What if you could go back in a time machine and erase your past regrets? Unfortunately, we at Rejuvené MD in El Paso, Texas can’t offer you a time machine, but we can offer you the next best thing: the Cutera Enlighten III laser. While this laser tattoo removal system can’t take you back in time, it can eliminate the tattoos you regret most. Roughly 25% of American adults have a tattoo, and about a quarter of them experience tattoo regret. If you are overcome by tattoo regret, we have proven, modern treatments that can fix the problem.

How Laser Tattoo Removal Works

If you’re reading this article about tattoo removal, you probably have a lot of questions and a tattoo you really don’t want on your body any longer.

The Technology

Laser tattoo removal does in fact use lasers. These are small, powerful, handheld lasers that pulse very fast to break up the ink in the tattoo and remove it from your skin so it can be processed and removed by the body’s internal processes. It sounds like science fiction, but that is actually how it works!

Our office uses the effective Cutera Enlighten III laser to remove tattoos. Unlike older and less advanced laser systems, the Enlighten III uses both longer nanosecond and shorter picosecond bursts of lasers to ensure that the removal job is done as quickly and cleanly as possible. This offers both the advantages of nanosecond and picosecond treatments to our patients.

The Process

The process is pretty simple on your end. All you need to do is bring yourself and the skin you want to be purged of your old tattoo. Your doctor will take the device and trace the tattoo with the laser while it pulses. This process will be repeated around a half a dozen times but can be given anywhere from one to twenty times depending on the nature of the tattoo and the success of the previous treatments.

Post-Treatment Care at Home

After your skin has been bombarded with millions of tiny, tattoo-eradicating laser bursts, it needs some tender loving care so the site of the tattoo removal can properly heal. Please remember this section is simply a general guideline. For your individual treatment and recovery, please refer to your doctor’s instructions!

For the first few days after laser tattoo removal, the treated area should be kept dry and wrapped in sterile gauze. For the following week or two, the treated area treated should be kept as clean and dry as possible to minimize the chance for site infection or other complications. During this period you should also avoid spending long amounts of time in sunlight and stay away from pressurized water, such as a power washer, as it may further injure the recovery site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does It Hurt?

The lasers can cause a light zapping or snapping sensation on the skin. Many people compare it to having a rubber band snapped against your skin. Fortunately, this process hurts much less than the process of getting the tattoo that you are now desperately trying to get rid of.

Some doctors also make use of local anesthetic to minimize this zapping or snapping sensation. This should not alter the treatment, but it can greatly increase your personal comfort. Be sure to ask your doctor about local anesthetic before starting a laser tattoo removal session.

Is It Safe?

This is a very safe treatment, especially when compared to older, more invasive methods of removal. The medical risks are quite minimal. Laser tattoo removal has some minor concerns, such as a change in pigmentation around the treatment sight and scarring around the tattoo, but these issues are rare.

Does It Actually Remove the Tattoo?

Laser treatment can completely remove a tattoo from your skin. While this is not guaranteed, laser treatment has a very high success rate for the permanent removal of unwanted tattoos from your body. Please talk to your medical professional about expectations for your tattoo removal outcome, as it will depend on the size, color, and age of your tattoo.

Are There Other Options Besides Lasers?

There are other options, but many of these are less safe and outdated. Other options such as freezing the tattoo, sanding the skin, or surgically cutting the tattoo out may be used, but these are significantly more dangerous and more painful than using laser removal. Some providers offer topical at-home use ointments that can partially conceal or mask tattoos, but no ointment currently on the market can effectively remove a tattoo cleanly and completely from your body, unlike laser removal.

If you are trying to ditch a bad tattoo, start with the laser treatment. It was specifically created to replace those invasive, outdated, and painful methods and is much safer and more effective.

How Much Does It Cost?

The cost of tattoo removal depends on many factors, including the size, color, and age of the tattoo. Contact Rejuvené MD in the office for exact pricing for your specific tattoo removal needs. Getting rid of that tattoo is probably worth it!

How Long Does It Take?

Individual sessions are quite brief, usually taking less than twenty minutes, but depend upon the size, difficulty, and nature of the tattoo. However, in the likely event that the tattoo requires more than one treatment, the treatment site will require a few weeks or months to heal in between treatments. For stubborn tattoos, having many treatments over months or years is not uncommon.

