Acid Test

Tattoo Removal with Acid Injection

I have recently returned from 5 weeks of travelling. One of my stops was Sydney, Australia to visit my brother who has been living there for around 20 years. Last time I saw him was my holiday in July in Italy, not long ago but he was aware of my tattoo removal journey. He had told me of someone he knows that does tattoo removal but not using lasers, using acid!

Apparently acid (lactic I think) is injected into the tattoo. This causes the tattoo to burn up to the surface of the skin and fall off as a scab. Apparently this is very fast as it will heal in a couple of weeks and the treated ink will be gone! Proponents of this method say it is safer than lasers as the ink falls out of your body instead of being broken up by your lymphatic system. They say that since tattoo inks are made of heavy metals, having your body absorb them is bad. Using acid, it is not absorbed by your body, rather your body ejects the tattoo and acid.

The method sounds excellent, if it really does work. I question the safer part though. While it is true that lasers break up the tattoo and have your lymphatic system remove the ink, once you get a tattoo, it is in your skin. Your immune system is working on breaking it down immediately. I (no medical training) can't imagine laser treatment makes this any worse. It would happen faster but those same metals are already in my skin and my lymphatic system has been trying to remove them since I got this, 14 years ago.

I think I'm too far along my laser journey to try a different method but I am fascinated by this. If it really is this fast to remove a tattoo, it changes everything. Tattoos could likely be removed in a matter of months, not years (I'm now at 15 months since my first laser session). I did a little (very little) reading on this method after I heard about it. Apparently it does work but is risky, if done even slightly wrong it can leave permanent scarring. I have probably read the same about laser treatment though. I think people say lasers are better as they've been used for longer and are more proven. I really would love to learn more about this acid method though. If anyone has gotten it or knows someone that has, I'd love to hear how effective it is.

14 Apr 2017

I took the above image today, 3 months since my last Picosure session. I really am seeing progress now. I know that waiting is best, the more wait the more it will fade but I'm really keen for another session. I really want to see how much difference the next one will make. I'm pretty certain that this is the first time since I started on this journey that I have felt really positive about the removal process.

I'm planning on waiting until May or June for my next session, maybe even longer depending on the weather / plans. It's much easier to manage laser treatment in the winter, no chance of sunburn leading to scarring.  There's also the unlikely possibility in summer of a tan, they won't laser you if you're tanned, it can lead to pigmentation loss.

It's Just a Question of TIme

The Effect of Sun on Tattoo Fading

I'm just home after 5 weeks of travelling. I have literally gone around the world, Dublin -> Auckland -> Sydney -> San Francisco -> Dublin. Mostly a very nice time but happy to be home. I've never been all that much a fan of Dublin (despite living here my whole life) but home is home. 3 of these weeks were for work so that probably didn't help. If you've never done business travel, it's like working at home only you're in another country but don't have time to see anything and miss all of your own stuff. If it's as far away as Auckland, you'll probably be tired too.

One of the things I was keen to learn was the affect of a sun tan on a tattoo undergoing treatment. I am slightly tanned but luck was against me. Sydney, where I spent two weeks, experienced its wettest March in 33 years. I had assumed Sydney is where I would get most sun, not least. As such, I don't think I can adequately state the impact of a sun tan on a fading tattoo. I know the sun can lighten the ink but it's slow. My thinking is that it may help fade some of the already damaged ink particles

I'm still really upbeat about the removal process, I think this is the first time I have posted that statement in this blog! The last session seems to have made a big difference, I had hoped the sun would add to that. I'm still thinking of waiting until around May for my next session, I think I'm just under 3 months since the last, so May will only be 5. I'm curious to see how it looks by then. I don't want to leave longer as we'll be into summer by then and I'll risk tanning again. I could wait until October but that seems long.

31 Mar 2017

In the interests of transparency I will state that I was slightly inebriated when I took the above photo, It was also in a hotel in San Francisco, not my sitting room window like I normally do, The tattoo has gotten lighter again, when I pull the skin it looks more patchy. That big bit of dark ink on the torso still hasn't broken down as much as I would like but it is thinning. I noticed yesterday that there used to be shading on the eye, I can still just about see it but it is nearly completely gone!

The last session I think was the biggest single impact since I started this process. I'm not sure if it will be possible to see such a leap with a single session again. My current thinking is that the last made such a difference is it is the total product of 4 q-switched and 3 picosure sessions. Assuming that the process is incremental, I am expecting the next session should again really make a difference. I have 3 prepaid sessions left. Since the last one, I am now kind of confident that this will be enough. I'm under no illusion though, I might need to space these out over a 12 month period.