Tattoo Removal | The Downside of Laser <b>Tattoo Removal</b> - Baxter's Tattoo Blog |
The Downside of Laser <b>Tattoo Removal</b> - Baxter's Tattoo Blog
Posted: 26 Mar 2014 04:46 PM PDT
COMMENTARY
 Ever since I saw the photos of a young woman who removed her ex-boyfriend's name from her forearm with a scalpel, I decided to make a concerted effort to educate our readers about professional laser tattoo removal. Enlisting two of the country's foremost experts in the field, Robert Pho of Skin Design Tattoo in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Dr. Steven B. Snyder, Owings Mills, Maryland, we proceeded to find and publish the names of others throughout America and Canada who specialize in laser removal of tattoos, both to remove ink their patients no longer want as well as taking off tattoos to make room for newer, more current designs. Well, surprise, surprise. Once again, companies eager to make a buck off the popularity of tattoos, see yet another way to make money off an industry they know practically nothing about. Sure, dermatologists have expensive laser equipment to remove port wine birthmarks, even hair follicles, but a tattoo, as those of us know, is a whole different breed of cat. To remove a tattoo successfully, the technician should know everything possible about how it got there in the first place, including, being tattooed themselves. Without that, it's like taking a rare Renoir painting to be cleaned by the local car wash.
One "laser specialist" I talked to (they are planning on opening several duplicate facilities throughout the U.S.) are going shop-to-shop, handing out flyers for their laser business. But who are these people? Yes, I know that a dermatologist might shy away from promoting tattoo removal services (after all, they wouldn't want their waiting room packed with bikers and axe murderers), but tattoo removal specialists should realize that the tattoo community doesn't take kindly to businesses that take (money) from the them but don't give anything back. We have represented and reported on the tattoo world for the last twenty years and, thankfully, people use us as their guide to understanding the tattoo process, from the sterile chain of events to tattoo removal, and yet we have been bypassed by the laser removal industry, with the exception of Robert Pho and Dr. Snyder, who are situated inside the tattoo community, not outside of it. They understand that we all must work together so the quality of the laser equipment and the training of the technician is of utmost importance. Laser tattoo removal is very painful.
 Taking off too much only extends the agony. Taking off too little doesn't properly prepare the skin for a clean cover-up. And it isn't cheap. Sessions can cost hundreds of dollars, and each session, because of the intensity, can only last a few minutes. Jason Willis had to rent a motel room for an extended stay—several months, in fact—when Dr. Snyder removed Jason's facial tattoos a decade or so ago. Plus, to make matters worse, because laser people don't understand tattoos, they think their clientele is made up of folks who "did something stupid" and want any traces of it removed. They are convinced that tattooed men and women were misguided and that a laser is the "cure." It's not a cure. It's simply a tool for improvement. Like covering over an old 1904 Craftsman farmhouse with a new coat of paint. Tattoos aren't something anyone did wrong. They are signposts of where we were at a particular point in time. Something to be respected and, if they are faded or blocking the way for something better or different, they should be erased in a dignified manner from someone who has an understanding and respect for the process that got it there in the first place.
But do the laser tattoo removal specialists join with us in educating the public or work with us to establish a referral list for folks who don't live in Maryland or Las Vegas? No. They respond like we're the enemy. They want the client's money but they don't want to be associated with actual tattooed people. They generate business and promote themselves in ways that are foreign to the very community they say they are serving. Instead of working with leaders and spokespeople of the tattoo world, they turn to marketing geniuses who built their reputations selling toothpaste and ladies shoes. Yes, folks, they are eager to jump on the bandwagon. Problem is: they don't know any of the tunes.
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