Laser Tattoo Removal Guide

While the Laser Tattoo Removal Guide was designed to provide high quality information on the laser tattoo removal process, this guide has incorporated relevant information on ALL tattoo removal techniques. Because of the variety and scope of techniques discussed are in various articles throughout the site, this article will present an overview all of the methods of tattoo removal discussed, with a corresponding link to each article available for additional details.

Here is an overview of all these tattoo removal methods.

Laser Tattoo Removal. Laser tattoo removal is one of the most reliable, safe, and effective tattoo removal methods. It is widely available in cities throughout the world and has decades of use to its name. It must be administered by a professional – this is not a cheap, at home removal method. The risk of scarring is minimal, and compared to other methods, very low. It is however quite expensive. Treatments are done by breaking down a tattoo into smaller areas and treating the ink with lasers. The lasers aggravate the ink, causing it to break down and dissipate as part of the body’s response to ridding out foreign objects or unwanted cells into the body. It takes many months of treatments to remove a tattoo via laser tattoo removal; as such, this is not a quick method, but is reliable.

Rejuvi Tattoo Removal. Rejuvi is one of the newer types of tattoo removal methods that have skyrocketed to the top as an effective, reliable technique. Similar to many details of laser tattoo removal, a person must go into a clinic and have rejuvi administered by a professional over repeated treatments that target the tattoo. The risk of scarring is very small. This technique works by injecting rejuvi cream into the tattoo, which bonds to the ink pigmentation. This newly created rejuvi/ink bond is deemed by the body’s immune system as an unwelcome, foreign threat. The body will push the substance out of the skin, forming a crust or scab. Over repeated treatments, this will remove the tattoo from the body.

Dermabrasion. Dermabrasion is a technique that uses sanding or exfoliation of the skin, both chemical and physical. It has been described as sanding the outer layers of the skin to remove, and with this, the tattoo. It is prone to scarring. Dermabrasion was primarily used before the invention and proliferation of laser tattoo removal. It is not as common anymore, although doctors do offer this service still.

Excision. The excision technique is largely outdated and has been replaced by laser tattoo. In an excision, the skin containing the tattoo is cut out. For smaller tattoos, the skin is then tightened up over the area where the previous skin resided, and sutured up by a doctor. For larger tattoos, skin is even grafted over the area where skin was removed. Scarring is common and is an expected result for excision tattoo removal. Because of the pain and the scars left by this technique, excision is rarely used anymore.

TCA. Decades ago, TCA was shown to remove tattoos from the skin. Most commonly used to improve skin issues – such as wrinkles or wart removal – it can also target tattoo ink and remove or fade a tattoo. TCA is prone to scarring though. It is not regulated or done by a professional, thus making more room for user error. TCA chemical peels for tattoo removal can be purchased online and in beauty shops. Nuviderm is a popular TCA tattoo removal product.

Tattoo Removal Cream. Tattoo removal cream products are an over the counter, at home tattoo removal method. They work by applying a topical agent to the skin area of the tattoo. Over many months of applications, they intend to fade or entirely remove the tattoo. The effectiveness of these products is often challenged, although many people report that through repeated applications, tattoo removal cream did in fact fade away their tattoo. Wrecking Balm is the most widely used tattoo removal cream product on the market.

Tattoo removal is a costly, long term endeavor. Unless a tattoo is very, very small and has little color, it usually takes many months to see it fully removed from the body, no matter what method is used (with the exception of excision, which simply removed the tattoo all at once via surgery).

In this article, we’ll look at the cost of various tattoo removal methods. This is done for the sake of completeness, and is not an endorsement of these methods. For more information on each method, include the problems and risks associated with them, click on the corresponding link for more information on each tattoo removal technique.

Laser tattoo removal. Priced by a number of factors, including how many square inches of tattoo there is to remove, the colors used in the tattoo inks, and how many laser pulses are used in each treatment session. A good rule of thumb is to estimate that a tattoo the size of 3 square inches (about 3 US postage stamps placed together) would cost $150 each session, and could take 5-10 sessions.

Rejuvi tattoo removal. Similar to how laser tattoo removal prices are structured, the cost of rejuvi treatments depends on the total size of the total and the colors used. Treatments are broken down by pricing different areas of the tattoo by the square inch. Expect treatments to cost about $90-$120 per square inch treated.

TCA tattoo removal. Priced by the bottle. This is a cheap tattoo removal method often costing around $50 for a bottle. For example, Nuviderm, the most popular TCA containing tattoo removal product, costs $39.95 for a 1 OZ bottle. This is said to remove (“or extremely fade”) a single tattoo of 3×3 size.

Dermabrasion tattoo removal. Dermabrasion is priced by the size of the tattoo and number of sessions needed to complete it. It’s likely to run in the thousands of dollars for the removal of a tattoo.

Excision tattoo removal. For small tattoos, excision is relatively inexpensive, although it’s not without it’s problems. (See entire article.) A small piece of tattoo work can likely be excised for under $200. Larger pieces will cost substantially more, as it not only involves a bigger area of work, but additionally work for skin grafting and suture placement.

Tattoo Removal Cream. Tattoo removal creams are usually sold in kits or bundles, each corresponding to a number of treatments. For instance, a month long supply with daily treatments may run about $50. A 6 month supply may cost $300. There a number of different tattoo removal cream products, such as Wrecking Balm and Tat B Gone, but prices between competing products are largely in the same ball park.

As you can see, tattoo removal costs are very high, possibly costing up to $10,000 for a large tattoo that would require 15+ visits at a laser removal clinic. It’s estimated that most tattoo removal services end up costing about $1500-$3500. Something to keep in mind about the cheaper methods is that even over the counter products which are sold for $50 can end up costing hundreds of dollars if it takes 6 months of daily treatments.