Do Laser Tattoo Treatments Cause Cancer?

While this rumor has bounced around on the internet, there is no credible or clinical evidence to support this internet rumor. Laser treatments are still considered by medical professionals to be the safest and least painful way of removing a tattoo.

Results and Expectations

Results can vary based on skin tone, the kind of tattoo, and the colors of the dye in the tattoo’s ink. Generally, black, red, blue, and green inks are the easiest to remove, whereas purple, orange, and yellow tend to be much more difficult. Turquoise is usually considered to be the most difficult color to remove. People with paler skin tones seem to respond faster to laser treatment, though this is by no means consistent for all people.

Professionally done tattoos are significantly harder to remove than tattoos of other natures, such as amateur tattoos or surgical tattoos. Shope-done tattoos are deliberately intended to last for a very long time and are made by professional artists with professional-grade ink and tattooing equipment.

Things to Ask Your Doctor

As with anything related to your health, please consult your doctors before undergoing tattoo removal. Please make sure that the doctor treating you is an experienced dermatologist who knows how to properly use the laser device and can answer your questions regarding treatment. At Rejuvené MD, we have the training, expertise, and experience you need to be sure you’re getting the very best treatment.

Expectations

Be sure to discuss expectations for your treatment with us as results can and will vary. A number of factors can influence the course of treatment, including your skin tone, pigmentation, age, the colors and size of the tattoo, your smoking habits, pretreatment scarring, and other kinds of preexisting skin damage.

Treatments

Cutera, the manufacturer of the Enlighten III, generally recommends starting with the nanosecond treatments to take care of the majority of the tattoo and finishing up with the picosecond treatment to remove whatever ink remains in the tattoo. While this is the recommended course, treatment will vary from person to person based on needs and expectations.

Individual Tattoos

Certain factors can make your removal more difficult. Tattoos with a high density of colors or color variety will need extra time and attention as they are more stubborn and harder to expunge. The Enlighten III laser allows your doctor to simply change laser settings when changing colors, avoiding the need to switch between colored lasers, but the process can still take more time because of color variety.

Large tattoos over thirty centimeters in size, tattoos with a blend of colors, those older than three years old, and tattoos located on the feet or legs usually respond slower to laser treatments and may require more attention to reach the desired stage of removal.

Pre-Treatment Scarring

As they puncture the skin, it is not uncommon for tattoos to leave scars or scarring on your body. Have your doctor check for scarring at the site of the tattoo before undergoing the treatment. Pre-existent scars could affect the outcome of your treatment and how the doctor chooses to treat you going forward.

Laser Treatment Details

As stated earlier, the Cutera Enlighten III laser is on the cutting edge of laser tattoo removal and can output both nanosecond and picosecond laser bursts for removing tattoos, but what does this mean for the patient and their treatment? Each of these laser treatments offers different benefits for the patient depending on their tattoo needs and removal situation.

Nanosecond Treatment

Nanosecond, or q-trigger treatment, is an older and less powerful kind of laser than the picosecond laser. While switching back and forth between nanosecond and picosecond treatments is considered the most effective treatment, nanosecond treatments are less likely to discolor flesh, especially for people with darker skin tones. Nanosecond treatments can also be more effective with certain colors of tattoo ink.

Picosecond Treatment

Picosecond treatment is a newer method of tattoo removal and is more efficient than nanosecond treatment. This power is not selective, so picosecond treatments are more likely to cause discoloration of the skin. While the chances of poor outcomes are still quite unlikely, this is an important fact to be aware of when trying to find the best mix of nanosecond and picosecond bursts for your case and another reason to always rely on a qualified professional for best results.

Other Uses

While the primary market for the Enlighten Laser is tattoo removal, it is ultimately a pigmentation lightening device. It can be used to remove blemishes, benign pigmented skin lesions, or other skin discolorations in addition to tattoos. The Enlighten III can also help remodel your skin for the purposes of skin rejuvenation. Be sure to ask if these non-tattoo related treatments could be right for you and your skin.

We Look Forward to Hearing From You

We want you to have a unique, positive, and self-affirming experience with Rejuvené MD. We are here for you. Contact Rejuvené MD in El Paso, Texas either online or by phone today. Whether it be for laser tattoo removal or any other aspect of aesthetic medicine, we are here to meet your aesthetic medicinal needs.

