Happy Birthday Tattoo

Tomorrow my tattoo turns 15, what a time to be alive. I need to be careful of it. If I am the pillar of society I think I am, I can expect my tattoo to start drinking and smoking now. It'll be bringing home girls next. Oh the stress of being a parent.

18 Sept 2017

It turns 15 tomorrow but I don't expect it will have changed much in a day. The picture above shows a (nearly) 15 year old black ink tattoo after 4 q-switched and 4 Picosure laser removal sessions. This removal lark really is a slow process. I've talked before how removal is a roller coaster of emotion. At one stage you're optimistic that it's nearly gone, at another you're pessimistic thinking it will never be gone. I'm currently happy with how it's fading but I'm worried it's going to have a 16th birthday next year. I have two more sessions prepaid. I have seen really good fading lately so must try to stay positive.

Little 15

It's now one month after I was supposed to have a session and decided not to! More importantly my tattoo turns 15 next week. 15! I remember being 15, I thought I was a grown up. Christ I'd love to be that young again. 15 was fun, 15 was optimistic, though I'm sure as a teenager I hadn't realised it. 15 was carefree. 15 meant being home by 10. In a lot of ways mid to late 30's are better.

The tattoo is definitely going to see it's 15th birthday. I'd hoped it wouldn't make 14, I was naive. I had hoped it wouldn't make 15 but it will. There's a chance it won't make 16 but I'm nearly afraid to think that. Last March I told my 8 year old niece that I expect the tattoo to be gone in a year. I hope I didn't lie to her. I'd say a year is to her what 10 is to to me.

11 Sept 2017

I think it was around 2 years ago that I first inquired about removal. I still wish I had started then but am glad I did not start in that place. Over the last 2 years, I have still spent less on removal that they tried to charge me in the first place. €960 for 8 q-switched sessions! I have now had 4 Picosure and 4 Q-switched. I doubt paying €120 per session for Q-switched would have made that big a difference. I just wish I had gone straight to the studio I started in that day, instead of waiting until January. The extra 3 months might have made a big difference. I just thought of a fun game. I need to do my best to make sure removal costs less than €960. Even if it costs more, it didn't cost that up front.

Fading is still going well. I am beginning to want to have another session but know waiting is best. I really think that not getting lasered last month was a good idea. There is a lot of fading and more parts starting to lighten. I'm beginning to think that some of my skin is starting to dry or scar. I am putting some bio oil on but not very often.

Well, it turns 15 next week. I'll likely add another photo, if I remember. I don't think there'll be much of a difference between this week and next, I am curious how it will look on the 11 October. Next session is 26th October. Hopefully this patience is worth it.

Oops!... I Did It Again

Tanning, Fading and Rest

I'm just back from holidays, I spent 8 days in Portugal and again got tanned. My usual approach of factor 50 sun cream and avoiding the sun seems to have again resulted in a suntan. I still don't know if a tan impacts the fading. I had to postpone my first Picosure session due to getting unexpectedly tanned in Italy. The tattoo is now beginning to look really faded. I was supposed to have a session in early August but decided I would be better postponing that until October. I think waiting was worthwhile. I've noticed a lot of fading in the last couple of weeks, I don't think it would be so apparent had I had a session three weeks ago.

One of the things I've realised is that there's no magic point in tattoo removal where suddenly it's nearly gone, it's just a gradual fade. Everything I read said this but I still expected something different. You may have moments where you notice a significant fade but it will be a fade, not a vanish. However at this time I'm pretty happy with the progress,  I'm starting to see some of the darker patches become more see through and some of the lighter show up even more skin colour. I'm pleased. I'm still trying to work out if six Picosure sessions will be enough for removal. I'm thinking now that it might.

1 Sept 2017

The picture was taken today. Yes, my arm is tanned in that photo! That's what my pasty Irish skin looks like with a tan. The darker bits of ink are still there and still darker but it's really beginning to clear now. The hat looks so thin now as does the leg with the knee on the right hand side of the picture. That leg was one of the darker parts of ink and it's looking very faded now. If I stretch the skin on it it goes very white with some spots of black. I think the next session could clear that completely. There are still some obviously darker patches, but when I stretch the skin, some white appears beneath. Sadly I don't have a macro lens, I'd love to get some macro shots of it to see how it looks at macro level.

The tattoo will be 15 years old on September 19. Curious to see how it will look on it's 15th birthday.

Where are We Now

Patience

Waiting between sessions

I was supposed to have a Picosure session today but I rescheduled. My last session was on 13 May, slightly under 3 months ago, I felt I was better waiting to see how it clears. It dawned on me that today was a good day to take a photo. I'll do the same on the day of my session in October and see the progress. I'll then have a good idea if waiting longer really is better. My own feeling is that it is, I think I've noticed quite a bit of fading in the last week!

Someone in work remarked that my tattoo was beginning to look a little faded, he then asked how old it was and assumed it was just ageing. While I wish it was more gone, I was happy the fading is being noticed. I think anyone that remembers how black it was will really think it has faded, anyone who doesn't know me well will not. Still though, little wins...

11 Aug 2017

The photo isn't taken in my usual spot. It wasn't taken in direct sunlight and the weather was dull today. I think it's looking pretty faded. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm actually excited to compare this with how it looks on 26 Oct.  I might even do a montage of monthly photos!

Happy Birthday Blog

One Year Anniversary of This Blog

I stared this blog a year ago. On Tuesday night I spent a little time going over the first posts. It was funny, the optimism, the pessimism, the questions, the lack of comments. I'm really happy I started this blog. I don't think I have any followers, no one has ever commented and it has less than 1,200 (and counting) views. I would not call this successful. However for me it's been like a diary. It's been really interesting to read back and see what I've learned.

I have also started another blog. Shaving FFS! Is this mid 30s? You undo anything that made you cool and spend your time typing about how you shave? I think even 35 year old me hates 36 year old me. I think 34 year old me hated the concept of blogging. 35 year old me thought maybe, just maybe I'd have a really popular blog on tattoo removal. 36 year old me wants to blog about whatever thing I can think of next. So, random, since the blog is a year old I thought I'd put some random notes that are there for me. Andy was here a few weeks ago. My current favourite song is "Just" by 'Bicep'. Brandon & Tash just moved to Ireland.

I am surprisingly tanned. I wrote earlier how I don't tan, then found out in July 2016 that I do if I wear factor 50 and avoid the sun. I have been doing that all summer and am somewhat tanned. As such I have pushed my next laser removal session out to end of October. This will allow the tan time to fade and prevent pigment damage. Along with the tan fading, the tattoo should also fade! I'm curious to see what that long a wait will have done to it. It will be nearly 6 months between sessions at that stage. Hopefully there's a significant fade between now and then.

Here's a photo I took today, to celebrate this blog turning 1.

04 Aug 2017

Amazingly, yet classically me, I didn't take a photo from when I started the blog. The comparison here is today's photo and one from 17 Aug 2016, which was on this post. It's less than a year, by 13 days. The left hand side is after 4 q-switched. The Right hand side is an additional 4 Picosure. I know the lighting isn't comparable, the angles are different etc. But I'd call that progress.

Aug 2016 & 2017