Areolar Cosmetic Tattoo Ink Darkening: A Complication of Q-Switched Alexandrite Laser Treatment

Areolar Cosmetic Tattoo Ink Darkening: A Complication of Q-Switched Alexandrite Laser Treatment
January 2002
To cite this article: Sung-Eun Chang MD, Kyoung-Jin Kim MD, Jee-Ho Choi MD, Kyung-Jeh Sung MD, Kee-Chan Moon MD, Jai-Kyoung Koh MD (2002)
Areolar Cosmetic Tattoo Ink Darkening: A Complication of Q-Switched Alexandrite Laser Treatment
Dermatologic Surgery 28 (1), 95Ò96.
doi:10.1046/j.1524-4725.2002.01118.x
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Sung-Eun Chang, MD1Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, Kyoung-Jin Kim, MD1Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, Jee-Ho Choi, MD1Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, Kyung-Jeh Sung, MD1Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, Kee-Chan Moon, MD1Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, and Jai-Kyoung Koh, MD1Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, KoreaDepartment of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Kyung-Jeh Sung, MD,
Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1 Poongnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 138-736 Korea, or e-mail: cse@snu.md.

S.-E. Chang, MD, K.-J. Kim, MD, J.-H. Choi, MD, K.-J. Sung, MD, K.-C. Moon, MD, and J.-K. Koh, MD have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.

Abstract
background and objective.Medical tattooing of the areola is widely performed in Korea. However, cosmetic tattoos containing flesh-tone, purple-red, and yellow dyes are sometimes resistant to Q-switched laser and may even become darker.

method.Two Korean women in their 30s who had a mastectomy got light brown to red areolar medical tattoos but they were not satisfied with the shape and size of the tattoos. They underwent Q-switched alexandrite laser treatment with a 3 mm collimated beam at fluences of 7.5Ò8 J/cm2 in order to trim the irregular contour and reduce the diameter of the tattoos.

results.Within 5 minutes a dark gray to black discoloration of the treated area was evident and remained dark for 6 weeks. Improvement was not noted after two further Q-switched Nd:YAG laser treatments.

conclusion.Medical areolar tattoos should be approached with extra caution when attempting their removal with high-energy pulsed lasers such as Q-switched alexandrite laser and a small test site should be performed prior to treatment.

This article is cited by:
Jennifer Setlur. (2007) Cosmetic and reconstructive medical tattooing. Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery 15:4, 253
CrossRef
Eddy M van der Velden, Jo??l Defranq, Avraham M Baruchin. (2005) Cosmetic and reconstructive medical tattooing. Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery 13:6, 349
CrossRef
Karen Rebecca Suchin, MD, and Steven S. Greenbaum, MD. (2004) Successful Treatment of a Cosmetic Tattoo Using a Combination of Lasers. Dermatologic Surgery 30:1, 105Ò107

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