It's The Final Countdown

A Recap of What I Have Learned About Tattoo Removal

It's the 15th of August, I'm due to have my first Picosure session in three days. I decided I'd recap everything:

Lasers

Three types of laser:

• Q-switched passive - good for fading tattoos for cover-ups, will never comepletely remove
• Q-switched active - used to be the gold standard in removal, I have no experience with this
• Picosure / picosecond - I am having my first session in a few days, review to come

If you're about to start, I would say look around carefully. Ensure you get the right type of laser. If I could start again (... a million miles away...) I would start with a picosecond laser. I would definitely recommend a clinic over a studio, make sure you know that it's and active and not passive laser. Again, no ill will toward the studio or the technician from me, my own fault for not reading enough.

Stay healthy

The advice I got for healing:

• Keep it cool (immediately afterwards)
• Get plenty of cardio exercise
• Drink lots of water
• Ensure good nutrition
• Don't smoke

I appreciate that the above are basically tips on how to live, however they're important in tattoo removal. The removal is done by your immune system, healthy immune system means better fading. Don't smoke is probably the most important one. A smokers body does so much work to try to keep the lungs clean that the immune system suffers. I'm not anti-smoking, but if you smoke and are considering tattoo removal, you should seriously consider giving up smoking too, it will help.

Other methods

I've read about some other tattoo removal methods; creams, burns, invisible ink, dermabrasion. I can't speak from experience but I don't think any could be as effective as a laser. If you can prove otherwise, I'd love to hear your experience. 

I'm excited about my next session but also worried. I've read so much about how amazing picosecond lasers are. I really hope this can live up to the hype. I'll definitely post some before and after pictures, though the after could take a while. It normally takes close to a week for the swelling to subside.