Slartibartfast

Hi @HollyJoy I just happened to check in to the forum today for the first time since my last post. Good timing with your post. Regarding updates, I continue to see progress since my second session, which occurred nearly 14 weeks ago. I read somewhere that from an economical standpoint, it may be better to space out your sessions at least 12 weeks apart. This makes sense to me as there are still ink droplets being removed by your immune system and the more that is removed, the higher the contrast between what remains and what no longer remains, thus having potentially greater effectiveness on the remaining tattoo. I am trying to bring myself to schedule my next session. I would like to make a comment in a general way about how I view removal at this point. Essentially, I am pleased that this is a technology that is available. I will continue to stick with it until my tattoo is lightened enough to go over or completely removed (yet to be determined if that is even possible). I am hopeful that the new "RAP" technology will do all that is promised in terms of reducing sessions and price of tattoo removal. *With everything above being said, I am not sure this was all worth it. 1)The pain is significant and recovery time negatively impacts my ability to live my life the way I would like to, active, gym, mountainbiking, playing with my kids, swimming, or even wearing a tie to work. 2)The cost is truly upsetting considering that each session is in excess of the price I paid for the tattoo in the first place. 3)The amount of time this process will take, amount of weeks of recovery essentially will make it about a year and a half of trauma, recovery of two weeks, three to five weeks of feeling better - to normal, then blasting myself with a laser again, repeating the process about 10 times. 4)The results are still uncertain. In order to get to a point where I can tell how my body and the tattoo is responding to the treatment, we have to dial in settings and undergo enough sessions that there is no turning back. 4.b) I've seen results online and nearly always I think (that tattoo didn't look so bad before but certainly looks like a horrible smudgy mess now) and I wonder if that will be me in half a year. Then what? Half a year of a giant smudgy mess on my neck. I can't write any of this without cringing at how, spoiled this all sounds. I got a F'ing tattoo on my neck. I got what I paid for and deserve what comes with it. I love tattoos. well, good tattoos. Part of what makes tattoos special, unique, powerful is not just the difficulties endured to get it, both in pain and money, but that it IS permanent. Most of its "edgyness" comes from this defining attribute that sets it apart from just drawing on myself with washable markers. The fact it can be undone or potentially erased, takes some of the weight out of tattoos, waters down their significance and thus dilutes their power to some extent in my mind. And yet, laser technology means I can try to amend an impulsive decision I made that I know regret. And that last statement sums up why I'm doing this, against the 1-4b I listed above. I have regretted this tattoo pretty soon after I got it. having it affects my wardrobe choices every day and doubly so at work, and the mere possibility that I could get it removed was never far from my mind once I admitted to myself I was unhappy with it. I plan to call for an appointment for my 3rd session tomorrow. Once it is confirmed, I will post some pre-session pictures to compare progress since the last, and then post more photos after this next session. I hope this long post is helpful to all who read it. I realize I made some "philosophical" statements that I certainly don't think are true for everyone but accurately depict how I see things right now. Sincerely, Slarti

I just heard about it last week! Seems you do the audio blast along with laser and multiple passes of laser in one session. Makes me wonder if I’d be able to take it as I can’t even imagine what going for a second and third pass would be like. I would definitely like to try though, the results looked unreal. Like completely gone after two or three sessions.

Yes. The question is how many sessions it will take. apparently there is fine tuning that takes place also, if my artist mixed the black with blue, or with any other colors I understand that could have an impact. My Dr said the main factor is my immune system and how healthy it is. A healthy immune system will clear away the pieces quicker. I think I have a healthy immune system. Also, higher blood flow areas fade quicker too. So I’ve got that going for me.

Yeah, I was cautioned that it might not show much results the first couple sessions while frequency is getting dialed. This is also a newer tattoo I got a year and a half ago. Nitrous was only administered during the procedure and I saw online this is a pain management option for some laser places. I elected to skip it this time and found it easier to deal with the pain with a clear head. I don’t typically read people going on about the pain part and don’t know if I just have lower tolerance or if it’s because of the location but I’ve found this to be more painful than expected and a different pain lasts well past the procedure.

Ok. Second session done. No gas this time, only used numbing cream. I would say it hurt just as bad but was bearable. I know the settings were more intense this time because an hour later and it is swelling up and red all over whereas the first time only had minimal swelling and redness faded rather quickly.

Well, today is my second session. I was so nervous about it that my hands were sweating and heart rate rising just making the appointment. The first session my doctor recommended I use nitrous. He explained this would not lessen pain but would decrease my relationship with the pain and make the procedure better for me. I went along with the recommendation and plan on doing this session without. I really didn’t like the other effects of using nitrous. Teenage me probably would have been thrilled but 14 years sober me prefers not experiencing intoxication whenever possible. So I’m lathering up a numbing cream (aspercreme) and hoping I can get through this without any gas. Here are before pictures, taken today, approximately six weeks from the first session.

The neck is definitely no joke!! I’m getting this done with a cutera enlighten pico laser. I’m noticing the horrible blurry and patchy progress that says “no turning back now!” Full week since I had the first session. Neck is now just sensitive and a little itchy. I believe I’ve read conflicting information on pain increase vs decrease with consecutive sessions but I’ll post how it goes

The pictures above are just an update. 4 days since first session. I’m simultaneously encouraged and discouraged by the progress. I see a few spots with really significant lightening others that look no different. I heard the first few sessions might not yield much. I’ll post when there is news.

Yeah. I hear ya man. There were some fairly large parts that blew out. I understand the neck is a tricky spot. I take full responsibility for my displeasure with this one and am paying for it in heaps of cash, time and pain. And rightly so I suppose. It’s a flippin tattoo. Meant to be permanent. So the fact I even have the possibility of fixing this giant mistake should keep my complaining to a reasonable, endless and internal monologue l.

