year and a half of treatment.

Got my tattoo about 10 years ago… I don't really 'regret' it, it was fun to have in my 20s, but I was never completely happy with it, the middle was done first and then after deciding it was too small I had the edges added later… Last year decided it's time to try to remove it. I was realistic about how long it would take and have usually left 8-12 weeks between treatments.

Started last year in May 2013 receiving treatment with a Q-switched laser… I was really impressed how much it faded after the first session (which in hindsight wasn't much) but it seemed to fade less and less each time… In total I received 8 treatments with the q-switched laser…. from the fifth to the eighth it didn't seem to fade at all... Despite trying to be careful I have a couple of small scars from scabs that were knocked after a shower. At one point I was told I seemed to have "resistant ink" and despite knowing at the beginning that the estimate of 8-10 treatments was likely a low ball, was really starting to think it wasn't going to fade further.

I'd been reading about the new picosure lasers since before I started treatment, and noticed a new clinic recently opened in Sydney, which is about 3-4 hours drive from where I live, so I drove up and was treated mid-October.

Wow! This laser is amazing. The fading from one treatment with the picosure has been significantly better than the last three treatments with the q-switched. It is a big drive and more expensive but will definitely not go back to the Q-switched.

People always ask if it hurts: to this I usually respond "ummm… it feels kinda like they're trying to cut my arm off with a laser"… but not with the picosure. Driving the three hours home wasn't a problem at all, whereas after treatment with the q-switched I couldn't wait to get home, lie down, and get some ice on it... It hurt heaps less and Keith (who treated me) went over it a couple of times with different settings. It didn't blister and therefore I didn't get any new scars.

Due to the differences between the middle and outsides of my tattoo (i.e. inks, tattooist, number of times they went over it etc), the outsides have faded much faster than the middle part. It's interesting that they say every person responds to the laser differently - the different parts of mine has reacted so differently! Before being treated with the picosure I was thinking I could totally live with how much the outsides have faded and just wanted the middle to fade more, but now I'm thinking I could get total clearance.

I'm not saying there's no value to the q-switched, it did fade my tattoo significantly to the point where you can't really see the front in a group photo, but the picosure has exceeded my expectations after only one treatment. I'm gonna wait til January for my second picosure treatment as it still seems to be fading, plus December is insanely busy!

The review below is based on the picosure clinic I was treated at as this review is going in the picosure area.

Thanks for reading! Happy to answer any questions people have :)