The end of my story.

About two weeks ago I had a very large colorful cover up tattoo done on my stomach. I had to have two 6-7 hour sessions done to cover up the old tattoo and it is still not even completely finished but I've had enough done to know that I hate it so needless to say I will not be going back. The original tattoo I got when I was 18 and it was black vines and leaves and some black stars (something that is very difficult to cover up and should never have been attempted. The new tattoo is a bunch of roses (?) leaves and other flowers. I realize that this is a very difficult tattoo to remove by laser because of all the green and blues. I will definitely be getting the laser procedure done but I'm considering using an alternate method first to lighten the tattoo and hopefully lower the cost and number of treatments needed with laser. I have read some promising things about TCA chemical peel and the tattoo vanish method. There is a place that does tattoo vanish about 5 minutes away from me so I will probably go for a consultation. I am however, very worried about this causing scarring. Has anyone had experience with this?
I am also concerned about what type of laser treatments I should get. There is a laser school in my area that offers laser treatments for $50 a session and I believe they use just the standard q-switched laser. There is also a place near me that offers the R20 but for a much much higher price. I have also looked into the picosure laser but unfortunately there is not one in my area. The closest place would be California so I'm considering going there and getting that done on any green/blue ink left remaining after my laser treatments. I would really appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. I've been extremely depressed and self conscious over these past couple weeks and I'm not feeling any better. I've been obsessively looking at information on the Internet to the point where it's the only thing I can focus on. Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated!

So I went to my first consultation at Phoenix Skin which is the only place in the area that has the picosure laser. I was really impressed at how fast they were able to get all of their patients in and out because they have a very busy office. The lady I spoke with was also very friendly and knowledgable. She said that the picosure works great for all colors except for red so my tattoo would be treated with both the picosure and the medlite lasers since I have quite a bit of red in my tattoo. I was quoted at $750 a session. Yikes!! But that is a fair price considering the size and colors of my tattoo and I will be getting the best laser available and they will be giving me injections to numb the area. The only thing I did not like is that she was not really able to give me an estimate on how many treatments it would take to clear my tattoo. She said most tattoos are completely removed in 3-6 treatments with this laser. I expect mine should take about 7 or 8 hopefully! My first session is July 2. I'm really excited to see what I kind of results I will see with this laser!!

I have my first treatment today. I'm pretty anxious about it but mostly I'm excited to get this process started and because it is the picosure laser I'm hoping to see some pretty good results out of this first treatment. It's pretty crazy how much the tattoo has faded already. I conducted a little experiment. My tattoo artist told me to really avoid the sun while this tattoo is new he said that color tattoos should really be kept out of the sun for three months or else there will be a lot if fading. So I did exactly that! While I was in Jamaica on vacation I let my tattoo get a little sun. Not too much because I did not want it to interfere with the laser treatment but just from that it has already faded a lot!
I will let you all know how today goes and will update with pics.