Yeah. I hear ya man. There were some fairly large parts that blew out. I understand the neck is a tricky spot. I take full responsibility for my displeasure with this one and am paying for it in heaps of cash, time and pain. And rightly so I suppose. It’s a flippin tattoo. Meant to be permanent. So the fact I even have the possibility of fixing this giant mistake should keep my complaining to a reasonable, endless and internal monologue l.

Thank you John, I'm certainly not thrilled either. One the one hand I feel a bit ridiculous spending so much money, going through so much pain for such a long time on something I did to myself knowing it was permanent. On the other hand, if it works, it certainly is not getting off easy. Day one after first treatment: Neck sore but not nearly as bad as yesterday. I'm able to wear one of my looser fit dress shirts, tie and top button fastened. I don't know if this is helping but I cut off the short sleeve from a T-shirt and stretched it enough to get it over my head and on my neck. The constant contact prevents my dress shirt from rubbing or scraping. From a progress standpoint, I am surprised just how much faded in certain areas while others appear to have no change (other than red and swollen). I'm sure this is due to depth and saturation of ink. I'll update when there is news.

Yeah, Thanks! Just the neck.

These are a couple hours after. In addition to redness and swelling I can see areas, that were filled in with the shader, that are immediately showing lightening. I figure the outline will take the longest and is the biggest gamble in how well this goes. I’ve looked at a lot of pictures online and am still trying to stay realistic about what can be achieved. I realize I made the choice to get this tattoo. I think the artist did a good enough job although I wish we would have spent more time on getting placement and the line even. I’m attempting to get it removed as I have never felt good about how it looks. When people see it, they generally act in a way that confirms my bad feelings about it. By either not saying anything or clearly avoiding any comment on how they think it looks. I realize other people’s opinions don’t matter if I like it but I don’t like it AND this nagging issue is confirmed by their response. Being an educator, I’m hoping I can again wear the top button, unbuttoned while at work. The tattoo is pretty new, got it in October of 2017, and being that it is so big and bold I think I’m right to be concerned about how this removal will turn out. Unless I end up doing a coverup (which would mean top button for 25 more years), I realize this will likely be a long, painful and expensive ordeal. Stay tuned

Thought I would add my experience as I go along. I am seeing a dr in the area in which I live. Went in for my consult and first session. I will try to keep up progress pictures. These are the before images

I do this too!! I know I love tattoos, and feel like my body is more my own with them, but I have this same reaction. Wow, makes me feel better to learn someone else has this too! Thanks for sharing.

All comments above have helped me get a different perspective and I thank you all. I have now come to see it not as I had envisioned but as it is and this is helping quite a bit. As with each tattoo I have gotten, I need a break in and adjustment phase. Right around the time it has healed and doesn’t look shiny, plastic, I start getting a perspective that most closely resembles how I will feel going forward. I guess no different than most things in life, it’s better than a lot of other possibilities, not what I expected, and if I focus on the things I like about it, I will feel good about it. Thanks!

DOUBLE DRAGONS!!!!

Hello Forum, I am in the process of accepting my current situation with a new tattoo I would love feedback from the group both on the tattoo itself and next steps for me with it. the story: I booked a month in advance with an artist I was very excited to get to collect from. I love their style and have been following them for at least a year on Instagram and while tastes vary and I would not want the specific tattoos I have seen posted, nearly all of them look incredible and the technique and style was all on point for my vision. I discussed what I was thinking of in person then after a week decided against it and Spoke with the artist over the phone about the new idea then followed up with an email and reference. I was asking for a Tibetan dragon that had an interesting tiger head and some other features not typical in dragon tattoos. The New direction I submitted was a full two weeks before our appointment and he said that would be plenty of time to draw this up. When I went in for the appointment it took about 30 minutes before he came out with the drawing and I still wonder if he didn’t just throw something together on the spot. I was immediately disappointed with what I saw in the stencil as it didn’t look anything like the image I sent him and brought up a few of my concerns, the head didn’t look like the one I submitted at all, and I didn’t like the stripes on the back of the dragon and asked if he could make those more filled in and even pointed to an example on the tattoo on his arm as well as some flash. He gave an answer why the stripes would be better and said the head I wanted wouldn’t fit between other tattoos and I decided my nerves were probably more the issue and proceeded to go along with the appointment. It all seems ridiculous as I write this as there are red flags all over this and clearly this is my fault as I should have just canceled the appointment at that time. However, this artist has done such good work and the style typically was exactly what I wanted so I trusted it would Look better once complete. When he was done I looked at it and thanked him, I also tipped him over 20% of a price that was somewhat high for my region. He took a video of it and posted it on his Instagram feed but after a day removed the posting. To my knowledge I have never seen him post anything that he later removed and can’t help but think he also wasn’t very proud of the job. I would like to post the images and get your feedback on what you think and how it could be improved. I’m also not sure if I should contact the artist and see if he would do the improvements or go to another artist. I still think this artist has great work but what I got makes me hesitant to contact him. The artist’s significant other is also, in my opinion, one of the most talented artists in my city and I would like to go back to them one day so I want to spare as much drama as possible with the first artist. Please let me know 1) how you would handle the situation, 2) what you think of the piece/ ideas for improvement 3) how you deal with ragritz/vs settle in period. Im thinking of having more shading added to the back or even blacking it all in as well as the same for the pattern behind his head. I really like the end of the tail and think the tattoo as a whole wouldn’t bother me as much if it wasn’t for the fact it looks nothing like the one I submitted