I'm not sure if it works this way....but....

Rather than having it removed by laser, can they touch it up with the laser?

As in just removing the parts that have bled together??

I don't know much about "lasers" (except what I leared from Dr. Evil) but it might be something to check into! :-)

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The world is full of pricks who can only criticize. Are you one of them?

Your time and energy are limited. Are you wasting them by talking shit on the forums? -Dave Tate

Yes.

It is hard to get the edges nice, but you can go back further, then have the edges put back in by your Tatoo guy. Pretty costly eraser though.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

The tattoo artist may be able to put a light background color behind/around the logo (like a sun behind it) and cover over some of the blended lines with the lighter coler, then touchup the black lines.

dude. the big one looks sweet. why not get another one the same size on the other calf so you have matching tatoos! that would be f-ing cool to see running down the street!!

Dude I am 5'5" tall, that thing is as big as my calf! There is no chance in the world that I'm having a tat that big put on me. I'm going to shop around a bit more I think. I want a stick figure swimmer/cyclist/runner on my left ankle in the fall anyway.

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Elivis needs boats.

I had no idea that happens to tattoos...
I don't have any m-dot ones but have one rather simple one on my neck of my sign of zodiac symbol and a very detailed one, mainly turquoise/light blue on my lower back. Only had them for a couple of years, what timeline are you looking at for things bleeding together...I think I was at a real good shop "Ken Cameron's South Beach Tattoos", and the artist did an AWESOME job on my lower back one; so I figure something like bleeding isn't likely to happen, right?
you sound like you know a lot about tattoos, I'd appreciate any input... thxs...

Have you ever looked at 40 or fifty year old tat? They all change over the years as the body changes, it is going to look real ugly in the nursing home in 50 years or so. My first and only tat is going to be a big DNR right over my heart when I qualify for that race. I hope the medical staff will be able to figure that one out before they hook up the paddles

Which race, G?

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

yeah, I realize that, but before I hit 90 in 60 yrs or so, it will look cute for hopefully the next ten years...I like it, I know most guys don't but I didn't do it for them ;)

i want my tats removed. the strawberries on my ass were cute at age 16. but, seeing as how i'm 31 now...it's not so cute.

does it hurt to have them removed, is that what you're saying?

what about the technology? is it good, or are there still outlines?

(also have the chinese zodiac symbol of the Tiger for the year i was born. it too is stupid and i'd like it removed, it's all black and filled in.)

Can we see a pic of the strawberries?

i was just reading about Tat B gone and Tatt off, 2 fading creams that are said to remove tattoos. i may try it but only after doing alot of research. supposedly the ingredients break up the ink and over time the ink will completely fade. that is hard to believe, but who knows. i'll research it...seems hell of alot less painful then getting it cut off, rubbed off, lasered off or whatever else.

ugh. i wish i could go back in time and slap myslef.

I haven't personally had it done, but everyone I've heard that's gone through it says it's more painful than the tattoo itself. I've heard it compared to repeatedly snapping a rubber band against your skin. Whether or not there will be complete removal depends on a whole host of things, so your best bet would be to talk to a professional. If nothing else, it should fade enough that it will be easy to cover up with something that you like better. (Of course, coverups are an option even without going through the removal process.)

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woo - jackmott

thanks for the info. the last thing i would do is a cover up. shouldn't have gotten these in the first place. i'll check into the creams, who knows, they might work ? sigh...

[reply]Have you ever looked at 40 or fifty year old tat? They all change over the years as the body changes, it is going to look real ugly in the nursing home in 50 years or [/reply]

Not to steer this too far off-topic, but you can't look at a tattoo that's 40 or 50 years old now and assume that's what a current tattoo will look like in 40 or 50 years. Inks, methods, and aftercare have all improved significantly since the days of battleships and anchors done with india ink.

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woo - jackmott

I'm having a hard time believing that any of you guys really cares about the pain! It is only temporary and surely not as long lasting as most of our races. But I did see stars while mine was being applied.

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Elivis needs boats.

