As laser technicians, we often find ourselves being asked how long it will be before our clients start seeing results from their treatments. It is important to understand that everyone has a different tattoo removal journey and results differ from person to person as well as tattoo to tattoo.
As explained in our previous blogs and on our social media platforms, there are many factors that impact ones tattoo removal journey: age of tattoo, client’s immune system, density of ink, colour, depth, time in between treatments, location of tattoo, etc. It is important to take these factors into consideration when starting your own laser journey.
It is not uncommon for your tattoo to remain the same in appearance following your first or even your second treatment. For most, visible changes start to occur around the third treatment, however, this can be different for everyone. We generally recommend 6-12 treatments for complete removal. For those who have grey wash tattoos (less density of ink in the skin) visible changes can happen almost immediately or at a quicker rate (sometimes 2-6 treatments for complete removal) in comparison to very deep, dark and dense ink.
Let’s go into some of these factors a bit more to help you understand …
Depth and density of ink in the skin
- The depth of ink plays a big role in how quickly a tattoo removes. Heavier line work tattoos are often sitting a lot deeper in the skin compared to shading, grey wash and fine line tattoos. When the ink is sitting deeper and the density is higher, it will take a longer course of treatments to fully remove. Therefore it may be a few treatments in before you see some changes in your tattoo.
This client’s script tattoo has been lined fairly deep in the skin. We were able to see some slight changes after 2-3 treatments and now at 7 treatments have some significant results from our laser.
Tattoos that are made up of mostly grey wash often see a change very quickly with laser treatments.
This client has a tattoo with very little ink and grey wash that is also close to the surface of the skin.
Less ink = less laser, which is why we have seen some fantastic results here after just 2 treatments.
The more ink pigments in the tattoo, the more pigment your body has to remove through its lymphatic system. It is not uncommon for it to take multiple treatments before you can start to see a visible change, just like the example shown here. It may not be the drastic change compared to the grey wash example above, but this is very normal for the amount of ink in this tattoo.
Colour tattoos
- Some coloured pigments of ink can often take longer to remove than others. This all depends on the colour and make up/ingredients of the ink and the wavelength we are using with the laser.
- We are lucky enough to be the only clinic in SA to use both PicoSure and Q-switch laser technologies allowing us to treat all colours with three different wavelengths across the two lasers. With our Pico laser, we can often see immediate or fast results in blues, greens and purples.
Here you can see amazing results after just 1 treatment with our PicoSure laser. Bright ‘cool’ colours are the perfect match for the 755 wavelength.
Tattoos with multiple colours take longer to remove than other tattoos due to the multiple pigments that need targeting with our lasers. All three wavelengths are required to target all the colours within this tattoo example. Lighter colours such as pink, yellow and orange can be harder to remove, especially if they contain white pigment as they can be reflective of the laser.
As you now know, our PicoSure laser is amazing at targeting blue, purple and green ink. After 1 treatment those colours within this tattoo are almost completely gone – this is the magic of a Pico treatment! The red ink is targeted by a different wavelength, which we have not yet treated.
Time in between treatments
- I know we go on about this a lot but the longer you leave between your treatments the better your results will be! For those patient and happy to wait longer between treatments you will generally need less treatments in the long run compared to coming in every 6 weeks. The tradeoff is that it will take a longer time of course. You will notice results will progressively appear with your removal with time, even if you left it 3 months, 6 months or even a year.
- For those wanting to have a piece removed as quick as possible, you are able to come in every 6-8 weeks but you may require more treatments over a shorter time period.
This client left a 2 year break between her treatments. This is a prime example of why we recommend leaving longer gaps between your appointments. The longer you leave, the more fading you see!
During your consultation we advise that if you leave longer between your treatments, you often require less treatments. The client in this example had 6 laser treatments over a span of 3 years and has achieved a complete removal!
For those of you that are currently or have previously been a laser client, you would know that the results from laser are progressive. In other words, results become more obvious the more laser treatments that you have and the longer that you leave between treatments. Laser tattoo removal is not considered a ‘quick fix’ and can take months, even years to achieve complete removal.
We always assess and tailor a treatment plan to you and your tattoo individually at our first consultation. This allows us to achieve the best possible results and as quickly as possible. When you begin treatments we will also take a before photo so we can compare along the way and show you your tattoo removal progress.
It is super important to remember that there is no specific way your tattoo ‘should’ look after each treatment and everyone and every tattoo will respond differently and at varied rates. Some tattoos will respond quicker than others and some tattoos will respond slower and that’s okay!
We are so passionate about tattoo removal and we absolutely love being able to achieve great results for our clients.
If you have any questions feel free to contact us or Click HERE to book your consultation at our Port Adelaide or Munno Para clinic to discuss your treatment options today.