Modern laser removal techniques for unwanted tattoos have been around for forty years or so; however, other methods to erase or fade tattoos are much, much older. Early methods were barbaric by today’s standards and invariably involved nothing more than stripping away layers of skin until the ink had gone. This was time consuming, extremely painful and very dangerous. Permanent scarring and other more serious outcomes such as eventual fatal infections were commonplace.

Methods Still Available Today

Surgical excision which can result in incomplete removal and unintended scarring. Unsurprisingly, these scars provoke high levels of dissatisfaction and are typically reserved for very small tattoos.

Salabration involves scraping the top layer of the skin away by using table salt and a moist gauze pad. The skin is scrubbed then salt is applied to the wound which is left suitably dressed for 24 hours. Scarring and ineffectual or only partial removal are quite common with this procedure.

Dermabrasion is another method involving deep scraping of skin tissue. The disadvantage of this procedure is that skin infections and scarring are more common due to debris remaining in wounded skin tissues.

The use of chemicals in tattoo removal is done after first puncturing the skin by making an incision, or via harsh dermabrasion. Possible chemicals used are tannic acid, silver nitrate, and phenol solution. This combination of skin damage followed by chemicals can lead to scarring. Quite often these combined methods still leave behind unwanted tattoo pigments. Furthermore, repeated use of chemical solutions can result in serious skin burns.

Different lasers are better suited to different treatment requirements. For example, lasers traditionally used for hair removal (IPL) are sometimes also offered for tattoo removal although they are proven to be less effective and potentially more harmful than modern Q-switched lasers.