Brides, grooms or bridesmaids, if you have a tattoo that you would like removed prior to your special day it’s worth remembering that you’ll need to leave yourself plenty of time.
In some circumstances full removal of a tattoo can take 15 or more sessions and, at a minimum six weeks apart, this is nearly two years of treatment. If you want a big tattoo removed like a half sleeve the time required would be even longer. Thankfully, many tattoos can fade away nicely after as few as five sessions (or even less) but, even in this scenario, you’ll still need to allow six months. There’s no cheating either as reducing the time between sessions has been shown to be counter effective and is unlikely to allow your skin sufficient time for recovery. In fact, leaving it longer than 6 weeks between sessions usually works in your favour.
Black ink on pale skin is generally the easiest and quickest to remove. Many other colours also respond well but there are some that are more resistant such as green and pastel colours.
You should also be aware that lasered skin needs protection from sunlight (both natural and artificial) for the duration of treatments (including in between sessions) and for a time after removal. Worth remembering if you are heading off on honeymoon to a sunny destination. You must not attend a laser session with tanned skin including fake tan.
A thorough consultation will highlight any problematical colours as well as contraindicated medication/medical conditions and is absolutely vital before the commencement of treatment. A small patch test is also required.
Information taken from the consultation will be used to formulate the best treatment plan for you and, in conjunction with the pre/post laser treatment regime, there is every chance you’ll achieve beautiful, tattoo free skin for your big day.
