5 Things you should ask if you are looking for a tattoo removal clinic

This should always be the first question to ask and is the determining factor in your safety. There are 2 reasons for this, 1 is legal and 1 medical. Legally, in most states in Australia, only a doctor or registered nurse is allowed to operate a laser. Having a business owner who is medically qualified is not sufficient enough to fulfil the legal requirements Medically, of course you want to have someone who understands human anatomy and can act instantly if treatment does not go to plan.

Once you are convinced that the business is working within the boundary of the law you next need to ascertain their business practices

This is important for you to know as it can help you to determine the success of your treatment. If the machine is more than 3 months old you can ask how many shots it has done. A machine working full time will do around 150,000 shots each month on average. and globes generally only last for 200,000 shots. The high quality globes last around a million shots but these were only introduced in the last 18 months and are not generally fitted to most equipment as standard practice. You will likely find that the person who answers your telephone enquiry will not know the answers, but that is understandable as the receptionists are generally not involved in the technical side of things. As long as someone can get back to you with the answers you can continue to make enquiries.

All equipment needs servicing on a regular basis, but the majority of clinics do not bother with this as it is time consuming and loses them money while the machine is down. Medical quality lasers are water cooled and need the water tanks cleaning out and the water replacing regularly if being used full time. It does depend on the size of the tank, anything from weekly to monthly. But monthly would be the absolute minimum requirement to comply with safety & hygiene laws.

Below are some of the answers you are likely to be given. 3 indicate ignorance about the equipment as well as a lack of understanding of the process, only 2 are “ the right answer” so if you do not receive the answer yu are looking for, its time to tick these people off your list and move on. Q-Switch laser – This refers to the safety cut off switch that is built into all lasers Pico or Picosecond – This refers to the duration of the pulse length and has nothing to do with effectiveness. Alexandrite – Colour specific laser, good for tattoo removal but not often seen. ND-YAG – Colour specific laser specially constructed for tattoo removal. CO2 – Ablative laser legal only in hospital settings as it vapourises everything it contacts.

Here is where you will truly discover the ethics of the business. And you will discover the motives behind the clinic. Generally you should not require more than 6 sessions to remove the ink. Green may require 8 sessions as it is notoriously difficult due to its ingredients. 4 is the most common number for black and blue ink . The session length should be dependent on the tattoo size, but should not be longer than 1 hour. A full hour may be required for larger tattoos and includes the time taken to cool down the area to ensure no blistering occurs. If the sessions are to be 15 or 20 mins and the tattoo is larger than palm of hand size be very wary.