Slartibartfast

*In the interest of full disclosure: I am a stockholder in the company I am about to mention.* starting this month there will be a new technology for tattoo removal. The device is called Resonic and claims to use Rapid acoustic Pulse In conjunction with q switch laser. Doing so enables multiple passes per office visit. From the pictures the company has posted it also appears to be highly effective. this is the latest and greatest in tattoo removal technology and as yet has not been launched commercially so I am eager to see more from this company and how successful the device may be. As a stockholder, of course I hope the company does well for my investment, but hopefully from reading my previous posts you can see that I am rooting for this to work as I believe it’s the best hope of completing my tattoo removal journey. if you are interested in learning more, Google search terms: Soliton, SOLY, Resonic, and RAP (Rapid Acoustic Pulse). rest assured I will be posting before and after pictures when this becomes available within eight hours travel distance from where I live.

Sorry for the flippant response. In all seriousness, in terms of cost, time and discomfort I would say laser is exponentially more than getting a tattoo. for me, I can handle tattoo pain. I have only experienced laser on the neck but I guarantee it is worse than getting the tattoo, which felt more like a burning/stinging/ scraping sensation. Laser is like a rubberband snapping you more than a trillion times a second. A pico second to be exact. The only difference is the session lasts only minutes vs hours for the tattoo.

Quit a bit

Not sure if you have seen my thread on laser removal but I would encourage you to check it out if you feel like getting out of your head on this and maybe feeling better about your new tattoo. just for a taste, I am going to paste a post I made covering the topic of should I shouldn't I. ------- I do feel that most of the time, the second guessing, remorse or panic after immediately getting a tattoo is normal for me at least and not a good judge of how much of a mistake it was/wasn't. It often has more to do with OCD, Anxiety and cognitively distorted thinking like "catastrophizing". The tattoo I am getting lasered wasn’t that bad although I wasn’t happy with the placement which made me decide to go through this process. Even still I was shocked, and continue to battle with this decision, at how much it cost each session and how many sessions I will need to MAYBE remove it. The pain, depending on your pain tolerance and the location, is as bad or worse than people let on. You won't know if complete removal is even possible until you are so many sessions in that it now looks like your drunk friends scribbled something on you while you were passed out... I'm not far enough in to this process to be very positive about it. Four sessions in and I'm not quite half way there. (have since discovered probably about a quarter of the way there) Ultimately, I made the decision because I knew, after two years of having the tattoo, that I was trying to cover it up as often as possible, and I was never going to be happy with it. I also was naive as to the effectiveness of laser removal. I thought I'd be done in a couple sessions, and didn't realize the cost of each laser session would exceed the cost of getting the tattoo. All said and done, if I only need 10 sessions, I will have paid over 10 x's as much to remove, as to get. So the "math" to figure out on this one is, do you hate your tattoo 10 x's as much as it cost and two years worth of painful sessions and unpleasant recovery. .... I am going to add that, if you do hate it 10 x's as much, will you be ok with spending about 5 years of looking a mess where a professionally done tattoo once sat, until you decide, F*** it and just blast over it with something new to agonize over? Cause that is where I am at currently. Finally, your tattoo really looks good. Technically speaking, it checks off all the blocks so I put this down to first tattoo, big tattoo, highly visible (for you) area and mind screw that is ensuing as a result of the things I just mentioned. Give it several months and then see what you think. If you still consider laser after that, check out what I've posted and continue to post on this forum as my journey with laser continues. ~Best of luck

Well, your post got me to REALLY thinking this whole thing through. Unfortunately, I'm at a point where just stopping doesn't work for me. I really wish I would have had better calibrated expectations from the first session. I was led to believe that this would be a done deal at or around 10 sessions, now it sounds like closer to 20 and never complete removal. The office I was going to is no longer doing laser removal, which means I will be looking into other offices. I am really hopeful the RAP device due out this quarter (full disclaimer I am a small stock holder of SOLY 🙂 ) that there will be a clinic within 10 hours drive that I could visit. The results remain to be seen but what few pictures have been published, it looks promising. If it doesn't end up working as well as it seems, I will be spacing out sessions to twice a year and eventually just blasting over it with something that looks better in this spot. This is not my preference for previously mentioned reasons that I would like to go to work without a tie occasionally, but if it is the difference between having a now messed up tattoo in a bad location, or having a more aesthetically pleasing tattoo in this location, I would go for the latter.

