How Many Sessions Does It Take To Remove a Tattoo?
The tattoo removal process might seem scary to new tattoo owners. But hey, there’s nothing to worry about if your tattoo artist is efficient and confident about his work. Also, taking adequate preparation is important; in this case, you should have an idea about how many sessions are required to get rid of a tattoo.
Although it is not possible to predict the number of sessions required for complete removal, most patients generally need 6 – 8 sessions.
In this article, we have discussed the factors affecting tattoo removal, alternatives for tattoo removal, and more. Stay tuned to know more.
How Many Sessions Does It Take To Remove a Tattoo?
Tattoo sessions depend on lots of other factors, so how many sessions it may need cannot be determined easily. But most of the tattoos usually require 8-10 sessions. The bigger the tattoos are, the more session you may need to remove the tattoos on your body.
Bigger tattoos may take up to 10 sessions whereas the smaller ones may need 5 sessions or more. But still, it all depends on other factors.
Client’s health
Better health means better physical condition and better skin. The process becomes naturally easier and the ink somehow comes off quicker.
Laser therapy could take a bit longer for older people, smokers, or people who aren’t in the greatest of conditions. But this does not indicate that tattoo removal for this kind of customer is impossible. It is just that the clients may need more than a session to complete the tattoo removal procedure.
Ink of The Tattoo
If the laser tattoo has a green light (532nm), it actually means it cannot properly remove green inks. The same goes for every color. This is the concept of tattoo removal technology. For that reason, 3 of the most versatile light energy is used to remove tattoos. Different places may have different light lasers. It may take more time if you have the same color as the laser.
Tattoo age
Older tattoo is relatively easier to remove than newer ones. Older tattoos have had more time to fade as the body gets rid of the ink naturally. Although the removal takes a long time for this to happen slowly. It does, however, explain why a tattoo that is 50 years old compared to a new tattoo fades away.
What Are My Tattoo Removal Options?
| Types of Tattoo Removal Process | How Many Sessions Needed |
| Laser removal | 5-10 |
| Chemical peels | 5-7 |
| Surgical Removal | 1-10 |
Although there are alternative options for tattoo removal treatments, laser tattoo removal is frequently regarded as the finest. This is because tattoo removal through laser treatment is quicker and safer than other options.
There are possibilities if you would still wish to learn more about other treatment options. The use of a chemical peel, conventional dermabrasion, and surgical excision is a few of these substitute treatments.
Chemical Peel
Before laser therapy, chemical peels were the standard for tattoo removal. Dermatologists used to rely on chemical peels to remove any unwanted tattoos.
The laser tattoo removal technology is rather new and latest. Before the invention of the laser tattoo removal technique, dermatologists used chemical peels and other old methods to remove tattoos from the body.
Conventional dermabrasion
Dermabrasion is an extremely deep exfoliating technique that involves abrading the skin. To access and remove the ink-stained skin, the skin is essentially sanded down using a high-speed brush (or wheel). Like most tattoo removal techniques, this one is a process that calls for several sessions.
This tattoo removal technique is quite painful and takes more than 10-14 days to heal, depending on the size of the tattoo and tattoo area.
Surgical excision
One of the methods for tattoo removal is direct surgical excision. Direct surgical excision is another option for tattoo removal. In this method, the tattooed layer of your body is removed through surgical procedures. This method is more effective for smaller tattoos.
When using this method, local, regional, or general anesthesia is used. Which one is used also depends on the size of the tattoo. If you use this method to remove tattoos, this may leave a scar on the tattooed area.
These have the risk to be damaging your skin and also may create scars if not done properly. This is why most clients choose conventional laser tattoo removal as their first option.
How Does The Tattoo Removal Treatment Work?
Although tattoo removal takes time, most customers don’t mind the time consumption. The satisfaction for them is knowing the tattoo can be removed, whereas they thought the tattoo would remain forever.
Cutting-edge technology
In the fields of medicine and cosmetics, laser technology today is capable of amazing things. They offer a secure, efficient way to remove unwanted tattoos from the skin when used to treat tattoos.
Lasers produce concentrated beams that are directed toward the colors in your tattoo. This energy is absorbed by the ink’s pigment, which then breaks. Because the beams are not drawn to the nearby tissue, this process is safe.
Your body can safely reabsorb the ink particles after they have been blown into tiny pieces by the blasting process. Your immune system’s natural process is what causes this.
What Types of Lasers are Used to Remove Tattoos?
For this procedure, several different types of lasers are used. The Q-switched lasers are the most recent. They are renowned for being the most effective in getting rid of these tattoos.
Jeisys Tri-Beam
This laser is used to provide energy in brief, nanosecond pulses at several wavelengths. As a result, the risk to damage the nearby tissue is way less while the laser may be used to target the undesirable pigment molecules. It efficiently removes the ink from tattoos without causing skin damage.
