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POSTED UNDER Tattoo Removal REVIEWS

Half An Arm of Regret. Boston, MA

ORIGINAL POST

So, just a bit about myself - I'm a nurse from...

MalerieAnn
$400
So, just a bit about myself - I'm a nurse from Boston, and am not new to tattoos. I have five tattoos altogether - a beautiful outline of My Washington on my left arm, a feminine tree of life back piece, a tiny stethoscope on my chest, and a feather and arrow with Led Zeppelin lyrics on my wrist...
And then, this giant mess of a half sleeve. It's a hideious, masculine Celtic band, with a bunch of flowers and a compass running beneath it in a desperate attempt to make the original piece look better (failed).
The more I look at this tattoo, the more I hate it. I look like some homely chick who made a hasty decision in her teens, when in reality, I got this tattoo at age 24. :(
So for the past few weeks, I have been hastily emailing laser removal places with desperate emails. I've heard AMAZING things about Tataway in Boston, and how they use the new Picosure and Revlite lasers. I went in, and they gave me a rough pricing for what it would cost to remove the entire tattoo - roughly $400 per session for approx 10 sessions, with a few treatments running into the $500 range for the Picosure (which would only be needed for the blue and purple inks).
I was happy to hear the pricing - I honestly thought it was going to cost $1,000+ per session, which is well beyond my price range. But now I'm relieved to know that this could be a possibility, and I could get rid of this thing forever!
Has anyone else had a piece this large and colorful successfully removed? I've only found success stories from people with tint, older tats (mine is less than a year old). Any encouragement would be, well, encouraged! Thank you and wish me luck!

Replies (6)

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February 8, 2016
I once saw a picture of some colorful ink on someone's chest almost completely gone. I think there may have been a little, little bit of residual red ink. I really think it can be done if you stick to it.
February 8, 2016
I hope so! Thank you!
February 9, 2016
Hi im going through getting a coloured tattoo removed from my wrist , its a large one , so far ive had 4 laser treatments costing $200 each au. So far its only faded little bit of the colour . So getting a bit dissapointed in it , not sure whether its worth all the pain and money ?
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February 9, 2016
If they would also have q-switch for a blacks that would be great :-)
anyway it is nice to hear that clinics are operating with different lasers at the same place to give customers the best service. From what I saw on the reviews got -picosure will get the blue out really quickly. Pink can be more difficult - i was removing pink, although with qnswitched and it was going down really slowly, however I hears also revlite being much better with reds then q so hopefully you will see changes quicker :-)

good luck :-)
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February 19, 2016
That's great that Tataway has multiple types of lasers! The place I'm going only has the Picosure - they said they just got a new tip that does well on the reds, but I'm not sold on it yet. That also seems like a good price. Does it help to mention your $400/session price to see if other places will give you a deal? Either way, I wish you the best. Making the decision to remove/not to remove was incredibly difficult but I finally decided I needed to try. Here's to hoping!
February 12, 2018
have you started removal? I have a similar piece I want removed.... but it’s a whole sleeve
UPDATED FROM MalerieAnn

Still Deciding

MalerieAnn
Hey all! So, I told Tataway that I would call them back by the end of the week with a decision on how I want to proceed. I definitely want at least part of this tattoo gone, but am undecided on whether to completely get rid of this thing, or if I should just fade the armband to cover it up with more floral designs. Thoughts? Also, I think that the compass looks too big for my arm, despite how pretty it is. Here are some more pics.

Replies (6)

February 9, 2016
Its not bad the flowers are nice , just maybe the compass and soften the band a bit ?
February 9, 2016
I agree, I love the flowers! The artist did an amazing job. I'm leaning towards covering up the band - maybe cover it with leaves and shading in the front, and throw another large rose on the inside of my arm (the band runs all the way around). It'd also be much more cost effective. Tattaway estimated $200 per treatment to fade the band, and I would only need 3-5 total treatments.
February 9, 2016
I would go with that , sounds good but my advice is make sure whoever is doing the cover up knows what you want !! Good luck
February 13, 2016
I just had my first session with Tataway Thursday Feb 11th for removal of a non color tattoo, outline and shading only. I was a bit taken back by the price of $725 for Pico per session and went with the Rev Lite for session 1, $325. Very nice place and staff, it did feel a bit like a sale though during my consultation but then again I was there to have the work done. My post should appear on here in the next day or so regarding my story and first session. I am good with pain but must say I couldn't wait for the short 2 minute session to end.... I am thinking about trying Pico for session #2 as I have read it could remove the ink twice as fast as Rev Lite? I look forward to your reviews and wish you all the best !
February 13, 2016
I'm curious how big is youe tattoo? They quoted me about $500/session for the Pico, and $400 for Revlite, but that was before they measured the entire thing (so maybe it's more).
February 13, 2016
They measured my tattoo in the 18 x 24 category for pricing as it takes up most of my forearm. My post should be up with pictures soon I hope ! I was thinking it was going to cost me around $200 a session for Rev Lite and maybe $450 for Pico. If I decided to get the rest of the tattoo removed it would entail a separate session/package basically doubling the cost. I am going to most likely see how the Rev Lite works due to the cost and then probably have a few Pico sessions as well. Once they measured my tattoo in person the size and cost went up from the quote they gave me based on pictures alone. I hope that helps a bit, my guess is it may cost you a bit more than you expect but I hope not ! :)
UPDATED FROM MalerieAnn

Searching Around...

MalerieAnn
I have an appt at Skindeep Laser today, figured I'd compare them to Tataway. We'll see how this goes. Updates to come.

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