Laser Tattoo Removal, Manchester

Tattoos consist of an abundance of ink particles that are deposited into your skin’s deepest layer, the dermis. Once ink particles are embedded, your immune system immediately sends bacteria eating cells to remove the alien substance from your skin. Due to their large size in proportion to the cells, the ink particles remain etched in your skin but gradually fade as your immune system continually eats away at the particles over time.

Laser tattoo removal in the UK acts as an aid to your immune system by speeding up the natural fading process. During a laser session, our Pico Laser machine sends ultra-quick pulses of light energy onto the undesired tattoo. The ink particles absorb the light energy, heat up, and shatter into tiny nanoparticle fragments that your immune system can more easily flush out.

Multiple treatments are required to treat the various layers of ink particles that make up a tattoo. The laser targets the shallowest layer of ink and works its way down with each session until the deepest layer is shattered. Over the weeks following each treatment, your immune system will continue to send bacteria eating cells to clear the shattered ink fragments until all the ink is removed to your desired goal.

Occasionally, a whitening of the skin may occur but this is rare. However, normal skin tone should return within 6 -12 months following your last treatment session. Since the ink used in tattooing can vary from tattoo to tattoo, results can heavily vary depending on how experienced or inexperienced the tattooist was, how deep the tattoo ink is and if any scarring occurred on your original tattoo, this is normally due to the tattooist going too deep with the needle. If this is the case, once your tattoo is removed – you could be left with some raised scarring.

Right after your treatment, your skin will have a white discolouration/flake, and the area around the tattoo will become reddish and appear swollen. This is normal and will disappear slowly over time. Results take about 5 weeks after each treatment. Immediately after treatment, antibacterial ointment and gauze will be applied to the treated area to minimise infection.

Some patients say they feel a slight sting, like the snap of a rubber band on the skin. Many treatments do not require numbing. However, some patients feel more comfortable with a local numbing agent, such as a topical numbing cream which we can offer.

This varies depending on factors such as the location, depth, colour and size of your unwanted tattoo. We recommend spacing out your treatments by 4-8 weeks to give your body the best chance of removing the most pigment. We can also never say how long its going to take to remove your old tattoo with our laser tattoo removal machine, it all depends on so many factors such as how deep the tattoo is, what ink was used, colours, etc.

An individual laser tattoo removal in Manchester typically lasts between 10 and 20 minutes.