In addition to removing tattoos, this laser may help lighten and improve various skin pigmentations. Melasma, age spots, and sun spots are examples of this. Because it can be used on any type of skin and doesn’t require any downtime, this laser is the one that is most frequently used to remove tattoos.
Syneron Candela PicoWay
With this laser, compared to conventional laser treatments, the tattoos you do not want anymore can be removed in 6-8 sessions. This happens due to the laser’s ability to target specific ink with concentrated energy delivered in quicker, shorter bursts that are measured in picoseconds. Compared to other laser treatments, this is far quicker.
These brief bursts will ensure that the tattoo’s ink is broken up into small fragments, enabling the body’s natural processes to remove the pigment. All skin types can benefit from this laser procedure. You can successfully remove any tattoo with the help of this laser.
How Long Will Each Session Take?
The time period of the tattoo session depends on the size of the tattoo. If the size of your tattoo is more than 4 square inches, it will only take roughly 10-15 minutes to top. The larger it is, the amount of time will increase. If you are trying to remove a large tattoo, it may take up to more than hours.
What Factors Make Laser Tattoo Removal Go Faster or Slower?
For some patients, the tattoo removal procedure is short but for some, it can take more than two years. There are many reasons that affect the tattoo removal’s faster and lower rate-
Age and Depth
Older tattoos are much faster and easier to remove than the ones that are older. Whereas the newer tattoos need to heal first before they are removed. Because it will result in scars and deep damage.
Another important factor for tattoos is the depth area of the done tattoo. The deeper the tattoos are, the longer the tattoo may take to remove completely. So for the smaller or the tattoos that are not much deep, it won’t be an issue to remove.
Location
The location of your tattoo affects how many sessions you may need to remove the tattoo. Tattoos that are near your heart can be removed quickly, whereas the opposite happens when the tattooed area is far from your heart.
You may question why this matters. That’s because the immune system cell activity and circulation are higher near your heart. So, removing tattoos will be easier on your chest areas than the tattoos that are in your hand or feet.
Immune System
How powerful your immune system is plays a major role in this part. People with immune systems that are very active can clear the ink particles more quickly than other people.
Color of Ink
Ink color is an important factor. When talking about colors, pastel colors particularly tend to fade more quickly.
Greens can be very difficult. Most tattoo removal places use green lasers to remove tattoos. But if you have a green tattoo, a green laser will not be very effective on it. Thus, the duration of removal will be longer in this case.
So it would be better if you can find a place where not only green laser light is used. The lasers used nowadays are quite advanced. They are able to work with the whole color spectrum.
Be prepared for results to appear in some areas of your tattoo more quickly than others. This occurs as a result of the easier-to-treat colors fading more quickly.
The remaining areas will catch up. In reality, laser technology presents an exciting opportunity to try again if you had a tattoo that was previously only partially removed.
Size
The bigger the tattoos are, the more time it will take to remove the tattoo. The other way around is for the smaller tattoos. So if you have a small tattoo on your body, you may need fewer tattoo removal sessions than if you had a bigger one.
How Should I Prepare for This Treatment?
You need to take a number of steps in order to get ready for a tattoo removal session. Wearing a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a UV protection factor of at least 55 is the most crucial thing you must do to get ready for therapy, others are-
Eat before the appointment
You should eat something before your visit, especially if you wish to get a huge tattoo removed. You may make sure you have plenty of micronutrients in your system for your session by eating a nutrient-dense snack or lunch. This is very important because your immune system swiftly gets to work on digesting the degraded ink pigments. For that, you’ll require a lot of energy.
Additionally, you should ensure that you are adequately hydrated before your consultation. Your immune system won’t function as efficiently as it should if you’re dehydrated, and it will take longer for your treatment to work.
Skip the cosmetics
The treatment area should be tidy, shaven, and free of jewelry or cosmetics when you arrive for your appointment. Before sanitization of the area, any jewelry, cream, or makeup that may be on your treatment area must be taken off. The hair in the treatment area shouldn’t be waxed or tweezed.
FAQ
Is laser tattoo removal Treatment Painful?
Even though laser therapy may seem terrifying, it is not uncomfortable at all. It actually has the sensation of a heated rubber band gently snapping on your skin.
We first treat the skin with a topical anesthetic because everyone’s tolerance for heat varies. When the anesthesia wears off, your skin could feel warm, but you won’t experience any pain or discomfort throughout the procedure.
How much does laser tattoo removal cost?
The minimum treatment session cost for an extra-small tattoo is often between $75 and $125 for many shops. Any cost within this range is regarded as the standard minimum cost for a single treatment.
The minimum price is stated so that clients can get a ballpark idea of what to expect to pay before they visit your clinic.
Taking Away
Did you get the answers you were looking for?
A tattoo removal session is a quite time-consuming procedure. As conscious as you are while getting a tattoo, for tattoo removal, you should follow the same care. If you have taken the decision to remove a tattoo, follow our article to choose the tattoo removal procedures and the given preparation tips. Good luck!
