Inked Regrets
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This is a great question! As you may already know, lasers are being used as surgical instruments for a wide variety of medical applications. They are able to make very precise changes without much disturbance to the outer tissue surface.
It is important to understand that your tattoo ink exists as pigment particles in rather deeper layers of the skin. This concept is different from colored markers or temporary tattoos.
Lasers are able to actually break up the ink pigment into smaller fragments. Your immune system is designed to remove foreign bodies. However, tattoo ink particles are too big for macrophage cells to carry them away. Breaking them up into smaller pieces makes this process far more manageable.
So essentially, your body does the job of removing the tattoo ink. Lasers simply help instigate this.
Each color of tattoo ink reflects and absorbs specific wavelengths (frequencies) of light. Therefore, when undergoing laser tattoo removal, the practitioner needs to select the right wavelengths to use. Black and dark blue are the easiest colors to remove. Dark colors readily absorb all wavelengths of light. Green and lighter colors are far more challenging. They will require a greater number of sessions.
The number of sessions required will also depend on other factors besides color. These include:
(1) your skin tone
(2) amount of ink
(3) anatomical location of the tattoo (areas where there are a high concentration of blood vessels are easier to treat)
(4) presence of scarring or tissue change
(5) whether or not the patient is a regular smoker
(6) size of the tattoo
Sessions are usually spaced about 4-6 weeks apart. This is needed to give your skin time to heal. Although laser energy is light, it is converted to heat within the body. So administering a treatment prematurely essentially exposes your skin to more heat before it has had time to heal. (329)
