While tattoos have become more widely accepted in society, face tattoos still carry a rather negative stigma with them. They make it harder to find a job, to date, and come along with a ton of not-so-great stereotypes.
Having an unwanted tattoo that you can hide with a jacket or a pair of pants is nothing compared to the regret one feels when someone has unwanted ink right there on their face for everyone to see. In short, if you’re looking to get rid of a neck or face tattoo, the answer is yes, you can get rid of it using the best tattoo removal techniques. Here’s what you can expect.
If your face or neck tattoo was done by a pro, expect to need five or more laser treatments. This is due to both the high quality of the ink as well as the likeliness that a professional will use multiple colors for shading and highlighting. Even a tattoo that appears to be all black will likely have shades of purple or white. When a tattoo is done at home or in prison, it can be removed fairly easily, sometimes in just a single laser session. This is because the ink isn’t resting very deep within the layers of the skin, and rarely makes it to the reticular dermis, which is the deepest layer of the skin. Additionally, the quality of the ink tends to be poor and isn’t designed to last like the ink used by a professional.
If you’ve had laser tattoo removal done before, then you’re familiar with the mild discomfort that comes with each treatment. Most people compare it to the sensation of getting the tattoo initially. Since there is very little fat to cushion the face, you will likely experience more discomfort than you would when having a tattoo removed from anywhere else on the body. Fortunately, there are solutions for this such as over-the-counter numbing creams and cryogenic cooling devices designed to improve comfort levels.
One of the biggest concerns people with facial tattoos have is their hair. If you have an unwanted tattoo on your scalp, you don’t want to be left with a bald spot. The same goes for tattoos that rest beneath your facial hair. Fortunately, laser technology has advanced so that a tattoo can be removed without damaging the surrounding hair follicles. To ensure you aren’t left with damaged hair, you need to do some research on what the best lasers are best for this kind of treatment. Currently, the PicoWay laser is the ideal solution for tattoo removal as it’s able to deliver short, intense bursts of energy to the tattoo without reaching the layer of the skin where hair follicles are found. Usually, if another kind of laser is used, you will experience some hair loss but often this is temporary. If you have light blonde, white, or gray hair, this isn’t something you need to worry about. Consult with a licensed medical laser technician in order to create a customized tattoo removal plan to fit these needs.
Laser tattoo removal works by targeting the pigment in the ink and breaking it up into smaller particles. This causes the body to eliminate the particles through our natural waste system, as they do with any other foreign object. The ink is eliminated through our sweat and urine until it’s completely gone. It’s for this reason that any tattoo close to the heart will fade faster, as the particles are taken away in the bloodstream right away. Since the head and neck have a large vascular supply, you’ll notice that your tattoo fades faster than it would on other parts of the body. Not only does this leave you with a higher success rate, but any swelling or blistering that occurs will heal faster on the neck and face as well.
See how laser tattoo removal is done in this short video of Body Details founder Claudio Sorrentino getting his second laser treatment on his tribal tramp stamp: