Removal of tattoos through plastic surgery

If you want to indulge in the latest fashion or, if you want to go for a more professional look or, if you are no more in love with the person whose name is tattooed on your back, you need not bother. Whatever might be the reason but with the coming of modern plastic surgery, removal of tattoos no more remains a problem.

The Methods

In case of small tattoos it has been seen that cosmetic surgeons remove the tattooed skin through excision. It involves cutting out the tattooed skin first and then sewing up the remaining edges together. This can be done very easily and also there isn’t much bleeding. But when excision is done for bigger tattoos, the centre of the tattoo is removed first. Starting from the centre the surgeons work outwards. The entire process is conducted in several sessions. At times, skin from other parts of the body is grafted on that area. But there are chances of scarring in places where the skin has been sutured back together. Another prevalent method which the surgeons use is that of dermabrasion. The process involves “freezing” of the area which needs to be removed by means of a chemical. Then he sands it down with a small abrasive rotary. The sanded skin gets peeled off, thereby removing the inked area. There will be some bleeding so you would need to keep that part bandaged for some days.

The safest, effective and also the most popular method of tattoo removal nowadays are done with the help of laser technology. First the inked area is anesthised locally and then laser beam pulses are aimed at the skin to break up the inked pigment. The pigment slowly gets absorbed into the body after which the immune system begins its work of expelling the tattooed cells. This gradually removes the coloring. But, it generally takes something between 5 to 15 laser treatments before the tattoo is completely removed. The number of sessions are decided keeping in mind the size of the tattoo, the ink used and the colors of ink that were used.

The Recovery and Risks

Removal of tattoos with the help of laser technology involves almost no pain. People say that the pain they experience is much less than what they had experienced while getting the tattoo done. But the time taken to recover varies from person to person as it is totally based on the immune system of the individual’s body. Though this method involves a few risks but a potential possibility might be discoloration of the skin in the tattooed area. At times even a bit of the normal skin gets removed, leaving that area lighter in patch than the rest of the body.

The Results

Each and every tattoo can be reduced in appearance but some are easier to remove as compared to the others. The removal of smaller tattoos generally has better results than the removal of comparatively larger ones. Also, tattoos which have the colors red, black, dark orange and blue in abundance are easily removed than those which have inks like brown, purple, green and light orange. It has been found that the end results are also more favorable for people having a lighter skin tone than for them who have a darker complexion. In either case there will be some amount of discoloration or scarring which varies from person to person depending upon his skin tone.