I have a 4 sq. inch tattoo on my wrist that I would like to remove. It is a green/yellow alpha and omega sign with red tribal thorns around it.
I know that green/yellow are the hardest colors to remove with a laser.
First question:
Lets say black ink was tattooed into the green/yellow, does that stay in the skin as its own seperate black pigment or does it combine with the green/yellow pigment.. The reason I ask.. is if the black ink combined with the green/yellow, it would be easier to remove the new black tatto with laser treatment since black is the easiest to remove.. (hope this makes sense)
Second question:
This may make some of you laugh, and it may be a very stupid question, but I often hear “laser treatments are basically concentrating the power of the sun to fade your ink” Wel would sitting out in the sun with a magnifying glass, making sure to not have the magnifying glass TOO focused on one spot, help break up the ink? Maybe keeping the magnifying glass far away enough to heat the area but not burn it. Would that accelerate the fading process?
I apologize for the long drawn out questions, but I hadn’t read either topic being touched on anywhere.
I’d appreciate any replies 🙂
I dont know about the first question, but I feel like for the second question that sitting out in the sun in order to “fade away” your ink would just fade it enough to make it look like shit, instead of fading it enough so that you cant really see it anymore.
Never tried it before, just my 2 cents.
-Cam
🙂
Hi
In answer to your first question it is very unlikely to make it easier for 2 reasons;
1. The ink will be adding more pigment on top of the orig pigment which is held in the sub-dermal layer of your skin. This means it may look black on the epidermis (top layer of skin) but the sub-dermis (or dermis) underneath will contain traces of both pigments of green and black.
Also some black inks contain heavy metals so can hurt like a real bastard on laser – so mind what ink they use!
2. UVA and UVB rays (sunlight) both fade ink but this is progressive exposure over a long period of time and would not fade the tattoo enough to even remotely remove.
The laser treatment has several frequencies it ‘bombards’ your skin cells with which are very different to that of the sun. If you hold a mag glass 2 thinsg will happen – you will burn yourself and raise the risk of skin cancer.
In theory it is similar but in practice it is like comparing holding your breath to drowning.
My advice is speak with a professional dermatologist or go for a pro rework/coverup
Hope that helps
Take Care
Matthew
i agree with the resident guru once again, mathew is normally on the ball and once again came up trumps 😉
how the laser works in easy terms…….
if you imagine that the skin is a very fine net and the inks are large pieces of pigment that gets stuck in the net……. now the laser acts like a hammer and smashes the pigment into smaller pieces so that they will pass through the net… now thats the unusual way of explaining how the laser treatment works 😀
Second question first.
A laser is “tuned” to a certain light wave frequency that is absorbed by the ink. Hi-intensity, focused laser breaks up the ink. Your body eventually absorbs the ink.
The Sun is very broad spectrum of light, and other radiant energy. In fact our “visible” light is only a small portion of the total radiant energy – think UVA, UVB, infra-red, etc.
Over decades sun exposure will fade some inks more than others but a magnifying glass is NOT the way to go!
first question second.
A lot depends on how “mixed” the inks are. Remember the laser is “tuned” for a specific color, since black absorbs all wavelengths of visible light the black ink absorbs the most energy. It would not surprise me if black could be “lasered” and the other colors would simply fade some. On the other hand, if inks are mixed really well, the black’s absorbtion could, maybe drastically effect the other colors.
(Nothing like a not sure, heh?)
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