Tats all, folks: Body-art removal business booms

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Tats all, folks: Body-art removal business booms
October 31, 2007
By DAWN SAGARIO
The Des Moines Register

Stacey Anderson was a teenager when she spent $120 to have a pair of cherries tattooed behind each ear.

Last November, the 25-year-old started laser treatments to remove both tattoos. She estimates the cost was between $1,200 and $1,500.

The cherries were "cute" when she first got them, the West Des Moines resident thought. Now the cherries and other pieces of her highly visible body art don't mesh with the college student's career goals: Anderson wants to work in the medical field and is studying neuroscience.

"They just look unprofessional," she said. "I wish I hadn't got them in such an obvious place."

Unfortunately, having a tattoo removed is an expensive, painful and time-consuming process. Only a few professionals in the Des Moines area perform laser tattoo removal.

Those who provide the service say others, such as plastic surgeons and aestheticians, are dissuaded from offering the service because of the cost of the equipment - which can run $100,000 and higher - as well as the complexity of the skill needed to operate it and the time involved in performing the procedure.

Those who do offer laser removal say their business has increased as tattoos have become more popular.

Their clientele includes a company CEO, a minister, mothers, young adults regretting a spring break tattooing decision, and brides-to-be who want to be tattoo-free on their wedding day.

Some are tattoo artists who want to make way for new art work, said Amanda Kurtz, an aesthetician and clinic manager at Advanced Laser & Skin Care Center in Ankeny.

Prices can range from $75 to $1,500 per treatment. Tattoo removal typically takes multiple sessions to complete. Treatments are usually done four to six weeks apart.

The results can be mixed, and vary by individual. Some of the tattoo ink may remain, leaving a faint mark on the skin.

There can be infection, scarring, hyperpigmentation (darkening of the skin) or hypopigmentation (lightening of the skin) in the area treated.

Nearly a quarter of 18- to 50-year-olds say they have a tattoo, according to a 2006 report from the American Academy of Dermatology. Of those individuals, 17 percent have considered getting their tattoo removed.

Sue Schooler, owner of Schooler Medical Professionals in West Des Moines, said she saw one or two patients a month when she began performing tattoo removals 15 years ago. That has grown to at least 15 patients monthly.

"When I started removing tattoos, it was some people who had been in the military (with tattoos) on their forearms," she said. "They were usually 30, 40-ish."

Her youngest patient now is 18, Schooler said. She has seen an increase among young people who are getting tattoos as a kind of rite of passage.

"Those are the ones I'm expecting to see in about 10 years," she said.

Derrick Luttrell, a certified laser specialist with Iowa Laser & Skincare Center in Windsor Heights, whose work is overseen by a physician, said his clients too are younger.

The demand for tattoo removal has increased in the past decade, but the technology involved hasn't changed much.

Various factors determine the type of laser treatment, number of sessions and outcome of the procedure. Those factors include the tattoo size and complexity, how much and what type of ink is used, how deeply embedded the tattoo is in the skin, location on the body (tattoos on the foot and ankle area are tougher to get rid of), the colors used, and how the individual responds to treatment. One session generally runs from five to 15 minutes, providers say.

Black is the easiest color to remove; green is the most difficult, said Schooler, who leases the laser machine for one day a month.

There are ablative and nonablative lasers that can be used. Ablative lasers work by removing the skin. Nonablative lasers do not break the skin but instead penetrate the dermis, or middle layer of skin, breaking up the ink into tiny particles that the body absorbs. A topical or local anesthetic may be used during treatment.

There is minimal risk for scarring if the right laser and a trained professional is doing the procedure, Schooler said.

She considers the Nd:Yag laser, which is an ablative laser, to be the "gold standard." It is used on all colors, but removes black ink the best, she said. It is also more effective on some hues than others.

Luttrell, who has been removing tattoos for nine years, said he uses the nonablative Q-Switch Yag laser mainly on black tattoos. He uses the erbium:Yag laser for multiple color tattoos.

Patients must stay out of the sun and tanning beds, and also take good care of their wounds, including putting an antibiotic ointment on the area.

It takes one to two weeks to heal between treatments, Schooler said.

"I treat it until it's very, very faint and then I tell the patient to give it nine to 12 months because it will continue to lighten over a nine- to 12- month period of time," said Schooler, a physician assistant who practices under a physician.

Schooler has seen skin go back to "totally normal" or have just a faint imprint of the tattoo after treatments.

Anderson was treated by Luttrell using the erbium:Yag laser. It took one session to remove the tattoo on the left side of her neck; two sessions were needed for the right because the ink had penetrated the subcutaneous tissue, Anderson said.

The wounds oozed for a couple of weeks, and Anderson kept gauze on them for about a week. She also applied a special ointment on the areas.

What's left are whitish areas and faint shadows of the tattoos. Anderson expects the lightened areas, which are already close to her normal skin color, to return to normal.

Anderson would like to have a couple of other tattoos removed, she said, including one she had done in Mexico when she was 16.

Luttrell said creams that claim to remove tattoos may be a cheaper alternative, "but they really haven't lived up to their claim."

Tattoos can be surgically excised, or cut out, but that would only be reasonable for smaller tattoos, he said.

Anderson's experience prompts her to suggest that people think long and hard before getting that tattoo.

"That's what I tell people now: Be sure that you want that tattoo, especially if it's in someplace obvious, like your neck or hands," Anderson said.

Reporter Dawn Sagario can be reached at (515) 284-8351 or dsagario@dmreg.com

Copyright © 2007, The Des Moines Register.