Laser Tattoo Removal

The Q-Switched Nd:YAG laser works best on dark tattoos, however fading may be seen to varying degrees in other colours. Reds and greens can be difficult to remove – other lasers may be available to treat these colours specifically, but are usually less available. Lighter colours including yellow, pink and orange, can be exceptionally difficult to remove with any laser, and there may be little that can be done with these colours. It is not possible to remove white tattoos with laser.

Different factors affect tattoo removal – age of tattoo (tattoo removal should not be considered if the tattoo is less than 6m old), types of ink used, professional or amateur – amateur tattoos tend to be shallower and less than dense than professional ones so should be removed more quickly and easily, the colours used, in adequate number of treatments, scar tissue caused by the original tattoo artist.

It is important to treat the tattoo gently, even if this means more treatments are required. If the tattoo is treated too aggressively you run the risk of being left with a tattoo-shaped scar, which is obviously not what we want to achieve.

The short answer is yes it can – however at Xodos we use plenty of ice packs to make it as comfortable as possible; and the treatment is always driven by you. It is possible to use numbing creams in some situations, but this can alter how the laser affects the skin so we tend to only advise it in situations where it is the only option. Also tattoo removal treatments tend to be quite quick, so most people don’t have any problems getting through one!

That is impossible to say – some do, some colours will remain, although they may fade, and sometimes a ‘ghost’ tattoo remains. Only time will tell although we will always do our best to get the best results we possibly can for you.

This depends entirely on the surface area of a tattoo – prices start from £45 per extra small area (2.5cm2 or less) per session, and will be assessed on an individual basis on your first consultation. As with all of our treatments, block booking discounts are of course available, including our one-off payment for life-treatment of a tattoo, meaning you can come as many times as you like until it is gone.

Cover-ups tend to have to be very large in order to over even a very small tattoo, and the covered area often just looks like a dark ‘splodge’. To avoid this, it is always worth having a few sessions of tattoo removal before a new tattoo is applied to get a better finish, and avoid the necessity of such a big cover up.