TATTOO REMOVAL

Suffering from a regrettable choice of tattoo? What are the best tattoo removal options? What about tattoo removal lasers or creams? And the cost... how much to get a tattoo removed compared to just getting it faded. And before and after pictures... how good do these procedures work?

We have collected the best news articles and links to websites that deal with the growing business of tattoo removal.

Check out the Google Scholar site for over 950 articles related to the subject of tattoo removal options.

REGRET THAT TATTOO? NO PROBLEM
More entrepreneurs are making money on removing unwanted body art.
By Sarah Kessler | Feb 3, 2010

When Dr. Will Kirby and his partner decided in 2004 to open a business that would specialize in removing tattoos, they were eyeing a growing market. “Fifty years ago sailors had 90 percent of tattoos. Now, lawyers and doctors and everyone else had tattoos,” says Ian Kirby, Will’s brother and current business partner. The year before, a Harris Interactive Poll had estimated that about 17 percent of Americans had a tattoo.

Dr. Kirby noticed studios etching tattoos everywhere he looked, but he couldn’t find a clinic that specialized in serving the inevitable proportion of these studios’ customers who would regret their permanent body art. He opened the first Dr. Tattoff in Beverly Hills to fill this need. On Dr. Tattoff’s first day of business, 90 people inquired about the process of removing a tattoo. Six years, 50,000 treatments, and two more locations later, the environment for the unusual franchise concept has only improved. In an economy when start-up capital is hard to come by, Dr. Tattoff has plans to open an additional location in Texas later this year, and, if all goes well, to expand to nearly every state within five years.

“I think the demand is rising every day,” says Dr. Kirby. “There are 20-25,000 tattoo parlors putting on tattoos every day and very few people removing them efficiently. If you come to my clinic, we’re busy every day of the week.”... Read More

WHEN YOU AND YOUR TATTOO BREAK UP:
Ways To Get Rid of Your Body Art
By Carly Milne, April 17, 2009

15 years ago when I was first succumbing to the siren song of a tattoo gun, a friend of mine did the same. I got a small Japanese kanji behind my ear. She got Mickey Mouse riding a lawnmower at her pubic bone. And I remember thinking to myself, is that smart? Is that something that she's going to look at years later and think, "Man, that's really reflective of me?"

Granted, she could've gotten it covered over with something else if it lost its novelty. And while tattoos are no longer forever, they're certainly a pain in the ass to remove.

So let's say you've found yourself in the same position, and many moons later, your "Mötley Crüe Rules" no longer fills you with pride (which is absurd, because Crue always rules, but maybe it just doesn't make sense to have it plastered on your forehead anymore). What options do you have?... Read More

WHEN TATTOOS BECOME TABOO
By Mitchel P. Goldman, MD, and Heather Endicott, FNP-C

Tattoos aren't just a modern fascination. They've had a long lineage throughout the ages. In fact, the earliest markings were found on the body of an Iceman dating from 5,200 BC.

Today, 24 percent of Americans, ages 18 to 50, are tattooed, according to a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. That's almost one in four. A 2003 Harris Interactive Poll found that 17 percent of these Americans regretted having a tattoo.

As tattoo removal technology advances, the procedure is becoming more affordable. As such, tattoo removal is a service providers can easily integrate into their practices... Read the whole article here

SOME TATTOO BEARERS ARE MARKED WITH REGRET
By CLOE CABRERA | The Tampa Tribune
Published: January 21, 2009

TAMPA - Johnny Gazel had regrets before the ink set on the tattoo on his thigh.

"I knew it was a mistake the minute I saw it," says Gazel, 21, of the crude Chinese symbol created by a friend when he was 16. "The things you do when you're young. I'm not a tattoo person, and every time I look at it, I know it was a mistake. It's supposed to mean 'help' in Chinese, but who knows; it could say jerk."

On his 21st birthday, Gazel turned to Tampa Laser Touch in Westchase to have the tattoo erased. Read the whole article here

VANISHING ACT:
Regret sends stream of customers to laser tattoo-removal clinics
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
Published: January 16, 2009

The stars all seemed to be in alignment.

She was 16, a junior in high school. It was Christmas break in Springfield, Mo. She'd just awoken with a concussion after being involved in a sledding incident with a tree at 2 a.m. the night before. A friend was an amateur tattoo artist and needed gas money to get to Kansas City, pronto. And she had $5 in her pocket.

What better time or place, then, to get a lemon-size tattoo of a fish put across her chest?

"It sounds so cliche, but you just don't know at 16, almost 17... You're not thinking about your future. You're not thinking that when you're 30 you won't want a fish on your breast," said Wendi Walker. Read the whole article here

MORE SKIN, LESS INK
Tattoos are trendy but permanence is passé, thanks to laser removal
Paula Brook, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, October 16, 2006

A short history of tattoos.

12th Century B.C.: Polynesian cave dwellers carve symbols into their flesh to ward off demons.

18th Century A.D.: Captain Cook's crew get hip to mutilation on their South Pacific voyages.

Late 1960s: Janis Joplin lances the tribal barrier and gets branded in the name of rock.

1974: Cher splits from Sonny and celebrates with a big butt-erfly.

2004: Laser technology allows Cher to Turn Back Time.

Update: Two years later, Cher is still trying to turn back time at the laser studio, discovering that it takes a lot longer and can be more painful to remove tattoos than to get them. She is not alone.

Now that tattooing has crossed over from the mark of Cain to a full-blown hipster fad, with an estimated one-quarter of young North American adults thus branded, the race is on to remove, revise and rebrand. Isn't that the perfect definition of pop culture? Permanence is now officially passe and commitment only skin deep.  (read the whole article here)

WHEN A TATTOO NO LONGER SUITS YOU
Know potential employment, removal costs before getting inked
Sporting a tattoo or two is no longer the taboo counterculture act it once was. But it can still present employment, health and financial concerns, experts said.

Once the exclusive domain of bikers, gangs and other rough riders, tattoos have gone mainstream with the help of TV programs such as "Miami Ink." Today, brokers and secretaries are just as likely as bartenders and street punks to have one. (read the whole article here)

INKY DRAMA:
Actors find ways to hide tattoos when needed
Long time partners and Valley actors Andi Watson and Jason Barth say having tattoos - including her dramatic comedy and tragedy masks - has affected their theatrical careers.  Read the whole article here

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON GANG TATTOO REMOVAL

Long Beach tattoo-removal program helps ex-gang members build on future

TATTOO REMOVAL: ICONS PAINFUL, EXPENSIVE TO GET RID OF (pdf)

Gang Tattoos Are Not Just Skin Deep

Ex-Gang Members Look for Fresh Start sans Tattoos

STATE OF CALIFORNIA TATTOO REMOVAL PROGRAM

List of State Tattoo Removal Programs

Orange County Tattoo Removal Program: Changing Lives, One Tattoo at a Time

Hollywood Sunset Clinic has Removed 1,200 Tattoos Since 1998

Laser Tattoo Removal Machines Transferred to Community Programs