My Experience of Getting a Tattoo and Getting it Removed

I cannot say that I am a big fan of tattoos. I had never gotten a tattoo and had no particular image that I wanted to get. However, as an owner and medical director of a laser tattoo removal practice, I was taken by the idea of sharing and documenting my patients' experience by going through it myself. I also wanted to demonstrate my confidence in the technique of laser tattoo removal that we use by demonstrating it on myself.

My first object was to select a tattoo artist. Naturally, I wanted to use someone that we trust. I approached a local tattoo artist who was enthusiastic about my idea. I also made sure with him that all the equipment was properly sterilized. I checked to make sure that the ink was organic-based rather than plastic or metal oxide, which can cause severe allergic reactions and can be much more difficult to remove. Since the tattoo was going to be promotional, I naturally chose my website's url as the tattoo. The artist made a stencil design of it on my right arm and proceeded to tattoo it. Now I knew first-hand what it feels like to get a tattoo. I would not say that it is very painful. It is somewhat painful. The pain is unnoticeable at first, but as the stroke continues, it increases up to a peak. Each stroke seemed about 5 seconds long. The pain would stop immediately with the end of each stroke. The whole tattoo took about 5-10 minutes to place and was mostly black, but also contained red.

The tattoo aftercare was quite easy. I used a vitamin ointment the next day when I took down the dressing. There were no problems and the tattoo healed within a few days. I got started on laser tattoo removal after 2 weeks. I must admit that I was a little more nervous before my first laser treatment. I did use the anesthetic ointment that all patients use. The laser we used is the Nd:YAG q-switched laser. It has two settings, one is 1064 nm, for black tattoos and 532 nm for red tattoos. The 1064 setting was no big deal - it felt like someone was slapping my arm really hard with a tiny fly swatter! The pain was gone instantaneously. On the 532 setting though, it felt like a deeper, more penetrating pain that wasn't as sharp as the 1064 but still hurt after it was done. We use a healing ointment for all our tattoo removal clients, and this immediately took away all my discomfort as soon as my assistant put it on (phew!).

At this point, I just had my second treatment. The tattoo is quite faded, and some of the letters are starting to disappear. I don't expect that it will be gone in less than 6 treatments, but it is definitely making progress. Having been both a provider of laser tattoo removal and, now, a client as well, I hope that I have been able to provide some unique insights for people contemplating getting tattoos or getting them removed.