About

I spent a long time thinking about getting my tattoo removed. When I finally took the plunge, I started to really read up on it. If I knew when I started what I know now, I would have done it all differently.  I decided to start this blog in the hope it will help some other people contemplating removal make up their minds and not make the same mistakes I made.

Nothing I did was that big a mistake, it's just that I could have done things better. If I'd read up more on lasers, the tattoo might be nearly gone by now and I'd have spent less money. If you're looking for complete removal, you're very unlikely to get this from a tattoo shop or beauty salon. The machines that they use are typically Nd:YAG Q-switched lasers. These will fade tattoos and will do a good job if you want a cover up. However these are often Q-switched passive machines, they can't completely break down the ink to the point it can be fully cleared. For that, you need a Q-switched active laser. These are far bigger, more expensive machines that you're unlikely to find in a tattoo studio.

Picosure is the current best laser. The technology is only around 4 years old and is apparently much better for complete removal. Picosure used to be expensive but the price has started to drop. For me, there was only a 25% premium over what I paid previously. From what I've read, this is money well spent. Picosure fires pulses every picosecond. If you don't know what a picosecond is (I didn't), it's a trillionth of a second. That's 0.000,000,000,001 of a second. From Wikipedia "A picosecond is to one second as one second is to 31,710 years", quite fast then. This faster laser breaks the ink into far smaller parts which your body can remove more quickly. The end result is faster tattoo removal.

I live in Dublin, Ireland. Both my tattoo application and laser removal have all been done in Dublin. I'm not naming the studios or clinics I've used as I don't want to seem like I'm promoting or detracting. All of my experiences so far were good. If any of the places I've been to would like a mention, I'd be happy to do so. The only mistakes I have made were my own, if I'd read more I would have done it differently, not to take away from the people or places I've been to, however I would definitely have  started with Picosure.

I'm keen to hear about other people's experiences. I don't know many people undergoing tattoo removal. A friend once told me the Internet was a place to meet like-minded friends, I was always too cynical to believe that, but I'd love to hear about other people's experiences.

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