Tattoos - Body Art or a Bad Call?

It seemed like a good idea to Tina at the time—to tattoo her boyfriend’s name on her thigh. Then she got rid of the guy; but his name was literally under her skin, in a black-blue flourish, the same colors that covered the breadth of her upper backside, spelling out the words “Guardian Angels.” That was really all about the ex too. He’d been a member, had his own tats, “Tina” was embroidered on his bare chest.

“Almost always patients come in to the Rocky Mountain Laser Aesthetics for laser tattoo removal claiming that getting a tattoo was a mistake,” says Jeffrey R. Raval, MD, FACS, owner and medical director of Rocky Mountain Laser Aesthetics in Cherry Creek North. And at the time, they’d been so certain, er, at least they thought.

Estimates are that some 25 million people in the United States have at least 1 tattoo and that more than 250,000 women are opting to be tattooed each year. The average age of procuring a tattoo is 18 years at a time period in one’s life that commitment to any one, group or sentiment is generally short-lived.

Decorative tattooing in humans is an ancient art form the origins of which can be traced as far back as the stone and bronze ages. A 1991 study found that between 9-11% of adult men in the United States have tattoos and that greater than 50% regret having them and would seek removal if possible.

The Rocky Mountain Laser Aesthetics has arguably the best tattoo removal laser made. The Q-Switch Laser breaks up the ink underneath the skin so that the body can absorb the ink, diluting the tattoo, sometimes eliminating it all together. The problem is that tattoo removal doesn’t work well on dark-skinned people including Caucasians with dark, dark complexions, Hispanic and Black people. The number of treatments necessary to fully eradicate the tattoo using the laser depends on the skin’s color, the tattoo colors and the intricacy of the design.

The 1064-nm light emitted by the Q-switched Nd:YAG laser achieves the best results possible on dark tattoo inks, namely black (which accounts for more than half of all tattoos), blue and green.

The Q-Switch laser works its best on fair-skinned people with dark tattoos. In the process of laser removal, the area of skin underneath the tattoo is irritated only to the stage that it turns red, not so different than when the tattoo was originally inked into place.

Tattoo removal can take up to a number of repeat treatments, depending again on the color of the tattoo and the color of the patient’s skin.

A beautiful, beautiful young woman came into the Rocky Mountain Laser Aesthetics to have her tattoo removed before her wedding date so that she could wear the off the collar wedding dress, her favorite among dozens and dozens she’d tried on for months. Her intricately detailed tattoo covered her entire anterior chest area from her breast line to her clavicle (collar bone). She’s typical of the patients who was once committed to the idea of wearing body art forever.

Another man in his late ’50s, came in to have his tattoos removed because they had started to blur over time, which most tattoos do as we age. In his case, the blurring was so significant, that it was impossible to discern what the tattoo had once been.

“We see a lot of patients who are coming in to have their tattoos removed because they’ve now got what we’d call a real job,” says Dr. Raval. The stigma against hiring people with tattoos that show while they’re working is well-founded. And even though today’s hottest actresses and actors may have a tattoo or two, too many tats are a no-no in the business world for the most part.

Tattoo proponents report that this form of art which was formerly considered extreme is now edging into the mainstream. Waiters in community restaurants show their tattoos on their forearms and fingers. Actress Angelina Jolie invests hours getting tattoos and as many more covering them with concealer in preparation for her Oscar and Golden Globe appearances in low-cut ball gowns.

A Larimer Square retail merchant remarked that on a warm summery evening last year that a woman came in to shop wearing a sleeveless T-shirt. As the elderly (in her ’60s) woman dialed her way through the rack of clothing, the merchant watched as the tattoos and flesh on the woman’s seemingly muscle-less upper arm waved like those of a retired lunch lady in public school.

A 60-something woman with tattoos is an anomaly unless you’re talking about Cher. But Cher is fit and can afford plastic surgery. This bare-armed woman shopper wasn’t fit and firm by any means and thus the tattoo was exponentially disturbing to look at..

Across the country and in other countries, there are ordinances—often under city or state cosmetology requirements—to control tattooing. For a licensed professional to tattoo a minor is illegal in Denver, Colorado. While kids can flash a fake ID, that doesn’t make it any less illegal. And then there are the home-grown tattoos, like those gang members etch into their knuckles or wrist.

A couple of generations ago, the analogy would likely have been exclusive to jailhouse prisoners who somehow managed to cut their tattoos into their bodies using ball point pens for the ink. In fact, some advocates and agencies fighting gang crime are especially supportive of the laws forbidding tattoos be applied to minors because tattoos are often perceived as a gateway to negative behavior.

The social stigma often associated with tattoos has inspired some Social Services programs to underwrite removal of gang color tattoos for juveniles rehabilitation and their inmates.

303 Magazine in its March 2007 issue reported on tattoo artists and their human palettes in an article written by Leah Zions. In it, Zions quoted tattooed young people as saying they experience a rush once a tattoo is completed and that the practice of getting tattoos can become addictive, as evidenced by those whose body surfaces are significantly covered by tattoos. And still some interviewees were quoted as saying that they consider every new tattoo they commission to be pure body art.

At least until the girlfriend or boyfriend changes.

Jessica Santi is Director of the Rocky Mountain Laser Aesthetics and can be reached at 303.985.8520.