It’s coming along but extremely slowly. Not sure I will end up with complete removal so I’m starting to space out appointments. thanks for asking! How many sessions did you do?

Thanks Stu!! I looked it up again and saw one post say as early as THREE WEEKS after the session!!! That sounds WAY too soon to me. I have already paid upfront for my six sessions and have two more left. I’m not terribly optimistic about the final outcome when I compare my results after four, vs what I see online. I understand my tattoo was relatively new (3 or 4 years old) and professionally done, which both make it harder to remove. It is located at a high blood flow location, I don’t drink or smoke and I exercise regularly, all of which made me think this would be further by now. 🤷‍♂️

Hey SStu, thank you for mentioning this. I would like to start spacing sessions out closer to 6 months. I’m curious though how you figure that specific amount of time? Most sites I find say you “can” go in from 6-12 weeks apart but I’ve yet to see the most optimal spacing. id think too it continues to be removed by the body, just slowly, fading for the rest of your life.

I was quoted between $500 and $800 per session but I paid in advance and got a deal for significantly less than that. Ultimately I can say that it costs more than getting the tattoo per session. That is right I am just removing the tattoo on my neck. I am really looking forward to the new Rapid Audio Pulse removal system to be commercially available later in 2020. It looks like complete removal in three office visits. currently I’m probably looking at 10 or more.

I agree with the comments above re placement. I think if it had been too much higher it might bend and distort with flexing. try and take a break from looking at it. Wait until it is completely healed.

Healed session 4 pictures. Feeling a little better about the progress after this fourth session. Still much slower than I would prefer but I feel like there is noticeable progress Btwn the third and fourth.

Thank you for your well wishes. Yes this experience is definitely no joke. I grossly underestimated the process when I went in for my first consultation. At that time I was told it would likely take 10 sessions for a complete removal and I was shocked. every person and every tattoo responds somewhat differently to the process of removal but in my case some factors working against me include that my tattoo was relatively new at only 2 1/2 years

Should I get my tattoo removed? Since posting this series, I occasionally get messages asking if tattoo removal is something I would recommend. I am always happy to respond and help others with this decision by sharing my experience. Rather than retype the same thing again and again, I figured I would post my latest response here in case anyone reading this thread finds themselves grappling with the same question. I do feel that most of the time, the second guessing, remorse or panic after immediately getting a tattoo is normal for me at least and not a good judge of how much of a mistake it was/wasn't. It often has more to do with OCD, Anxiety and cognitively distorted thinking like "catastrophizing". The tattoo I am getting lasered wasn’t that bad although I wasn’t happy with the placement which made me decide to go through this process. Even still I was shocked, and continue to battle with this decision, at how much it cost each session and how many sessions I will need to maybe remove it. The pain, depending on your pain tolerance and the location, is as bad or worse as people let on. You won't know if complete removal is possible until you are so many sessions in that it now looks like your drunk friends scribbled something on you while you were passed out... I'm not far enough in to this process to be very positive about it. Four sessions in and I'm not quite half way there. Ultimately, I made the decision because I knew, after two years of having the tattoo, that I was trying to cover it up as often as possible, and I was never going to be happy with it. I also was naive as to the effectiveness of laser removal. I thought I'd be done in a couple sessions, and didn't realize the cost of each laser session would exceed the cost of getting the tattoo. All said and done, if I only need 10 sessions, I will have paid over 10 x's as much to remove, as to get. So the "math" to figure out on this one is, do you hate your tattoo 10 x's as much as it cost and two years worth of painful sessions and unpleasant recovery. If so, Do it. I will be posting updated "healed" pictures from my latest session as soon as I get a chance. Slarti

I agree with SStu. Just looks like it is healing to me.

Here is a compilation of SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW progress. Starting at pre laser to post 3rd session. Just had 4th last week. Once things are healed I will post a side by side.