So here you sit. The gorgeous artwork you surprised him with on your last anniversary has become a painfully permanent reminder of your lost love. Your relationship has ended; on an unpleasantly sour note at that. Now you are faced with the cold, hard reality that maybe you should have listened to your mother and left the ink to the biker down the street. You are not alone.
Today there are many methods available to remove your outdated artwork. Fade creams are probably the first form of tattoo removal the majority of folks venture to try. By repeatedly slathering on fade cream, the product works to continually break down the ink. Eventually the tattoo is rendered unrecognizable. Aside from affordability, this option is also well liked because it is less painful. The average person figures he or she has been through enough pain already... initially while getting the tat and then by being put in the position where its removal is deemed necessary.
There are some tattoo removal options such as dermabrasion and salabrasion, which involve what can most easily be explained as sanding of the tattooed skin as if it were a plank of wood being prepared for staining. Sanding wheels, caustic acids and salt crystals are a few of the components involved in this rather treacherous process. If that sounds scary, chances are you are a typical human being who takes issue to having your skin basically rubbed off.
Another type of tattoo removal that can be opted for is cryosurgical tattoo removal. This is great if you like the idea of having your flesh frozen off as if you ventured out into a winter blizzard and got a nasty case of frostbite. That is about what it amounts to. The process begins by freezing the tattoo and then using a light to make the skin peel off. Sounds marvelous, doesn't it?
If you thought the last option for tattoo removal sounded a bit over the top, you have no idea! The next type of tattoo removal that is available for you to use is called excision. Think of this as exorcising the demon that is your tattoo from your skin. The tattoo is cut off of your body and the surrounding skin is gathered up like a ruffle on a prom dress and sewn together. Wow... talk about seriously inconvenient measures!
The final, and currently most popular, option for freeing your flesh from an unwanted tattoo is laser tattoo removal. This option involves a series of treatments where various lasers are focused in on the different tattoo pigments in order to break them down and essentially "dissolve" the tattoo from its existence. There is less down time with this option, but for a large tattoo, the price tag can end up being comparable to buying a good used car. With this option, "Ouch!" takes on a whole new connotation.
The moral of this little tale is: if you find yourself saddled with some unwelcomed ink, you have options. Save the sulking for your return home from the tattoo parlor next go around!
