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POSTED UNDER PicoSure Reviews

Removing Two Simple Tattoos - Mountain View, CA

UPDATED FROM Naivestranger
2 years post

Ten treatments later :(

$800
Lots of hypopigmentation, remnants of the tattoos still visible. Disappointed and not sure what to do now.

Naivestranger's provider

Deborah Freehling

Overall rating
Doctor's bedside manner
Answered my questions
After care follow-up
Time spent with me
Phone or email responsiveness
Staff professionalism & courtesy
Payment process
Wait times

Replies (5)

I saw your question from my real self emails. There are people who can tattoo a flesh color to match your own it may help you but I would do a lot of research on the persons work first. Hope that helps :)
Thanks so much! I will look into and see what I can find. I think I need to do maybe two more treatments first, though.
I've heard of something called a melanocyte transplant not sure if it could help with this kind of hypopigmentation or not.
I think they said it was doable for hypopigmentation from tattoo removal.
Also maybe give the skin some time for it to come back to normal pigmentation.
Has it gotten better? Did you take too much sun? You look tanned(I was told not to go get a tan even with spf 50.
Hey were you able to solve your hypopigmentation?
UPDATED FROM Naivestranger
3 months post

Ready for fourth treatment...

Ok so I am finally updating again! I have had three treatments so far, and this Friday (5/30) will be my fourth treatment. It seems like my tattoos have faded more, unfortunately this is a really long process. The "good" kitty is taking longer because I had it tattooed over twice. I will post another update after my fourth treatment has healed.

Replies (0)

UPDATED FROM Naivestranger
4 days post

Bye bye kitty?

I had my second Picosure laser treatment a couple of days ago (2/28/2014). I was mistaken in the first post. My first laser treatment was on 1/14/14, and my second one was a couple of days ago on the 28th. It was so hard going to this appointment. I was hoping it would hurt less, as I have heard the pain can decrease with subsequent treatments. Its just so hard to willingly drag yourself to the torture chamber…. When I got there she said that the first treatment had not faded my tattoos as much as she would have liked. She told me she would slightly increase the laser intensity to see if we could achieve created fading this time (great!). I could not tell if this treatment hurt more than the first one or not. All I know is that it did NOT hurt less :( The blistering has been more severe with this treatment. It is difficult to bend over or move too much, as this area is very sensitive. Antiseptic cream helps slightly. I think I should have more fading with this treatment, but we shall see. I will update shortly before my third treatment.

Replies (4)

Hey, I totally can empathize with the pain and location. I promise if you go to a clinic that has a zimmer chiller it's NOTHING like the "hot blade" feeling that you had ( I've done both). Icing before and during the treatment will help with pain, plus, try to schedule your appt a week AFTER your menstrual cycle and that should help, too. sorry it hurt so bad:(
Yea the location is the worst!!! :( I have not heard of a zimmer. I am glad you mentioned that I am going to look into it. Will try those tips thanks so much :)
Look forward to watching your progress, I have a feeling they will be gone in no time...how far apart do you plan on spacing out your treatments? 
I am hoping! I do it every 6 weeks, thinking about moving it to every 8 weeks to give it more of a chance to heal. Not sure that will be necessary though
I think the longer wait between sessions the better, just my opinion though. 
Good luck with your next session!
Thank you :D
The discomfort you noted is unfortunately normal. Any clinic that tells you that the treatment is painless isn't being completely honest. But everyone experiences pain differently!
Dr Kirby, do you think that using topical numbing creams affects the effectiveness of the treatments?