[reply]Only had them for a couple of years, what timeline are you looking at for things bleeding together...I think I was at a real good shop "Ken Cameron's South Beach Tattoos", and the artist did an AWESOME job on my lower back one; so I figure something like bleeding isn't likely to happen, right?
[/reply]

It varies, depending on elasticity/sag of the skin, how well the ink was laid in to begin with, etc. If you had an exceptionally good artist and there's some amount of separation between the lines, you may never notice any bleeding. If you got something with a lot of lines close together, there's a chance they will run together over a period of years. Check out the rec.arts.bodyart tattoo faq at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bodyart/tattoo-faq/ for more info.

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woo - jackmott

it does hurt, but it's not overwhelming. sounds like getting them off is more painful (but i would go through that to get rid of mine)

It smarts! even with the topical anesthetic. I volunteer in a tatoo removal clinic for former gang bangers and former prisoners. They say it hurts more that putting it on, but it is less bad with the anesthetic. Anesthetic can be injected (multiple injections) but, especially when they are lighter, it can make it harder for the operator to hit precisely.

BTW, ain't seen any that were gone in 2-3 treatments.

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Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

the strawberries on my ass were cute at age 16. but, seeing as how i'm 31 now...it's not so cute.

Better than what I have tattooed on my ass!...kj

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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax

ok, what is it?

lol--you have to tell now, LOL!

Tattoo removal is a long process that usually requires 3-12 treatments. It uses a certain type of laser that breaks up the pigment granules in the macrophages in your dermis. Many factors of the ink are involved:

1) Type of ink

2) Concentration of ink

3) Color of ink (Black and red are easy, some blues are easy, green can be difficult, metallic inks are extremely difficult to remove)

4) Depth of ink

Unlike FDA controlled procedures (like lasers), there is very little regulation in the tattoo arena. It is very difficult to determine what response you will have to tattoo removal until you have a treatment. Tattoo artists have so much variability in the type of ink they use and their depth.

In addition, each person has a different immune response to the laser treatments. Some patients have very active immune systems that clear away the granules, while others have slower clearance. When you have tattoo removal done by a physician, s/he may also prescribe a topical immune modulator prescription medication that has been shown to improve clearance of the tattoo pigments by stimulating the immune response in the treated area.

Besides having removed thousands of tattoos, I removed my own tattoo with lasers. I can tell you that it does hurt much more than getting the tattoo put on. However, there are adjunctive pain measures, such as using a topical anesthetic, infiltrated anesthetic (injection), or Zimmer Cooling. Most physicians prefer to use the topical medication. Despite these pain relief measures, it still hurts a lot.

Depending on the area, getting repeatedly snapped with a rubber band might be a good approximation.

http://www.presidiolaser.com

All I'm saying is that it was heavily influenced by my love of margeritas and one of my former college room mates has one to match....kj

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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax

Big Johnny, I hate to tell you this, but all tats will change with time. Look at your gramps skin then look at your kids. The skin changes so the tat will too. Has nothing to do with the ink, but the changes in the skin. Maybe some the ink. But believe me they all will look different in 50 years.

The race for the DNR, is the only race that we all enter. It is your life. At some point we need to decide when enough is enough and no more shocks for the heart or meds. Maybe if we are lucky we can go in out sleep. Some of us will have pretty ugly tats when we qualify for the "Big" event.

do you have a drunk mexican holding a margarita tatted on your ass?

lol!!!

Or, did a drunk Mexican tattoo her ass??? ;-)

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Gee, you really seem to know about this kind of stuff. How hard is it to color over the top of something? For example, if I had a green circle, how hard is it to put a white one over the top of it and have it come out white instead of grass stained color?

Hey maybe someone can answer this for me. Why don't tatoos disappear completely over time? Doesn't our body constantly regenerate itself? Aren't my current skin cells different than the ones I had 10 years ago. Why does a tatoo not slough itself off over the course of a decade or two????

Maybe a stupid question, but my inquiring mind wants to know.

I had a buddy in college who got back-out drunk and when he came to his senses the next day he had a parrot tattooed on his the back of shoulder like a pirate. I still get a kick out of that one.

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"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country" JFK - Replace 'country' with the company you work for, friends, family, and strangers and the world will be a much better place.

Good questions!

