Page 60 - An Introduction to Laser Tattoo Removal

Chapter 2 – Fundamentals of Laser Tattoo Removal v1.0
• Smoking
• Auto-immune disease
• Skin conditions (psoriasis, eczema)
• Diabetes
• Age of tattoo
• Types of ink
• Depth of ink
Figure 28: The complex skin repair processes and their timings
In reality, we suggest that a full analysis of new patients is carried out at the consultation stage and all of the above discussed. Much of the answer lies in the skin repair process which occurs in the weeks to months following laser treatment. The rate at which some of these processes occurs depends a lot on the individual, and cannot be easily accounted for.
As described previously, the four main skin repair processes are:
Haemostasis Inflammation Proliferation Remodelling
(For a full description of these processes we suggest you read the excellent LibreTexts website). More recent research appears to suggest that the ‘ink clearance’ rate is NOT linear!! That
means, the rate of removal changes, depending on the observation time post-treatment.
It now appears that there is an initial removal of ink particles soon after the laser treatment. This is due to a rapid influx of macrophages sent in during the inflammation phase, to remove any potentially hazardous materials including bacteria, viruses and foreign bodies. This is commonly referred to as the ‘lymphatic drainage’.
But, the priority of the skin repair process is to prevent the tissues from dying! So, after this initial clearance, the skin focusses on re-epithelization, angiogenesis, stem cell activation, neocollagenesis and a whole bunch of other stuff.
THESE are the priorities! The removal of ink particles (which the skin has previously identified as ‘benign’) is a relatively low priority.
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Chapter 2 LEVEL A Laser Tattoo Removal
© The Laser-IPL Guys, 2021