Tattoos Really AREN'T Forever!

Yep. They really arent, thanks to laser tattoo removal!!! I have these 2 tattoos. One is a classy tramp stamp. It's some cliche tribal design with a heart in the middle. And then there's the one on my hiney... a crescent moon with a halo and 2 stars. Why I got that one, I have no idea. I think I was drunk the night before and clearly thought it was a good idea. Needless to say, hindsight is 20/20 and I've hated these damn tattoos for a while now.

Recently I've decided to look into tattoo removal so that I could budget and plan to accomodate getting these tryphlin' things removed! Well, to my surprise, I discovered that tattoo removal is definitely NOT what it was 10 years ago! Before, you could get the tattoos removed, but it was extremely painful and it left a considerable amount of scarring. But, thanks to the gloriousness that is technology, it's pretty much as easy to get rid of the damn thing as it is to get it! Actually, I think it hurts a lot less -- just my opinion. I found a nice place near my office and I got my first treatment yesterday! I am SO excited at the thought of not cringing when I catch a glimps of my backside in a mirror! Typically it takes about 6 treatments 6-8 weeks apart to get the tattoo to go away completely. They use special FDA approved lasers to break up the pigment, which gets disposed of by your body over a period of 3-4 weeks. The procedure is pretty quick. They make you lay on a table and they numb your skin with some numbing medication (similar to Novicane). That part sucks. I compare it to getting Botox (not that I really know what that's like....) because they have to numb the WHOLE area of the tattoo. I probably got stuck 6 times in my butt and a dozen times on my back (which was NOT fun!).

So after the discomfort of getting stuck with a needle for 5 minutes, they do the laser treatment, which literally lasts for like 10 seconds. Then they put a bandage on the treated area, and off you go! You can't shower for 24 hours (ick), hence why I'm blogging at 7:15am!

I am curious to see what my tattoos look like this afternoon when I have to change the bandages! I hope it's not too gross... Update on that coming tonight!

Have a great day!