“If I had exactly the same tattoo on my ankle and my shoulder, and we did the exact same treatment at the same time, the one on my shoulder would go quicker because your heart has to work less hard and your immune system has to work less hard to remove the particles there.” And “if someone smokes [or] drinks a lot, then they are compromising the immune system, so therefore the tattoo removal journey will take longer”.
A picosecond laser should be able to get rid of most colours, but if you’re being treated with a more traditional Q-switched laser, “a Ruby [laser] is the best one to remove green ink, whereas Nd:Yag [laser] is best for black and blue inks”, says Hyland.
“To get rid of reds, browns, oranges, you need a KTP laser, which is a green light.” Sometimes, she adds, it can be tricky to find a studio that has the technology required to get rid of every colour.
Darker skin has more melanin, which can absorb more of the laser’s light energy, and requires “careful laser selection and lower energy settings”, cautions Dr Patel, to avoid hypopigmentation or hyperpigmentation (skin discolouration caused by too little or too much pigment).
“[With] anything that’s visible around their neckline, on their wrist, you get a lot of brides suddenly thinking, ‘Oh my God, this tattoo’s gonna be on show, what am I gonna do?’” she says.
