Does it hurt?
The laser pulse feels like a rubber band snapping against your skin, and each pulse treats an area approximately the size of a pencil eraser. If your tattoo is very large, you may elect to have local anesthesia, but this is often not necessary.

Are there any side effects?
Your skin's natural pigment, melanin, also absorbs the laser energy, so in darker skinned people the area treated by the laser may become lighter than the surrounding skin for a period of months. Melanin eventually repopulates this area restoring the skin to its original color, but once the tattoo ink is gone, it will not return.

Is it safe?
The ruby laser has been used successfully in over 10,000 treatments and has been cleared by the FDA for use in tattoo removal. In general, scarring is not a significant risk. Because the laser beam is absorbed only by the tattoo ink, and not normal skin structures, the surrounding skin is not affected by the treatment. In fact, the ruby laser has been named the treatment of choice for tattoo removal by members of the American Academy of Dermatology.

What happens after the treatment?
Immediately after laser exposure, the treated area turns white and swells slightly This whiteness usually fades in 20 to 60 minutes. Over the next several days, blisters may form and then a scab or a thin crust may follow. (Often the scab is the same color as the tattoo, because the superficial tattoo ink has been eliminated into this crust.) The skin usually returns to normal in about 7 to 10 days.

How many treatments will I require?
This will depend on the size of your tattoo as well as its location, depth, and color. Amateur tattoos usually require 2 to 4 treatments while professional tattoos usually require 5 or more treatment sessions. Treatments should be spaced 4 to 8 weeks apart to allow your body's natural immune system to remove the maximum amount of ink particles in between sessions. You will continue to see fading of the tattoo in between treatment sessions as more ink is removed by your body

How much will it cost?
The cost to remove a tattoo depends on the number of treatments required. The number of treatments required depends on the size, location, depth, and color of your tattoo.

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