Is tattoo removal going to damage my skin?

Will tattoo removal make the skin look scarred or damaged after the tattoo is gone?

Answers from doctors (2)


If you seek treatment from an experienced clinic, preferably medical office based, who have a high quality laser such as the Astanza Trinity, everything is done to protect the skin including rigorous after care regimes. We see many people of spas, tattoo clinics, etc., who have been overtreated or treated too aggressively. This can lead to permanent skin changes.

Answered by Clean Slate Tattoo Removal at Vein Specialties (View Profile)

If you seek treatment from an experienced clinic, preferably medical office based, who have a high quality laser such as the Astanza Trinity, everything is done to protect the skin including rigorous after care regimes. We see many people of spas, tattoo clinics, etc., who have been overtreated or treated too aggressively. This can lead to permanent skin changes.

Published on Jul 11, 2012


Celibre Medical Corporation

Published on Dec 18, 2009

Scarring is possible after tattoo removal treatments. While this does
not happen very often, there are things you can do to avoid it.

1. Going to an experienced practitioner that is not going to "carve" the tattoo out with the laser is one of the most important issues regarding laser tattoo removal. Some practitioners (and patients) try to limit the cost and number of treatments by being very aggressive on the laser settings for each treatment. While this way of treating the
tattoo may lead to quicker results and lower costs, it also increases the chance of scarring, especially for darker skin types.

2. Take care to help the tattoo heal correctly after treatment. Use a recovery cream or gel and STAY OUT OF THE SUN after treatments. Sun exposure when your skin is healing after a tattoo removal treatment can cause a change in the underlying pigment, which means when your treatments are done, you may have a change in color.

3. Understand that if you are Hispanic, Asian, African American or another dark skin tone that removing colors like red, green and orange are more likely to lead to changes in the color of your skin. Removing these colors take a different type of laser light than darker colors and the incidence of scarring (changes in skin color) is higher).

4. If you are prone to keloids (bumpy raise scars), your chances of scarring during tattoo removal are higher. This is important when it comes to item #1 from above. If you are prone to keloids, your practitioner needs to be very careful about using really high setting
and inflicting tissue damage during treatment, otherwise the chance of keloids will increase greatly.

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Answered by Celibre Medical Corporation

Scarring is possible after tattoo removal treatments. While this does
not happen very often, there are things you can do to avoid it.

1. Going to an experienced practitioner that is not going to "carve" the tattoo out with the laser is one of the most important issues regarding laser tattoo removal. Some practitioners (and patients) try to limit the cost and number of treatments by being very aggressive on the laser settings for each treatment. While this way of treating the
tattoo may lead to quicker results and lower costs, it also increases the chance of scarring, especially for darker skin types.

2. Take care to help the tattoo heal correctly after treatment. Use a recovery cream or gel and STAY OUT OF THE SUN after treatments. Sun exposure when your skin is healing after a tattoo removal treatment can cause a change in the underlying pigment, which means when your treatments are done, you may have a change in color.

3. Understand that if you are Hispanic, Asian, African American or another dark skin tone that removing colors like red, green and orange are more likely to lead to changes in the color of your skin. Removing these colors take a different type of laser light than darker colors and the incidence of scarring (changes in skin color) is higher).

4. If you are prone to keloids (bumpy raise scars), your chances of scarring during tattoo removal are higher. This is important when it comes to item #1 from above. If you are prone to keloids, your practitioner needs to be very careful about using really high setting
and inflicting tissue damage during treatment, otherwise the chance of keloids will increase greatly.

Published on Jul 11, 2012


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