Is a carbon dioxide laser used to remove tattoos?

Answer 1

In the 1980's CO2 laser tattoo removal became the standard for the industry. Bursts of laser light were used to break up the pigment inks beneath the skin surface. Once broken down into smaller particles, the body's own white cells would carry the pigments away to be flushed out of the system.

Today, Q-switched lasers have set a new standard for laser tattoo removal. These lasers emit very powerful, but shorter bursts of light that break up pigment particles without significant damage to the skin, so scarring is almost non-existent. Since the Q-switched laser breaks down ink particles much smaller than the previous CO2 laser, the procedure yields results far more quickly.Although somewhat effective, CO2 laser tattoo removal had some drawbacks. The laser actually damaged the surface skin, often leaving a scar where the treatment had taken place. It also often left behind a "ghost" of the tattoo itself. In a nutshell, the entire procedure was painful and could leave you with a result that was likely less attractive than the tattoo you originally wanted to remove.

You should be aware that a single laser treatment is usually not enough to remove an entire tattoo, so repeated treatments may be necessary. These are usually spaced about a month apart. This gives the body time to remove the particles so a better judgment can be made about the necessity of further treatments.