Tattoos are everywhere right now, from Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe's pretty bicep birds to pretty much every celebrity to, well, quite possibly you.
After all, according to a Harris Interactive poll, one in five adults in the U.S. has at least one tattoo. Women are slightly more likely than men to get inked (23 percent versus 19 percent), the poll found, and 86 percent of people say they’ve never regretted getting inked.
Of course, that means 14 percent do regret it. When that happens, at least, there are options.
RELATED: Yikes—Tattoos Can Actually Cause Long-Term Skin Problems (and We’ve Got a Pic as Proof)
A lot of dermatologists offer tattoo removal now, including Ava Shamban, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist practicing in Santa Monica, California, and author of Heal Your Skin.
She says the most popular tattoo style she removes, by far, is one that features an ex's name. "Ex-boyfriend and former spouse tattoo removal is a big request," she says. That includes tatted-on wedding rings, which Shamban says she's removed for a few actors.
After exes, she typically removes ink that’s just a little...off. "I've removed plenty of angry angels and weird tattoos," she says. "You just don't know what state of mind people were in when they got them."
She also has seen several patients who want highly-visible tattoos removed that aren’t compatible with their work, like a wrist tattoo that isn't covered by the suits you have to wear during your day job at a conservative law firm.
Here's what one woman's tattoo looks like after three laser removal sessions:
RELATED: Are You Really Ready for a Tattoo?
A word of caution: Some colors are harder to remove than others. The hardest are the ones that are closest to a person's skin color, like yellows, beiges, and browns. "The pigment isn't picked up well by the laser," says Shamban.
The next hardest colors are red (some people are allergic to the pigment and can get a reaction during the removal), greens, and blues. Blacks, however, are the easiest to blast, she says.
The amount of time it takes for a removal varies by the tattoo type and location on a person's body, and Shamban prefers to wait two months between treatments to see how much of the ink’s pigment will be gone.
While it's a costly process, and kind of a pain in the behind for the person with the tat, Shamban says it's definitely possible to completely remove a tattoo.
RELATED: What ARE Flash Tattoos and Other FAQs About the Awesome Jewelry-Inspired Temporary Tats
Her advice: Have a good think before you get a tattoo, especially about where you plan to put it on your body. And maybe take a pass at inking your significant other's name on your body—just in case.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento