Less painful than laser
Anyone familiar with tattoo removal knows that laser is notoriously painful. It’s often described as feeling like dragging a sharp fingernail over a sunburn, dripping hot wax on the skin, or being stung by a swarm of bees. And the pain isn’t limited to the treatment itself; lingering pain and discomfort can last for several days afterward.
Everyone’s pain tolerance is different. I’ve known burly biker blokes who said laser made them cry, and I’ve known yoga mums who said it wasn’t all that bad. If you’re looking for an alternative to laser, chances are the pain is something you’d rather not deal with.
Tatt2Away isn’t painless either, but the level of discomfort is about the same as getting a tattoo. Most people opt to have their Tatt2Away technician apply a topical numbing gel before the session, which takes the edge off for most people.
In the days following your session, a Tatt2Away treatment shouldn’t be painful. The biggest complaint we hear is an itchy sensation caused by scabs forming as your skin heals. But compared to the discomfort of laser, Tatt2Away is the winner for most people.
Fewer sessions than laser
Many people are disappointed to learn that a single laser tattoo removal session typically doesn’t have much effect. Depending on factors like the type of ink used, the depth of the tattoo, the body part it’s on, and how dense the ink is, you might see some fading, but then again, you might not.
Laser tattoo removal requires an average of 8–12 sessions, and depending on the colours in your tattoo and its location, some people endure a staggering 20+ sessions and still have visible ink remaining.
Tatt2Away removes up to 35% of your tattoo in the first session. Most average-sized tattoos can be removed in 3–5 sessions. Larger tattoos, intricate designs, and certain body parts may require more treatments to cover the entire surface. However, the areas treated in each session don’t need to be revisited like they do with laser—the ink simply comes out.
Less expensive than laser
Modern laser machines are shockingly expensive to those unfamiliar with the costs of high-grade medical equipment. In addition to the six-figure price tags of these machines, they also require regular maintenance to keep the lasers aligned and functioning properly. These factors, along with the general overhead of medical practices, make laser treatments quite costly.
Most insurance providers won’t cover elective cosmetic laser tattoo removal, leaving the patient to cover the full expense. And when you come across places advertising laser treatments for less than several hundred dollars per session, you have to ask yourself, “Why is Bargain Freddy’s Laser Zapporium so much cheaper than the dermatologist’s office?” The answer is often that bargain lasers are older, single-frequency machines that struggle to remove many colours.
Tatt2Away’s pricing is based on the size of the tattoo being removed and varies by location, but the cost per session is always competitive with laser. The real savings come when you consider that your tattoo can be removed in three to five sessions instead of ten or more.
Ink removed instead of pushed deeper into the body
Laser fades tattoos by bombarding the ink pigment particles, causing them to fracture into smaller pieces that can disperse deeper into the body where they are no longer visible. Most people believe these particles are fully excreted through bodily waste like urine and faeces, but tattoo inks are specifically designed to be difficult to remove.
Full-body scans have shown that pigment from laser treatments ends up deposited throughout the body, particularly in places like the liver, kidneys, and lymph nodes. These deposits are permanent, and the long-term effects of foreign tattoo chemicals in the body once they leave the skin haven’t been studied sufficiently for anyone to say what they might do to your health.
Tatt2Away works by removing the old ink from the skin rather than pushing it deeper. The process is similar to how your body pushes debris out through a scab, like when you scraped your knee as a kid. The ink from your tattoo is drawn up into the scab, and once the scab naturally falls off, the skin underneath is clear and as ink-free as possible.
Better choice for cover-ups
Tatt2Away is the ideal option for tattoo cover-ups. Most artists will tell you that cover-ups are one of the most challenging parts of their job. Creating a beautiful new design around the limitations of an old tattoo can range from difficult to nearly impossible. One or two Tatt2Away sessions are usually enough to remove enough of the old ink to allow artists to design tattoos that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
Skin that has been treated with Tatt2Away and allowed to return to normal will have less damage than a tattoo that has been subjected to repeated laser treatments.
Why Tatt2Away is the New Standard of Care in Tattoo Removal was originally published in Tatt2Away on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
