Does camouflaging a tattoo work as an alternative to tattoo removal?
I heard that it’s possible to tattoo skin-colored ink over an unwanted tattoo, making the old tattoo invisible. Does this work, and if so, why would anyone use painful laser removal?
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Answers

Replied on 9/2/2010
By: Celibre Medical Corporation | Laser Tattoo Removal
Torrance, CA
It is very, very difficult to get the color tattooed on your skin to match your natural skin color. While this is a viable option to cover the tattoo, the resulting color may not match your skin.

Replied on 10/8/2009
By: Forever Yours Esthetics And Laser Services | At The Laser Spa
Westbury, NY
Although there is some success with skin camouflage, this usually comes with scars and vitiligo. Typically it will not work to cover or camouflage a tattoo. If you took a piece a paper and drew a design of flowers and grass and than took a white crayon and covered the design, the original image would bleed through. This is the same way tattooing skin color over a tattoo would look.

Replied on 9/24/2009
By: Tattoo MD at Celebrity Laser Spa | Serving all of Los Angeles!
Los Angeles, CA
In concept, the idea of tattooing a skin-colored pigment over a tattoo is attractive. I do not have personal experience with it, but I don't see how it would work. Just as if you tried to mix dark paint and light paint, it would be very hard to keep the old color out. You would get some mixture of the old and new colors, in my opinion.
Having had both tattooing and laser tattoo removal done on myself and according to the testimony of my patients, both tattooing and laser tattoo removal are equally uncomfortable, but laser tattoo removal is much faster.
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