Factors Determining the Number of Treatments in Laser Tattoo Removal

Many factors determine the number of treatments you will get in order to get your tattoo completely removed. However, you should be aware that hardly is there a 100% removal treatment since some of the best-used machines remove up to 95% of the ink. There is also a risk of having a scar left at the point where the tattoo was.

Laser tattoo removal procedure works by breaking the ink on the tattoo into small particles and then the body carries them out of the body. The efficiency of this process depends on various factors, but on average you will require 6 - 8 sessions which are spaced at one month apart.

Factors Affecting Efficiency of Laser Tattoo Removal

The number of sessions you will require might be slightly affected by the following factors:

Color of the ink

Various colors have varying capacity to absorb heat energy. Black is the most efficient color and white is the worst in respect to heat absorption. Thus, tattoos made from colors like black, gray, and red are easier to remove and require less sessions than those made from brighter colors like yellow and blue.

Depth of the ink

There are two main types of tattoos, amateur, and professional ones. A professional tattoo is done at a constant depth and mostly at the dermis level while the amateur ones have varying depth. The closer the tattoo ink is to the outermost layer of the skin, the faster it will be to get rid of it as opposed to the deeply injected inks.

Location of the tattoo

Some parts of the body are sensitive to heat and cannot be exposed to heat for long periods. What this means is that you will require many sessions of small durations to get rid of the tattoo. Also, the blood system helps in clearing the ink particles and the farther the tattoo is from the heart, the longer and more sessions it will require to get rid of it completely.

The machine being used

There are many laser machines used to get rid of tattoos and all of them have varying degrees of efficiency. These lasers may include; Q-switched Nd: YAG, the Picosure, and many others. The efficiency with which they break the ink per session will determine how long the patient will be under treatment. The higher the number of particles broken the fewer the sessions you will require for complete removal.

Age of the tattoo and of the patient

Older tattoos are easier to get rid of since some of the ink has been eroded with time, this makes its intensity less dense compared to a newly done tattoo. Young people have efficient metabolic processes and their body system is at its peak, as such they are able to respond well to the healing process. Their body is also able to eliminate broken ink particles at a faster rate than that of an aged person.

Number of layers of the tattoo

Almost all tattoos have layers of ink stacked together over each other. The more the layers, the higher the number of sessions required to break all the ink on those layers. The case becomes more session intensive if your tattoo is comprised of bright colored tattoos which have poor heat absorption capacity.

Conclusion:

As you have realized, the machine used to put the tattoo and the ones used to remove them have a great impact on the number of sessions required for tattoo removal. The deeper the ink is deposited, the more the sessions you will require. However, tattoos fade away with time, and this also reduces the number of treatments you will require to get rid of them.