My Laser Chronicles....

[ian]

I figured I'd document my laser sessions here for those that would like to follow along. The Woman doing it is the Physicians Assistant for a Dermatologist near my house.

At my consultation she said she could do half at a time and today she said the reason was that if there was a negative reaction it would be on only half of the area rather than the whole thing. Today she said as long as this goes well she could probably do the whole thing in one session and after todays session it doesn't seem like it should be a problem, she did much more than half today.

They use the Medlite C6 which is, from what I understand, one of the best lasers on the market. I'm happy with the outcome so far, the skin isn't broken or anything and there's no blistering. My wife got something removed by another Dermatologist on her finger and it blistered and bled like a motherfucker. I'm not sure if she could have hit it harder today but I'd rather she not and not have it be a big bloody mess.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do what I can to answer :D

Here's before...

And after todays session which I understand will lighten more over the next 6 weeks as my body absorbs the ink...

I'm getting the rest done on the 7th and from there I'll go back as my bank account allows me...

[ian]

you can see she hit the whole right wing, half of the left wing, the letters and mountains at the top, all the facial features and half of the hair

[dari]

Thanks for providing such great pics, can't wait to see the progress. What's your plan for your back after it's all done?

[ian]

probably a big skull with a samurai helmet and a big snake.

I have Chris Yvon @ Power Tattoo in Vista working on the drawing :D

[hogg]

Can't wait to follow your progress on this--good luck!

[Ursula]

My only question is why would you laser suck an awesome tattoo!! haha just kidding, but I do like it in some ways.

Anyways, how bad was it to get done? I've heard it hurts like crazy. I've also heard some places offer a topical ointment that helps with the pain.

I'm looking forward to seeing more photos and pictures of when you start getting it re-tattooed.

[jinxproof1996]

topicals generally offer no relief from laser tattoo removal. even injections are not a guaranteed pain reducer.

[ian]

Thanks Ursula, it is a pretty rad tattoo! It's the result of having too much illegal money and getting high on my own supply ;)

Fortunately there's a lot of powder grey shading that won't need any laser but some of the black parts are pretty damn black.

They did give me some EMLA cream, it's only 2.5% lidocane and really didn't seem to do much. She offered to shoot me up with some lidocane but since it's such a big area I'd have to pay for the time which she said would amount to $150. I figured it'll be done soon enough that I can just bear it.

It is pretty painful, it feels like a combination of an electric shock and someone snapping a rubberband on you times 1000. When they stop and start again it hurts but once they get going it's not as bad but it's still pretty bad.

I know there's another topical cream called LMX4 that's 4% lidocane but it doesn't have as much as the other stuff in the EMLA.

Karl, do you have an opinion on the 2 creams? EMLA and LMX4?

[Scott R]

wow no one offered me cream or anything but glad its torable for you Ian

[ThaliaCamille]

RE: creams, I used some Dr. Numb during my last session being tattooed. Might be a different case for laser, but it worked. Well. Very well.

Keep us all posted, interested to see how this turns out.

[jinxproof1996]

Karl, do you have an opinion on the 2 creams? EMLA and LMX4?

neither does much if anything for laser pain relief. maxilene and dr numb are the best for getting tattoos, way better than emla, but still not much relief for getting tattoos removed.

[Cork]

Is the removal process worse, less, or equally painful to actually get the tattoo?

[Scott R]

lol cork getting ribs/belly was much easier than getting a session of removal. I also have a thread here called cover up that goes over the process

[ian]

Is the removal process worse, less, or equally painful to actually get the tattoo?

it hurts a lot more but it's much quicker. It's a sharper, deeper pain but doesn't last as long.

The itch for 2 weeks afterward is almost worse than the actual laser treatment!!

I keep a spatula handy for my back :D

[Stitch626]

Found another thread to subscribe to. Thinking about getting my back done seems seems like I'll get the info and idea I was looking for here :)

[ian]

it's been 2 months now since my first treatment, I wish I took the before in the same light as the after but if you look close you can see that just the one treatment has done quite a bit to the tattoo...

I'm going in on Wednesday for a second treatment and this time they'll treat the whole area instead of doing half and half.

Hopefully 2 maybe 3 more treatments and I'll be done with the laser :D

[InMyHeadAche]

Ian, where are you going for your laser treatments, if you don't mind me asking? I'm interested in getting a sleeve removed. I've gone to Celibre, who said they'd charge me $300 for per session-but want to try to look around before I make a decision on where to go.

[ian]

I"m getting treated by a dermatologist up the street from my house, the guys name is Dr Novatt but his assistant is doing the work, her name is Claire. The office is up here in Santa Barbara.

They're by far the best deal I've found besides Jinxproof but they're all the way in Washington DC, and they have one of the best lasers on the market.

I'm paying $600 per session to treat all the black. For one session I'm pretty happy with how much it's been broken up...

[Scott R]

Ian and headache FWIW A well known tattooer told me that a good laser and an applicator willing to push the envelope can get rid of a sleeve in one or two sessions. That being said if that shit got infected you would be in big trouble. I would like to hear jinx on this subject. I would rather pay a tattoer than a dermatologist all things being equal

[jinxproof1996]

anyone operating a good laser that "pushes the envelope", will soon find himself in a horrible situation. not all lasers are alike, in fact for tattoo removal, most suck. so who knows what that guy was even talking about. what you should do is do your homework when finding a person to remove your tattoos. check reviews and find someone who's been lasered by that person. you wouldn't let someone tattoo you if you knew of no one that had their work, you could find no reviews, and they had no portfolio would you?

its unfortunate, but not many people know how to use the lasers successfully. i guess since none of their friends will show them how or they can't get a hack apprenticeship or they can't learn it on youtube the market is slim pickings. haha. i love it.

[ian]

All that said, I think I got a good treatment. There was no blistering after the treatment, the worst thing that happened was the feeling of a slight sunburn.

There is also no apparent scarring now 2 months later so all in all I'm very happy with the outcome.

I'd rather pay more in the end for doing a higher number of light treatments than get a fewer amount of harsh treatments that could result in scarring.

Karl, what do you think about the results of the first treatment? I'd say it did a good start of breaking down the tattoo with no negative effects but you know more about this than I do...

[bulldog]

Wow ian, you are on mission, but no colour should help.....good luck

[Scott R]

yeah Ian I blistered every time so far. I would love to go to carl but travel alone for multiple trips would cripple my account. I am going in for another treatment soon, maybe after my valentines day celebration.

[bulldog]

its 3 weeks after my first laser and i cannot really notice anything....in fact they look more brighter....

[ian]

Did session 3 today and to my surprise it was a breeze! They were supposed to use a 23% lidocane cream last time and it hurt like a motherfucker so I've been dreading this session. Well, I found out today that they accidently used the 6% cream last time and they had the right stuff this time. Between the cream they used today and the machine they used to blow cold air on the area they worked on there were some parts where I didn't even feel it! It was such a relief!

I met up with the tattooer this past weekend and he said to laser the black 3 more times, the grey once and 4 months after the last session we'll be good to start the tattoo. That means it's still at least 10 months away but I like to have something to look forward to so it's all good :D

It looks pretty brutal right now but it feels fine...