Laser tattoo removal is an exciting process for both patients and professionals alike, but the science behind the treatment is understood by few. This section of our website offers an introduction to the mechanics of removing laser tattoo and discusses why laser tattoo removal is the most successful solution for unwanted ink korea tattoo.
The Removal of Simple Laser Tattoo
The practitioner directs a laser over the tattoo area, during a treatment procedure. Unlike a laser pointer which produces a continuous light beam, tattoo removal lasers emit light energy pulses.
Each energy pulse penetrates the skin and gets absorbed by the tattoo ink. As the particles of the ink absorb the energy, they heat up and break into tiny fragments afterward. Instead, the body’s immune system flushes the ink particles away from the spot, lightening the tattoo’s appearance in the weeks following treatment. Through laser treatment breaks down the tattoo ink more and more until none remains.
What is Q-Switching?
Tattoo removal lasers, also known as Q-switch lasers or ultra-short pulse lasers, are extremely hot, work at very narrow frequencies and are very, very fast. The tattoo removal laser in the video, called the PicoLaser, operates on a picosecond scale, or a trillionth of a second. This speed and heat is key to breaking apart the ink particles.
The Q-switched lasers are particularly useful for removing laser tattoos. Tattoo ink particles are incredibly small, so they need heating to warm up and erupt for a very brief period of time.
By comparison, the skin cells are much bigger and will need to be heated to be weakened for a longer period of time. Since a Q-switched laser pulse is so brief, it can heat and shatter tattoo ink without heating up the underlying skin tissue. The Q-switched laser pulse’s briefness effectively helps practitioners to selectively damage the tattoo ink particles while leaving the surrounding skin intact.
Tattoos come in all possible colors. Yet, like all other objects around us, various tattoo colors absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light at differing levels. A