Laser Tattoo Removal

Over time, people’s tastes and attitudes to tattoos change and it is common to find that a tattoo you considered trendy or amusing many years ago is now a source of embarrassment or insecurity. Being left with a permanent reminder on your skin of something that you no longer like or that isn’t work-appropriate can therefore be quite difficult. In addition to changing tastes and fashions, some people simply aren’t happy with the way their tattoos have turned out, or may have had unsatisfactory tattoo work carried out by an inexperienced or amateur artist. Luckily, laser tattoo removal provides a safe and effective solution to permanently remove or lighten unwanted tattoos.

The Avalon Laser & Beauty Clinic is a leading treatment clinic for tattoo removal in Orpington, serving customers from all over south east London (including Croydon, Bromley, Beckenham, Sidcup, Sevenoaks, Swanley, Bexley and Dartford). Our therapists specialise in tattoo removal for men and women. Below are some examples of our laser tattoo removal treatments together with an explanation of the treatment process and answers to common questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact The Avalon Laser & Beauty Clinic in Orpington with any questions or to book your consultation.

At The Avalon Laser & Beauty Clinic in Orpington we use a medical grade Q-Switch laser for tattoo removal. Tattoos are usually injected into the skin, and lie in the dermis, about 0.5 to 2.5mm below the surface. Because the tattoo ink becomes encapsulated in the collagen in your skin, the body’s natural defences are unable to remove it. Q-Switch laser tattoo removal treatment breaks up the collagen and the ink, so that the body’s defence system is able to attack and remove the tattoo. Dermatologists acknowledge using an Active Q-Switch laser to remove unwanted multi-coloured tattoos as the ‘gold standard’ treatment – its efficacy and safety have been proved in numerous clinical trials, and outcomes are reliable with minimum risk of scarring.

Patients undergo an initial consultation before treatment. During the consultation your Laser Tattoo Removal expert will explain the treatment process, examine the tattoo to be removed and gather some medical history details. They will also answer any questions you may have regarding the process, and inform you of the likely number of treatments and costs to achieve optimum results. If you wish to proceed, you will be asked to sign a consent form and to undergo a test patch (the test patch will cost £20 which is then deductible from your treatment cost).

Patients must make sure that they do not have a suntan or are wearing fake tan on the area to be treated. In addition, patients can also apply numbing cream to the area an hour before treatment and wrap it in cling-film. Over-the-counter numbing creams can be purchased from chemists.

At The Avalon Laser & Beauty Clinic, we use the award winning Lynton Laser’s Lumina for our laser tattoo removal treatments, a state-of-the-art medical grade machine utilising Q-Switched laser technology.

The patient can apply local anaesthetic cream approximately one hour before treatment begins, which can be purchased from a reputable chemist. Your therapist will explain in further detail and answer any questions during your initial consultation.

Most patients find laser tattoo removal treatment perfectly tolerable, likening it to hot pinpricks, or being flicked with a rubber band. To reduce discomfort, your therapist can provide a skin-cooling device, the Cryo 5, which can be used by you during treatment to direct cold air onto any specific area as required.

Your laser tattoo removal specialist will explain the recovery and aftercare process during treatment. But as a general guideline, for the first three days following laser tattoo removal treatment, patients are advised to drink lots of water. During this initial period, the treated area may appear whitened or red, tender and slightly swollen. Occasionally the skin may also form some slight grazing. In very few cases, the skin tone may lighten or darken, or slight blistering may occur. To protect against infection, the treated area should be covered by a dressing if any bleeding occurs. For the first two weeks following treatment (the drying out period) the skin must be allowed to heal naturally. The tattoo will gradually fade as the defence system of the body works on it. In the period of three to five weeks after treatment, to help the body’s natural processes disperse the ink, patients are advised to massage the treated area with aloe vera on a daily basis – following which the next laser tattoo removal treatment will be due or the overall course will come to an end. Over the long term, there is rarely any change in texture or scarring, although this is possible, particularly in cases where grazes and scabs are not left alone to heal. The treated area may also lose some of its natural ability to tan, but this normally returns in time.

Excellent results are expected, especially if patients follow the recovery and aftercare guidelines provided by the clinic and laser tattoo removal therapist.

The number of sessions needed to remove tattoos depends on the age, colour and density of the tattoo. Typically, professional tattoos can be removed in between six and twelve treatments, and amateur tattoos in between one and six treatments. Those planning to replace their tattoo with another may only require a few treatments. Note that individual treatment times vary depending on a variety of factors and treatments are usually booked six to ten weeks apart.

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