Are you tired of having to shave the same areas of your body only to have thick body hair grow back? Are you done with feeling the itchiness of stubble? If there is a part of your body you want to be hairless, you need to try laser hair removal, available along with other aesthetic and restorative medicine at Rejuvené MD, in El Paso, Texas.

What Is Laser Hair Removal?

Laser removal is the perfect way to reduce and get rid of unwanted hair. Whether you are tired of having to shave your armpits or legs, you don’t like having to dye your upper lip, or you’d rather go through life without beard stubble, hair removal is a simple and easy treatment.

How Does It Work?

During the process, a laser emits a concentrated beam of light. The light that is emitted is specifically absorbed by the pigment, called melanin, that’s found in the hair. As the hair absorbs the concentrated beam of light, the light energy is converted to heat, and the heat damages the hair follicles beneath the skin that produce hairs.

This damage to hair follicles works to inhibit or delay future hair growth. This type of hair removal is extremely effective in delaying hair growth for long periods; however, it does not result in permanent hair removal. Generally, individuals need to go in for several laser treatments, as well as some maintenance treatments as needed.

Because this hair removal treatment depends on the melanin in the hair, but not the skin, picking up the laser light, it works best on individuals whose hair is significantly darker than their skin. That is, their hair contains far more melanin than their skin does. That being said, modern changes in the way laser removal is done has enabled doctors and technicians to effectively use the treatment on people with darker skin as well as skin and hair that are of similar darkness.

Hair Removal Options

There is more than one way to remove unwanted hair from the body. There’s actually a whole host of options.

Shaving

Obviously, you can shave away the hair. It’s fast, it’s easy, and you can get it done at home.

But this results in hair growing back in a matter of days. Plus, shaving for long periods of time leads to hair growing back thicker and darker.

Depilatory Creams

There are also depilatory creams. A depilatory is a chemical agent used for hair removal. It’s widely used in creams aimed at helping people get rid of unwanted hair. The chemical works by breaking down the bonds in the hair’s keratin. This makes the hair very easy to remove from the body.

When using depilatory creams, it’s important to be careful. Using depilatories on sensitive skin areas, like around the eyes or genitals, can lead to chemical burns. Most depilatory creams include chemicals such as sodium thioglycolate, calcium thioglycolate, and strontium sulfide. These chemicals work to break down protein in the hair.

The first step in the process is to rub the cream on the unwanted hair. Then, the hair is processed into a jelly-like substance. This usually takes around 5 to 10 minutes, although thicker hair can take longer. Once the hair has been broken down, it can be wiped off with a towel.

There are some obvious pros to this method: it’s fast, cheap, and you can do it at home. However, there are also some clear cons. Most depilatory creams have a strong chemical odor, and if your skin is sensitive, it might have negative reactions to the chemicals. And for all the time you spend around chemicals, it has a pretty short-lived effect. It only removes hair above the surface, so you’re likely to see more hairs peeking out a day or two after using the cream.

Waxing

Another option for the removal of unwanted hair is waxing. Even if you’ve never waxed, you’re probably familiar with the concept. Hot wax is spread on the areas with unwanted hair. Once the wax has cooled and hardened, it, along with any hair you have, is ripped off.

There are some upsides to this method. It gets rid of hair and keeps it gone for a pretty long time. This is because waxing doesn’t just remove the unwanted hair but also the follicles beneath the skin. Removing the follicles gives you a much longer time before your hair begins to grow back.

But of course, there are some pretty big downsides, too. In order for the wax to really grip onto the hair, and thus pull the hair out, you need to let your hair grow as long as possible. That can be uncomfortable, especially in areas you already don’t want to be seeing hair. Also, it hurts. It really hurts. You might need to reschedule any activities you have planned for after your waxing in case you are having a hard time moving.

Sugaring

This relatively new phenomenon is purported to be a much gentler version of waxing. It has a similar process, except that the paste is made from all-natural ingredients: sugar, lemon, and water. Unlike the hot wax, this paste only attaches to your hair, not your skin. It leads to a much less painful experience, with similar results. That being said, it’s still pretty painful because your hair follicles are being pulled out from your skin, and you’ll need to let your hair grow long before you can do it.

