Skin Tattooing is one the most ancient arts known to mankind. It’s a form of body art in which inert, rather stable particles of different colors derived from inedible pigments, charcoal and certain inks are carefully inserted/placed under the surface of the skin into the dermis by using needle-like devices that pierce thru the skin and place the pigment at a certain depth. Some of the injected ink is expelled thru the surface of the skin as part of healing from the tattoo placement. The remaining ink will stay in under the surface of the skin for several years, even decades.
Tattoos can be lightened and even removed in selected cases with the help of Q-switched lasers. Laser-assisted tattoo removal although quite popular and widely used method for lightening the tattoo inks, does have its limitations; most importantly the number of laser treatments required to lighten or remove the tattoo inks is unpredictable. Additionally, Lasers do not physically “remove” the tattoo ink form the skin. The tattoo ink is fractured into rather smaller micro-sized particles that are slowly washed away by one’s own lymphatic system and carried into the nearby lymphnodes where the tattoo ink is stored for a very long time.
One of the ways to successfully “remove” the tattoo ink from one’s skin is to have the tattoos excised or surgically removed from the skin. Although surgical removal of the tattooed skin ensures complete removal of the tattoo ink from one’s skin, this procedure largely depends upon the size of the tattoo and its placement on the body.
A tattoo that is small enough and placed along the skin tension/relaxation lines is better suited for surgical removal. Tattooed skin can be excised in its entirety in one day. The surgical scar can be placed along the skin tension lines where it blend-in easily with normal skin color over time. Dr Khan performs the surgical tattoo removal. For qualified patients, the procedure is done under local anesthesia. The stitches can be removed 10-14 days after the surgery. The scar will be red for the first few weeks after the surgery. It can take up to 1 yr for the scar to look almost like normal skin color.
Tattoo Surgery/ Complete tattoo removal in ONE day
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Disclaimer:
The results of all procedures are patient specific and will vary depending upon patient's specific situation.
