"Pico-'maybesure'" - Pasadena, CA

I have had a tattoo treated 9 times by Dr. Tattoff in the LA area over course of 2.5 years. The tattoo had faded a decent amount, but no where what I thought it would be according to their claims. I was discouraged from going there after they "got real" with me and showed a picture of someone with similar colors who had 32 (YES 32) treatments done and still was trace amounts left. I was blown away, the guarantee was for 13 treatments and then it was free after that. I heard they were no longer doing the free until gone, but more like 2 years or 1 year of treatment. Which is [RS bleep] because each time I went, they'd tell me to come back 2 weeks longer than the previous...6 became 8, became 10, became 12. I really felt like the process was going to take 6 years to remove the damn thing and thousands of dollars. The laser was I think the YAG/Q-switch. It is definitely painful for me, and the treatment felt inconsistent. Sometimes it would hurt a lot more than others, and I can only assume that was because of different staff operating it. So 9 treatments at 180$ later=$1620. I took a long break from treatment as I was discouraged by the cost, the travel for procedure, and the lack of real progress.

I felt like I was starting to get interested in treatment again and was financially able to consider throwing money at this problem, so I did some research and stumbled across the picosure treatment. Most reviews I read claimed better success, unfortunately most pictures I could find seemed to be the same 6 pictures that everyone has copied (weird for someone that is FDA approved and there's only a handful of examples). Regardless, latest and greatest right? So I did my research in depth, and came across two facilities in SoCal that had the treatment available. I contacted one of them and actually spoke with the Dr. directly, something that *never* happened with "Dr. Tattoff". We exchanged emails, sent him measured pictures of the tattoo and then I waited a month before committing to treatment.

We worked out a deal and today I had my first picosure treatment. I met the Dr. Schwartz first, and he examined the site. He gave me his opinion, and then applied topical numbing (though he did offer numbing injection). I have to say that topical numbing cream is [RS bleep], at least for me. That zapzapzap hurts like hell. Needless to say, i'll try the injection next time. The process was fast, painful, but no lingering burn like the previous laser. The skin is elevated where there was blues, and not so much where a lot of the reds were already faded. The nurse felt like it would maybe take only 1 or 2 more treatments. I would really like to believe in that! It would be amazing to be free of this for 'picosure' by summer. The cost and the added distance would be completely worth it.

Overall, I am skeptical (maybe gun-shy) at the idea of it disappearing, but I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed. The next treatment will be in about 6 weeks, and I will post an update then. Time to see if I can dig up some pictures of the original and then some progress shots over the years.

Here's some shots to get an idea. I think first YAG treatment was 7/10/10.

I guess somehow I clicked not worth it earlier, but I really meant not sure, so I was changed to reflect that. obviously, it is too early to tell, but I am hoping it will work well on the stubborn blues.