What Is a Tattoo?
Let's quickly remind ourselves exactly what a tattoo is: A tattoo is a permanent mark or design made on the body when pigment is inserted into the dermal layer of the skin through ruptures in the skin's top layer. (This is explained in detail in How Tattoos Work.)
Modern-day tattoos are applied by using an electric tattoo machine with needles that rapidly puncture the skin with an up and down motion not unlike that of a sewing machine.
When you look at a person's tattoo, you're seeing the ink through the epidermis, or the outer layer of skin. The ink is actually in the dermis, which is the second layer of the skin. The cells of the dermis are far more stable than the cells of the epidermis, so the tattoo's ink will stay in
place, with minor fading and dispersion, for a person's entire life.
Now about tattoo removal...................................
Dermabrassion-. This method involves abrasion of the top layers of skin until the middle layer, which contains the actual tattoo pigment, is reached and exfoliated, removing the unwanted tattoo with it.
Staged Excision - A physician cuts out the tattoo, a section at a time. Permanent scarring generally results from the scalpel incisions and this technique can only be used on small tattoos.
How Do Lasers Remove Tattoos?
Lasers work by producing short pulses of intense light that pass harmlessly through the top layers of the skin to be selectively absorbed by the tattoo pigment. This laser energy causes the tattoo pigment to fragment into smaller particles that are then removed by the body's immune system. Researchers have determined which wavelengths of light to use and how to deliver the laser's output to best remove tattoo ink. (If you're wondering if the laser might also remove normal skin pigment, don't worry. The laser selectively targets the pigment of the tattoo without damaging the surrounding skin.)
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