Laser tattoo removal is the most common form of removal. The laser is beamed into your skin and only works on the ink residing within the deeper layers. The ink is broken up and absorbed by your immune system, which can take some time. For this reason, you are going to have to wait about month (some sources say 4-6 weeks) before you get another tattoo removal session. Because the tattoo is flushed out with the help of blood circulation, you will see faster results if your tattoo is located on your arm than on your foot, for example. You may need anywhere from 6-20 sessions, meaning that the entire removal process can take anywhere from 6 months to a year. Each session will cost around $300. Because some people need as many as 20 sessions, the total cost can easily get into the $6,000 range. Although the laser works on the tattoo within your skin, whenever it pulsates into your skin, it will feel like a rubber band lightly flung at you. Although some people say that this really hurts, it’s really nothing to worry about.
Laser tattoo removal can be really expensive. It’s not uncommon for people to fork over thousands of dollars to get their tats eliminated. Exactly how much you’ll end up paying depends on…
How big your tattoo is.
What color it is. The darker the ink is, the harder it is going to be for the laser to do its magic. Colors like black and dark blue require more treatments than colors such as light blue and green.
What color your skin is. The lighter your skin is, the better the laser will work on you.
How deep it is. If you got your tattoo done at a professional place, it is likely going to be deeper, and thus more expensive, than a tattoo from some mediocre parlor.
What type of ink was used. Tattoo artists use all sorts of inks, some of which are much harder to remove.
It all comes down to the number of sessions you need. The cost of a single session is around $300, without too much variance. How many sessions you need varies significantly, hence the wide price differentials. If you have a very small single color tattoo, you may find that all you need is 1 of 2 sessions to render it almost invisible. When looking for a tattoo removal clinic it’s a good idea to talk to a dermatologist so that they can give you some recommendations on the local laser tattoo removal centers. Although you may want to save money on laser light removal, you also don’t want to get a place that cuts corners, giving your minimally effective results in the process.
If you’re serious about getting a tattoo removal (this means passing on any tattoo removal creams) by getting a laser removal, you have to keep in mind that laser tattoo removal is a misnomer. No laser clinic can say that they will get it 100% removed. What they can do is diminish it to a point where the tattoo is barely noticeable.