Once upon a time, a tattoo was forever, unless you didn't mind a lot of pain, suffering and ugly scar tissue. Until the advent of the laser, tattoos were removed by surgical excision (cutting the tattoo out), dermabrasion (scrubbing away the skin layers), salabrasion (using table salt to abrade the tattoo area), and chemical peels (using chemicals to burn away layers of skin).

Today, however, the ruby laser is able to safely and painlessly remove virtually any tattoo. What follows is some basic information on the procedure and how it works.

How does ruby laser therapy work?
A short pulse of intense red light emitted by the ruby laser is selectively absorbed by the tattoo ink located in the dermal skin layers. This laser energy causes the tattoo ink to fragment into smaller pigment particles that are removed by your body's immune system. Dark tattoos may have larger ink masses and may require several treatments to break the ink into small enough particles for the body to dispose of, but the tattoo gradually fades.

Click here to see a detailed diagram of how the Ruby laser removes a tattoo.

What kind of results can I expect?
The Q-switched ruby laser provides the best results available on the removal of tattoos. The ruby laser can significantly lighten or remove most tattoo inks. How well your tattoo responds depends on a number of factors. Amateur tattoos usually contain less ink than professional tattoos, and therefore respond more quickly to the treatment. Red and yellow tattoo inks are often more difficult to remove than the darker inks such as black, blue, and green.

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