Yes, your body is constantly regenerating itself, at least some parts of your body.

Your skin is made up primarily of 2 layers, the epidermis (the colored skin on the surface) and the dermis (the support structure of your skin). Between these two layers is a layer of cells called the basal keratinocytes. These cells generate billions of new keratinocytes skin cells every day and the epidermis is constantly regenerating. Each day, as new cells are made, yesterday's cells get pushed further up to the surface. It takes an average of 42 days for a cell to go from its birth day at the basal keratinocyte layer to the top. By the time the cells are at the surface of your skin, they have aged and are dead. On the average, there are about 40 layers of dead skin cells on the surface of an adult's skin. This is called the stratum corneum.

The dermis is the support structure of your epidermis. This is made of many things (such as collagen, elastin, proteoglycans, hyaluronic acid, etc.) This level of the skin does not regenerate itself. This is the level where all the aging occurs. All the sun damage we get from our training builds up in this layer and is cumulative.

The reason tattoos do not "slough off" is because they are engulfed by our macrophages (immune cells) and stay in our dermis. The deeper the ink is in the dermis, the more resilient is to with lasers. The dermis we die with is the same dermis we were born with, only much more degenerated from all the sun damage we get throughout our lives. Since tattoo ink lies in this structure of our skin that does not regenerate, it is permanent. This is one of the reasons why amateur tattoos are so easy to remove; many amateur tattoo artists do not place the ink as deep as professional tattoo artists.

www.presidiolaser.com

I learn something new every day. Thanks for answering my question

bk

so, with the lasering off the tat, is there scaring???





this is what i have tatted on the front of my ankle, but the lines are a little thicker. i got it about 13 or 14 years ago...and it's all black. is something like this hard to remove?

I have the one on the left.....

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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax

It looks like you have a simple black tattoo...the best kind to have if you want it removed. It's even better if it was done by an amateur. It will take more treatments if it was done by a professional.

Tattoo removal really should not result in scarring, especially if it is done by someone with knowledge and experience. The main concern is that you may be left with some residual pigment, looking like a ghost. However, most simple black tattoos have good resolution.

Warning: tattoo removal hurts a lot more in bony areas, like the ankle, because of thge reflection of the laser beam off the bone. It's least painful in fleshy areas, like a butt.

http://www.presidiolaser.com

Ok, So I know how to get the bone grafs off but what about the tattoo?







Well I thought it was good idea after that case of wiskey.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

it was professionally done, but this encouraging.

the strawberries are darker red with green vines. they are faded out, there is some white in the tat not alot. these two i would like to get removed (the ankel symbol and the strawberries). the ankel one bothers me most, it just isn't professional to have something like that, and i wear mostly skirts in the spring and summer. so, you see my point.

if you can recommend anyone in the cincy area, please let me know (you can PM me or post here, whatever).

thanks for all of the info!

Where do you live? I will be going to the big national Laser Surgery Conference next week (all the real laser surgeons attend this). I will try to find a good laser doctor for you. If you email me at info@presidiolaser.com in 2 weeks, then I can refer you to someone. I'll be busy at the laser conference and then rushing off to Phoenix to compete in Ironman Arizona. Email me after April 9th, and I should have a name for you by then.

Unfortunately, many laser physicians do not perform laser tattoo removal because there just isn't as much money in that area as in skin rejuvenation and hair removal. Regardless. I'll try to find a good doc to recommend.

it is going to look real ugly in the nursing home in 50 years or so.

If I'm in a nursing home in 50 years, I'll consider myself darn lucky if I have time to worry about what my calf-tat looks like. =)

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

>> it just isn't professional to have something like that, and i wear mostly skirts in the spring and summer.<<

I guess it depends where you live. I have two tats, on on each lower leg, just above the ankle. I wear skirts all the time (never w/ hose) and it's never been an issue. At our +100 year old law firm, it's definitely how you do your job, not how well you comform (it is SF after all).

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

well, it's my own opinion, not anyone else's--i own my business, and no one has ever said anything. it is my opinion that after all this time the tat looks bad, it isn't professional. i feel it is a black blob.

my best friend likes it though, go figure :)