FAQs

In very simple terms the laser fires a intense pulse of light that travels through the skin and impacts with the ink causing it to break up into tiny particles. The bodies immune system then flushes these particles away resulting in the fading and removal of the tattoo.

With the technology we use most colour inks can be removed. However there are inks like white and yellow that sometimes can be very stubborn or not possible to remove. On occasion due to the composition in certain (usually bright colours) inks they will not respond to laser treatment, this is rare.

Whilst a lot of the tattoos we treat fully disappear we can not guarantee 100% removal to any of our clients (in fact, nobody in this industry can give this guarantee). What we can say is that worst case we expect to remove at least 95% of the ink, possibly leaving a few blemishes. We are confident that none of our competitors can produce better results.

The honest answer is that we do not know, all we can give is an educated guess. The biggest factor to the speed of removal is the type of ink used by the tattooist. There are inks that break down incredibly easily and other inks that are very stubborn. Some clients tattoos are removed with one treatment others can take significantly more. Most tattoos using the Candela Picoway will be removed in no more than six treatments. It is reasonable to say that the Picoway will take less than half the treatments of other lasers. You should be very wary of clinics offering guarantees regarding the number of treatments required to remove a tattoo as it is not possible for anyone to know with confidence.

We recommend to our clients that they wait at least 6-8 weeks between treatments. The reason for the 6-8 week period is not just for the skin to heal, normally the healing process takes between 3-14 days, but to allow the bodies immune system a chance to flush away the ink particles broken up by the laser treatment. If you have treatments too close together you are not getting the full benefit from each session which potentially means more treatments costing more money.

With the high quality technology used we expect there to be no scarring however as with all treatments on the skin we can give no guarantees. The biggest risk to the skin is during the aftercare period. If the individual picks and scratches the skin then this can easily damage the skin and effect the results. If you look after and moisturise the skin regularly you get the best outcome.

We remove a lot of tattoos from black skin however we can only remove black ink. This is due to the effect on the pigmentation when using the wavelengths necessary to treat the brighter colour inks.

Yes it does hurt but not too much, the pain is likened to being flicked by an elastic band or being hit by hot fat from a frying pan. Not pleasant but we do not have clients running out during treatments. If you can cope with being tattooed then you can cope with the removal process.

The Candela Picoway laser we use covers area very quickly, for example we can treat a whole sleeve tattoo in less than 45 minutes. A small tattoo can be treated in a few minutes. Tattoos with a multicolour design will take longer due to the set up changes for different colours.