Tattoo Removal; Got my Confidence Back! - Jacksonville, FL

Let me begin by saying I love tattoos, GOOD tattoos can make you feel sexy and confident. But bad tattoos can do the exact opposite...
My name is Sarah and I live in Florida. At 16 I had gotten a amateur tattoo in someone's home which was poorly done, the outline was too thick and uneven the tattoo was not symmetrical, and the lines were very rough. I had gotten it on the back of my left shoulder. It didn't really bother me but as some time passed I decided I wanted to cover the tattoo and make it something better. Please, take this advice, if you are looking to get a cover up tattoo go to an artist who specializes in coverups. NOT ALL TATTOO ARTISTS CAN DO COVERUPS!! My artist told me he was going to cover up my amateur tattoo (flowers) by covering it up with smoke and incorporating it into my back piece. Well, I left the tattoo shop with a giant black blob where my tattoo used to be. Needless to say I never went back to James R. or the tattoo parlor he worked in.
This 'coverup' caused me so much emotional pain and suffering. Living in Florida I could not go to the beach, pool, I was so embarrassed of what was on my upper back I wore t shirts and long sleeve shirts all the time. I couldn't wear any tank tops, dresses or tube tops. When I did I felt like everyone would stare at the disgusting tattoo I had on my back. I even missed going to my senior prom because of how ugly I felt. It was the most depressing time of my life, and I couldn't bear to think that I had to live out all of my life like that, so I began researching laser removal.
Typically black ink is easiest to remove, the older the tattoo the better, 4-6 weeks apart between treatments and usually 10-20 treatments are needed to remove a tattoo or at least fade a tattoo considerably. Because my tattoo was only 2 months old and was black ink packed ontop of colored ink I knew I was in for a long journey. Also, I have naturally tan skin, which makes it harder for the laser to differentiate between the ink and my skin. Another word of advice, when shopping for a tattoo removal place ALWAYS do a test spot and RESEARCH the facility. I did a test spot at one location and found out that they were using hair removal lasers and the area they used the laser literally turned the texture of my skin to that of hamburger meat. Yes. Hamburger meat. I'm just glad I didn't do a full treatment. Anyways, I first did sessions at Laser Skin Solutions (very clean and nice facility) the sessions they offered were very expensive, I know large tattoos are more expensive to remove but they charged me 500$ per session. I went for 5 sessions spent 2,500$ and my tattoo did not fade AT ALL. They used top of the line lasers but for whatever reason my results were very poor and the doctor seemed to have too many patients because she never remembered what parts of my tattoo I wanted off. I wouldn't recommend the facility to anyone. I later found Beaches Facial Plastic Surgery where a woman named Jackie worked doing laser removal. She offered sessions for 200$ and showed me lots of pictures of tattoos she had worked on. Albeit a VERY slow process, after about 7 or 8 sessions my tattoo went from pitch black to a grey color. Now I knew going into laser removal it would be almost impossible to fully remove my tattoo, which was okay because I just wanted it covered. After a year of laser sessions I set up a cover up session in orlando with Hart and Huntington with Jeremie LaFrance, and within 2 sessions my ugly black blob was transformed into the beautiful flowers they should've been all along.
After everything I spent 4,100$ on tattoo removal treatments and 1,000$ for my new cover up. But you can't put a price on being comfortable in your own skin! The laser sessions themselves are extremely painful, very costly, and it takes a while to see improvement, but patience and good spirit will take you a long way. I hope this review helps people out there that had to or are going through a journey like mine.