Page 55 - An Introduction to Laser Tattoo Removal

Chapter 2 – Fundamentals of Laser Tattoo Removal v1.0
Mike made a series of videos which demonstrates the crack sound and the appearance of frosting – video 1, video 2, video 3, video4.
Blistering
Blistering is a side-effect which may occur after laser tattoo treatments. This is usually caused by excessive energies being fired at the skin. A blister forms to protect the epidermis by ‘cushioning’ it from the deeper skin layers. They are usually filled with tissue water, serum, plasma or blood (if capillary vessels are broken).
With laser treatments, they usually indicate too much thermal energy has been created by pulses of excess energy. If these occur after treatment, use a lower fluence setting in future treatments.
Do not encourage the breaking of blisters – they are there to protect the dermis. Breaking the epidermis may lead to bacterial infections.
Blisters do not usually result in scar formation – they are too superficial and do not usually affect the collagen matrix in the dermis (as long as they remain unbroken).
Titanium Dioxide
Titanium dioxide is a white powder supplement used by most tattoo artists to ‘lighten’ the ink colours. These are common, especially in ‘pastel shades’ which have gained huge popularity in recent years.
The problem is that the addition of titanium dioxide is like adding millions of tine mirrors into the tattoo ink. Naturally, this reflects all light falling on them – including laser light. As a consequence, treating these tattoos is more difficult since they reflect much of the laser energy back out of the skin. Pastel coloured inks tend to respond slowly, although they generally do eventually disappear.
Test Patches
It is now ‘normal’ to do a test patch shot on tattoos when starting new treatments. This is not a clinical requirement – it has been ‘enforced’ by insurance companies. There is no good clinical reason why test patch shots should be done. Any patients which are not suitable, for a variety of reasons, should not be treated anyway!
However, many insurance companies will tell you that their cover is not valid if you don’t do a test patch first.
So, given that test patches are now required, let’s discuss what they are about. ________________________________________________________________________ 55
Chapter 2 LEVEL A Laser Tattoo Removal
© The Laser-IPL Guys, 2021