Tattoos and tattoo removal have been for ages. Since the tattoos were used for the first time a form of punishment or branding, people have sought ways to remove them. Fortunately, these days, the decision to remove a tattoo is usually personal and related to taste change and perspectives on life.
Before lasers, tattoos could be removed in a number of ways, including salt-abrasion (salabrasion) dermabrasion, acid removal, or surgical excision Frank. These methods were quite effective, but they were painful and left no traces. Laser tattoo removal has originally began as a way to burn a tattoo. Lasers such as CO2 and argon lasers were used, but not much better than destructive surgical methods, leaving behind open wounds that had healed over time. The emergence of Q-switched lasers was a turning point in laser tattoo removal. These lasers work by a mechanism completely different from the laser ablative (the kind that destroys the skin). A Q-switch is a super-fast shooting, which allows emission of a short burst laser light, within a few nanoseconds. Light is also sent to a high energy, all packed into this short break. Effect on ink tattoo is similar to throwing an ice cube in a glass of warm water - it cracks. Heat of the laser is preferentially absorbed by the tattoo pigment, but it occurs faster than the ink particle can thermally expand, causing it to fracture into small pieces. These smaller pieces become sufficiently small to be digested by white immune cells in the body and taken away in remote areas. Because this process is repeated, tattoo becomes lighter and lighter, until it is practically invisible.
Color ink respond differently to laser treatment. There are 3 Q-switched lasers used normally on the market today: Ruby, Alexandrite, and Nd: YAG. Rubin was the first Q-switched laser operating at a short wavelength 690 nm. This makes it effective for blue and green tattoos, more than others, such as black or red. Alexandria operating at 755 nm and is better for green tattoos. YAG can be used both 532 and 1064 nanometers, making tattoos effective against both black and red, more than other lasers. There are some colors that seem more resistant to laser treatment than others, with any laser. These include yellow, pink, and violet.
Each tattoo removal laser treatment is rapid. It may take half an hour or more to create a 3 inch tattoo, but a single laser session may take only 30 seconds! Typically, local anesthetic is placed before treatment or a smaller area can be injected with local anesthetic. After treatment, there is occasionally blistering and bruises, but this is not necessary for treatment to work. Treatment is usually once every 4-6 weeks. A tattoo could only have almost disappeared after 3 treatments, but this is rare. More frequently, tattoos take 6.12 treatments. Some inks are resistant to laser tattoo removal, because their chemical nature. This is the case with metal-oxide tattoo pigments such as iron and titanium oxides. While there are still loose, we need many more treatments.
These days, laser tattoo removal is effective and safer than ever with the use of Q-switched lasers. It needs time and patience for it to work.
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