Laser Tattoo Removal Guide

Getting a tattoo removed usually costs as much – if not more – than the original price tag of getting that same tattoo originally. In other words, it’s not an inexpensive procedure. In fact, the cost of tattoo removal is one of the biggest problems people face who no longer want their tattoo; they simply cannot afford to have it removed.

Or can they?

While consulting with a laser tattoo removal clinic and learning that it could cost in the thousands of dollars to have their tattoo removed, many people give up at that point.

But what they might not be aware of is that many laser clinics are accustomed to helping people finance the cost of laser removal. Many of these laser clinics offer a variety of health and medical services, beyond tattoo removal, such as laser hair removal. These services are very often financed and not paid for all at once. The same is true for tattoo removal.

What sort of services are offered in this regard? There’s basically 3 ways patients can go about paying for laser tattoo removal.

1. Pay as you go. In this payment plan, a person pays for the services as they receive them. For laser tattoo removal, this means paying for the cost of individual laser treatments at the same time of each individual session. Note that while the total cost of laser removal is quite expensive, since it’s done in multiple sessions, people need only to cover the cost of one session at a time when doing the “pay as you go” plan.

2. Direct financing with the laser tattoo clinic. In this set up, a person works out a payment plan directly with the clinic. This basically means you agree to pay X amount of dollars per month until the total cost of all treatments is covered. This may or may not include interest – most likely, it will be free of interest. There may be some sort of monthly fee tacked onto the bill though for the convenience of financing.

3. Medical loans or other loans. This type of payment involves taking out a loan with a company, probably at a high interest rate. Many loan companies exist whom specialize in medical and health related loans. If possible, seek a bank loan with a more reasonable interest rate over medical loans, assuming the interest rate works more in your interest (no pun intended!).

Of course, the type of payment plans offered depends entirely on each individual clinic. Some may only offer services to those who can pay upfront whereas others may work with patients to secure a loan or offer direct financing between the clinic and the customer.

All this amounts to seeing that while laser tattoo removal is unfortunately quite expensive, there are reasonable options out there for financing its cost. Mostly likely one of these solutions can work for you if you are determined to have your tattoo removed.

One of the biggest hurdles facing anyone with has a tattoo they no longer wish to have and are ready to take some action on having it removed is dealing with the expense of tattoo removal.

It’s no secret: tattoo removal isn’t cheap.

Or rather, tattoo removal methods that are safe, proven, and effective are not cheap.  (See *Overview of all Tattoo Removal Methods” and “What About Tattoo Removal Cream“.)

With that in mind, the expense of laser tattoo removal can be a serious expenditure to most people. Let’s take a closer look at the pricing and cost of laser tattoo removal.

Factors Influencing the Prices and Costs of Laser Tattoo Removal

The price of laser tattoo removal depends on a few different factors. Obviously, where you live is going to make a difference. This factor is true at the large scale level of price differences in different countries all the way down to a fluctuation in prices in different towns and cities.

The prices below reflect the fact that the majority of laser tattoo removal clinics operate in medium to large size cities in Western countries.

That being said, they offer a good guideline for what to expect when researching the cost of laser tattoo removal in your own area.

How Doctors and Specialists Price Laser Tattoo Removal Services

Laser tattoo removal services are nearly always priced by these factors:

1. By how many square inches of tattoo ink are to be removed
2. By how many treatments it’s required to remove them
3. And sometimes by how many laser pulses are emitted in the treatment session

As you can see, this introduces many variables into the equation, making it hard to give a general figure for laser tattoo removal cost.

For our purposes here though, and to give you a good idea of how this plays out, say you had a tattoo that was 3 square inches. That’s about the size of 3 postage stamps. It’s a good idea to expect 5-10 treatments to have it fully removed. This translates to about $150 a visit, meaning the total cost would be $750-$1,500.

As you can see, the expense of removing a small tattoo is considerable, and removing a large tattoo will easily cost in the thousands of dollars.

Most clinics will not expect payment up front for the totality of treatments, allowing the patient to “pay as you go”, paying for the treatments one at a time. Additionally, many clinics will give a discount to those who are able to pay in advance for a set amount of treatments, such as paying for the first 5 treatments in one purchase and receiving 10% off the total cost.

Additionally, many clinics offer 100% for tattoo removal. For more information on this, please see Paying for Tattoo Removal: Financing and Loans.

Addendum: A Note on Cheap Laser Tattoo Removal Services

If you find a specialist offering prices that are obscenely lower than the competition, be sure to do your research before committing to their services.

Unreasonably low prices are often a red flag or warning sign that the services are not of high quality, or worse yet, that the individual or company is operating some kind of scam.

Using low quality services is not going to benefit anyone, save for the laser tattoo removal specialist who might pocket some money before moving on to someone else. The pain and expense involved in correcting bad removal work is far worse than paying the right price the first time around.

That being said, some places might offer really good deals, especially if they are a new laser tattoo removal clinic in town. If that’s the case, and they appear to be legit and can prove it with a portfolio and a good sales pitch, then congratulations on saving some money AND getting your tattoo removed!