Just had treatment number 11 and a nap! Treatments always make me tired (after the lidocaine wears off of course), so if you are getting one done, be prepared to take some time to take a nap. Good for healing process, I say!
The treatment went really easy (easier than ever) except for a minor malfunction with the laser....(scary). It was the same laser as last time (Q-Switch). The PA doing the laser tattoo removal was not the same girl I usually see, and she was having trouble seeing which areas still had ink....go figure! She thought this may be my last treatment or at least she hoped so (me too!). I asked the technician that was assisting the PA if there was a maximum number of treatments people can get, and she said, "no".
At this point, I am wondering what everyone reading this blog is thinking after seeing my most recent updates. Do you think I will need more treatments after this one heals? The PA said she was "very aggressive" this time.
Do you think I should get some sun on my tattoo area once healed and see how it looks? The risk, if I do this, is that the laser picks up on any pigment, so more sun - equals more skin pigment the laser will mistakenly hit instead of ink pigment. I don't want to take two or five steps back on a gamble.
I am inclined to believe that my recent tanning episode made such a dramatic contrast between the tattoo area and the rest of my arm that it looks as though, thus confused the PA, there is less pigment (ink) than is really there. Or have I confused myself by treating my tattoo area as an albino to be shielded at all times, thus depriving it of normal exposure? But this question reminds me of a blog post titled "Brown Clouds"...or something to that effect, whereby sun exposure caused hyper-pigmentation of the treated area.
I guess I am just timid to test the waters and expose my tattoo to the sun. It's a risk if I do not like the amount of ink left behind, but if I don't find out, I may just waste hundreds more dollars. Damned if I do - damned if I don't?
Hi, Sarah. I am so glad you did this blog! I'm currently going through the tattoo removal on the backs of both arms and just beneath the armpit area (excruciating pain) and I was wondering about the slight scarring and skin discoloration that is left once the tattoo is gone. Did the Dermatologist ever say anything about any other kinds of treatments, like some sort of dermabrasion, to help even out the skin and reduce some of the scarring? And how are you on your treatments now?
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