Lasering Off My Impulsive Ink Choice in Toronto, ON

It’s hard to believe that my last laser session was in 2015. I remember very clearly all the frustration and anger I had surrounding my tattoo removal process. I had 8 treatments total between two different clinics plus a patch test trial treatment of the Picosure laser all over the course of about 2 years.
As I posted previously I had decided to take a break from laser treatments for an indefinite period. I wasn’t seeing the results I had hoped for and the experience was costing more than I could afford. Once a few months had passed I pretty much forgot about laser treatments and just focused on everything else I had going on in my life. The fact that I was busy with starting a new job and had just gotten married definitely took the majority of my attention. I also had an interesting mental shift take place which happened very gradually and caused a massive amount of peace in my previously stressful and anxious existence.
It’s hard for me to put this mental shift into word. The best that I can do is to say that I began to accept things the way they were. I realize that this isn’t a groundbreaking statement as we have all heard many times over that acceptance is the key to happiness or something to that affect. It’s a cliche for sure, but I think it’s something you can’t entirely understand until it happens to you.
As I can only speak from my personal experiences I am choosing to share this in the hope that some people out there can relate or find it useful. However, if you don’t agree that’s your choice and I respect it.
What I came to realize was that a big part of my wanting to remove my arm tattoo was because of self consciousness surrounding my body and weight on the whole. I am larger chested (I wear a 38DDD bra) and had a lot of flab on my arms, upper back, stomach and thighs. Even though it scared me I joined a gym and started taking weight lifting classes. Yes I definitely felt like I didn’t belong and I had no idea what I was doing but I kept telling myself that the reason anyone takes a class to learn something is because they don’t know anything about it and want to learn. And even though it hurt and was hugely challenging and I wanted to give up I didn’t stop, I kept pushing and pushing until one day it stopped hurting and I saw my results because I no longer feel self conscious wearing a sleeveless top even with my partially removed arm tattoo. The big lesson I learned was that focusing on what your body can achieve rather than focusing on what problems about it need to be fixed leads to amazing things. I know my commitment to bettering my health and fitness aided in my tattoo removal healing since a healthy body will always function better than an unhealthy one.
What this all adds up to is your mindset is a lot more powerful than you may be giving yourself credit for. Could you change your mindset in the way you see your body?
In closing, I’d like to share some advice I’ve been given and that I’ve learned over my tattoo removal journey:
1. Be open to the possibility that you might have to try out a few different clinics and technicians. There are many different kinds of lasers which treat different colours and types of tattoo. It might take a few tries to find that type that works for you.
2. One method that many agree works is to get a handful of treatments spaced in the timeframe your technician suggests. Then give yourself a chunk of time like 6-8 months without any laser treatments to give your body time to heal and flush out the removed ink. Then go back to your laser sessions. Odds are you will experience a good amount of fading during the waiting period.
I am still debating on going for a few more removal sessions. I’m also intrigued by a tattoo removal cream I’ve seen a few ads for. If anyone has experience with that method I’m open to hearing about your experiences.
All the best to anyone out there working on a tattoo removal journey!

I had my 2nd laser session with the tech I am currently working with which is my 6th treatment overall. This session has left me feeling pretty down about my removal progress for a few reasons. First of all I was told by my tech that the scar tissue built up underneath my tattoo is pretty dense and it's pretty much 100% safe to say that the scar tissue is what is impeding the ink breakdown. Basically the scar tissue is holding on to the ink and making it just that much harder for the laser to penetrate which means a whackload of more treatments before I'll see any sort of complete removal. What caused this scarring is partially because of the tattoo itself being done heavy handed though also apparently it's looking likely that the first few sessions I had done damaged the area and resulted in more scarring. I'm not sure what to think now after hearing this. I've also taken a good look at my progress pics and I really don't see much difference from how it looks now to how it looked after the first few treatments, the only difference is that it now looks more blurred. So I'm now wondering if continuing with the treatments is even worth it.

My second beef with these laser treatments is that they are just so expensive. I'm reminded of an experience a friend had with laser hair removal where she asked the tech why the packages are so expensive (laser hair removal packages generally start at about $1000) and she was told that the packages are priced as they are to cover the cost of the laser machine itself and it's maintenance fees. This explanation does make some sense and I wonder if it could be applied to the tattoo removal lasers as well. Even if this is the case I still find it hard to justify paying $225 for a treatment which takes barely 5 minutes of work for the tech and that I'm seeing minimal results with.

I feel pretty crap about this whole experience today and maybe I'm jumping the gun as it's too soon after my laser treatment to see if there's any improvement this time though I'm really having serious second thoughts about continuing these treatments. I feel like I've thrown a lot of money away. It bothers me a lot that these laser treatments are advertised as a one size fits all solution when I know and many others on this forum know that tattoo removal varies greatly from person to person. I unfortunately seem to be one of the unlucky ones who gets little but frustration from the whole experience.

I'll update my review with some progress pics in a few days, right now the area just looks inflamed and gross.

It's been awhile since I've last posted anything about my removal process simply because I've been on a break from any laser treatment. Life has taken a few different turns for me though they've led me to all good places! I'm moving along steadily in my course and have a new job now which I'm liking.

Today I am resuming my laser sessions after about 15 months. I am going back to the tech who did my last treatment which will make this session the 2nd with him and the 6th overall. I've decided to go for 2 more treatments with him after this one bringing my grand total to 8 and then waiting it out for awhile before either going for more sessions or not. I think this long break since my last treatment has been a good thing. I am seeing more fading in the stubborn parts of my tattoo and the bumpy scars which I could see pushing out have diminished. I'm optimistic that I'll see more fading with these next few treatments! Progress pictures will be coming soon.