At some point there may have been a moment when all that seemed important was youth, love or intoxication and to celebrate and remember this time a design that was permanent was placed in a mentionable or unmentionable place on your body

. Sobering up or just age and wisdom may have caused you to rethink these actions and now having this design eliminated is very important

. It is going to be a bit more difficult and costly than the initial act, but tattoo removal is more than possible

. Thousands of different pigment particles can be used when creating various designs; the darker blacks and blues are easier to remove than those colors that are fluorescent, yellow, and green

. The skin is created to heal and clear foreign objects naturally however; the large pigment particles that are created during tattooing become permanent because of their size

. Elimination procedures continue to improve with time and they are not only more successful, but less painful

. A surgical procedure that was used frequently prior to the laser was dermabrasion, and the skin is worn away in the design area

. This process is done with the use of a local anesthetic, but the healing process can take several months

. Some advantages with this procedure are the limited complications which include temporary bruising and some skin irritation

. Also prior to successful laser procedures were cryosurgery and complete excision with skin grafting to follow

. With the use of cryosurgery, liquid nitrogen is used in the specific are to freeze the tissue which then kills it

. This is considered minimally invasive and there are almost no complications reported with the procedure

. When a larger area needed to be eliminated, excision was often done and then the area was grafted

. The use of lasers specifically breaks up the larger pigment particles into smaller pieces that the body can deal with in the natural healing process

. Initially, continuous wave lasers were the first used for elimination of these designs

. In the early nineties, the Q-switched laser became available for the elimination method and it is much less invasive

. Since 2006, the Q-switched laser has continued to improve and be used for the most total elimination of even the largest pigment range

. Topical anesthetic is all that is required during the procedure for pain

. Several sessions spaced six to eight weeks apart are required for the elimination of any design, but those located on the forearm and ankle usually take longer to be eliminated

. Patients were inquisitive as to the number of sessions required for total elimination and the need to develop a schedule became necessary

. A scale known as the Kirby-Desai Scale was created to provide patients with a time frame for treatment

. The scale is based on six criteria which include location, skin type, and amount of ink, color, layering and tissue change

. Unfortunately, the pain that accompanied the design going on will also accompany it coming off and your parents can then say I told you so

. New ink became available in 2009 that has been made especially easy to have removed in case a person has a change of heart, so at least the future will be more manageable

. If tattoo removal seems too drastic, there is what is known as the cover-up in which an artist alters the existing design into something you can live with

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