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Gone are the Days of Old School Tattoo Removal

Today, people are fortunate to have several different methods of tattoo removal to choose from.  And, within the past ten years, newer tattoo removal technology has also made tattoo removal easier and less painful than the days of old school tattoo removal.

Ironically, the most popular tattoo removal methods ten years ago are rarely performed today.  Dermabrasion, cryosurgery, and excision were the well known ways to remove tattoos, but now they are thought of as “old school” tattoo removal.
 
Dermabrasion actually sands the skin to remove the surface as well as the middle layers.  As you can imagine, sanding off layers of skin can be very painful, especially if tattoos are large. With dermabrasion tattoo removal usually the majority of a tattoo can be removed, but there are some tattoos that dermabrasion has not been successful at removing.

Cryosurgery is another old school tattoo removal method that doctors used in the past. This technique requires freezing the tattoo skin before attempting dermabrasion.  Freezing the skin makes the procedure fairly painless during removal, but as soon as the skin thaws pain sets in, and the pain can be extremely uncomfortable.

Excision is the literally the old school removal of tattoos where a doctor cuts out and removes the tattoo with a scalpel. After the tattoo is removed the remaining skin is stitched together with sutures leaving behind a scar.  Large tattoos often require skin grafts in order to close area where the tattoo once existed and now remains a wound.

Tattoo removal has most certainly made significant progress making it much easier and less painful to remove tattoos today, in comparison to the old school tattoo removal methods used just 10 years ago.

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Tattoo Removal Methods include Surgery

When considering tattoo removal methods, the most important question relates to if the removal technique will leave behind a scar.  There are few if any surgeries that can be performed without traces of a scar.

The degree of damage post surgical tattoo removal depends on the size and complexity of the tattoo, and to what extent the surgeon must go to in order to remove it.

Medical Tattoo Removal Options:

Cryosurgery is a freezing technique used to pre-treat tattoo skin area before performing dermabrasion or salabrasion tattoo removal in order to minimize the amount of bleeding that occurs.

Dermabrasion, is a method of removing or sanding down the top layer of skin with a rapidly spinning abrasive instrument wheel or a wire brush.  The procedure tends to be bloody and is usually done under local IV/oral sedation, and often combined with cryosurgery to minimize bleeding.  Post treatment, skin remains raw and red for several days and may take several months to fully heal.

Salabrasion is an older and less common tattoo removal method of aggressively rubbing the tattoo skin with coarse salt or a salt sanding block. Cryosurgery is often performed prior to treatment to reduce the pain caused by repeated friction.

Excision is a method of tattoo removal that is typically used as a last resort for small tattoos or smaller sections of large tattoos.  Excision is a surgical procedure that involves literally cutting away skin embedded with tattoo ink. After the removing the tattoo, the skin is then pulled together and sewn with sutures, resulting in a scar.  This method is not ideal for larger tattoos, as they often require multiple surgical procedures, and tissue expanders or skin grafts.

Tissue Expansion is a surgical technique necessary to expand the skin in order for to excise large tattoos.  The technique requires a balloon to be placed underneath the skin to the side of the tattoo.  Gradually, over several weeks the balloon is inflated and as it increases in size the skin stretches to accommodate the growth. When the skin has ‘stretched’ enough so that enough remains to pull together and suture once the whole tattoo is cut away.

Physicians specializing in tattoo removal make it appoint to stress the fact there are no guarantees when it comes to tattoo removal and predicting the results.

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