Has Laser Tattoo Removal Changed How People Look at Tattoos?
Has the availability of laser tattoo removal changed people’s attitudes towards getting a tattoo?
Not long ago, a tattoo was a lifelong commitment. The ink you selected would stay with you for the rest of your life. Time may fade it and scars may mar it, but it will be there, for better or worse, forever. The significance of that is obvious: choose carefully when selecting a tattoo. Don’t get a tattoo on a whim, don’t pick something out that you aren’t one hundred percent certain about, and don’t get inked in a place you’ll regret five, ten or twenty years down the road.
Have those careful considerations changed with the availability of laser tattoo removal? Has the decision-making process on the part of the consumer changed because he or she knows that if they end up regretting their ink they can have it erased?
The laser tattoo removal process works by using short pulses of intense light to actually break down the tattoo ink pigments. These fractured pigments are eventually broken down by the body’s immune system. Different colors and different types of inks break down differently, which means that complete removal of all tattoos may not be possible, but the vast majority of tattoos can be substantially “erased” by this procedure. The procedure is far from painless, and it is relatively pricey. But even with these well-documented drawbacks, it is still an option that the consumer is aware of when getting inked. Does that fact change how people shop for tattoos?
Statistics on tattoo regret and removal are sketchy. A Harris poll from 2003 suggests that about 17% of those surveyed regret at least one of their tattoos. Would that 17% have the tattoo removed if given the option? That’s hard to say. Certainly there are good reasons to remove certain tattoos. Reformed gang members may wish to remove the markings of their past affiliations in order to become gainfully employed. But anyone with the cash and the gumption can have their tattoo remove by laser, no matter how innocuous their ink is.
It is difficult to say what is in a person’s mind when they are selecting a tattoo, but for better or worse, certainly the availability of laser removal has played a factor in some people’s tattoo decisions.
Tattoo artists, I pose this question to you: What has your experience with your own customers been? What would you say to a customer who, when selecting a tattoo, says “I can always have it taken off later if I don’t want it anymore”?
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Retro TV
February 19th, 2008 at 10:41 am
From a reader:
Hey, there, inked talk! how are ya? well here’s my 2 cents…
In South Carolina, tattooing just became legalized, therefore there are lots and lots of people running around here with hack-tattoos that need removed. About 30-40% of our clients are cover-ups or reworks. Laser removal in cases like these are an excellent idea. However, if the thought crosses your mind to get your tattoo removed even before you get it, you do not understand the idea of being tattooed and have no business getting the tattoo in the first place.