Electrolysis

Electrolysis is like a step up from laser hair removal. It’s the only hair removal process that is FDA-approved for permanent hair removal. The process includes inserting a very fine probe into the hair follicle that sends a small electric current into the follicle. This current destroys the growth center of the hair. Afterward, the hair is removed with tweezers.

While this is a permanent solution, it requires several sessions to get rid of all the hair. Additionally, sending an electric current into a hair follicle can be quite painful. And because electrolysis requires treating each individual hair, the process can be very time-consuming.

Why Laser Hair Removal?

Compared to other hair removal options, it’s clear why so many people opt for laser removal. Unlike shaving and using depilatory creams, the results are much longer-lasting. You don’t have to remove all your unwanted hair and then, a mere day or two later, do it all again. You don’t risk cutting yourself like you do with when shaving with razors. And you don’t have to deal with all the chemical smells that come with the depilatory creams.

Unlike waxing and sugaring, it’s effectively painless. And while electrolysis does, after several sessions, give you smooth skin with the promise that hair will not grow back, it’s still painful, and it can be extremely time-consuming.

Laser removal, on the other hand, offers the best benefits. Because the process is virtually painless, you don’t require any downtime after the treatment. You can get right back to enjoying life. And while this hair removal treatment doesn’t completely rid you of every single hair, it does interrupt the growth cycle and get rid of enough unwanted hair that you may not need to shave at all afterward.

How to Prepare for the Treatment

Once you’ve made the decision to get laser hair removal, you will be well on your way to smooth, hairless skin. You’ll want to find a doctor who is board-certified in dermatology or cosmetic surgery and who has experience with the treatment. If you’re in the El Paso, TX, area, you can give us a call at Rejuvené MD to set up an appointment with one of our specialists.

Consultation

Before going through the hair removal treatment, you’ll have a consultation with the doctor to determine whether or not this treatment is the right option for you. You’ll talk with the doctor about your medical history, any medications that you use, and if you have any history of skin problems. You’ll also want to mention any past hair removal treatments that you have utilized.

It’s important that you be as open and honest as possible with your doctor so they can help guide you to the right treatment for your individual needs. And, of course, anything you discuss with your doctor will be kept confidential. Your doctor will discuss with you exactly what you are looking for in hair removal, what your options are, and what the various benefits are.

The doctor will discuss a treatment plan with you and what the costs look like. They’ll also take photos of any areas you would like to be treated for a before-and-after assessment.

Instructions

The doctor will also give you some specific instructions on how to prepare for the hair removal treatment. The instructions generally include some similar suggestions.

Stay Out of Sunlight

It’s important to avoid sunlight for a period of time before having this hair removal treatment. Usually, it’s suggested that clients stay out of the sun for at least six weeks prior to the treatment in addition to using a protective sunscreen daily.

Lighten Up

If you use sunless skin creams that darken your skin, you will need to stop as soon as possible. If you have a recent tan, your doctor might prescribe a skin bleaching cream to use on the area you will be having the treatment.

For a successful treatment, it’s important that the melanin in the hair, not the skin, absorbs the laser. Having as much contrast between skin and hair color as possible helps this to happen.

No More Waxing

Whatever your normal way of removing hair, whether it’s plucking, waxing, or electrolysis, it’s important to stop for at least four weeks before having the laser treatment. The process of removing hair damages the follicle, and you want to make sure everything is intact and in good condition so you get the best results.

You can, however, keep shaving. Unlike other treatment methods, there’s no need to let your hair grow long before a laser hair removal treatment session.

Medication Mandate

It’s important to discuss with your doctor any medications you are on and ask them to advise you about which medications to avoid prior to the treatment. It’s important that you specifically avoid medications that have the side effect of blood-thinning, like aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs.

Shave Away

While it’s important that you stay away from hair removal methods that could pull out or damage the hair follicle, you will want to trim or shave the areas you’re having treated the day before your treatment. This is because it removes the hair above the surface but doesn’t hurt the hair and follicle below the surface, so it can still be treated. This helps to make sure you don’t get burned by any hairs that are left above the surface.

Conclusion

Unwanted hair can be a hassle, but laser hair removal doesn’t have to be. It’s a simple and easy solution to an irritating problem. Get rid of your unwanted hair today!

Contact Rejuvené MD in El Paso, Texas for all your aesthetic and restorative medicine needs.