How Laser Tattoo Removal Works

Premium Tattoo Removal offers the safest and most effective solution to your unwanted tattoos. As a simple outpatient procedure, it fits easily into your busy schedule.

Our Houston laser tattoo removal clinic can remove even the most complex, multi-colored tattoos with a wide range of colors, all over the body. Our best-made laser system uses four separate wavelengths of light to remove darker (black, purple, brown), brighter (red, yellow, orange), and stubborn blue-green tattoo pigments.

The Fotona QX Max laser system delivers the highest energy in a single nanosecond pulse. This enables a large powerful spot size for deeper penetration resulting in increasing the efficacy and safety during your laser tattoo removal treatment.

In addition, the Fotona uses Optoflex technology, making it the only laser that delivers a homogeneous beam profile providing even distribution of light energy across the treated area, minimizing epidermal damage.

The laser directly targets the tattoo pigment with nanosecond bursts of high-intensity light, while sparing the surrounding tissue. When the ink particles of the tattoo absorb the light from the laser, they are broken up into tiny fragments. These fragments are then absorbed through the body’s natural immune (cleansing) mechanism, fading and removing the tattoo. This cleansing process generally takes several weeks and you’ll see the tattoo fade during this time.

Advanced Laser Tattoo Removal Technology

Tattoo Removal with High Single Pulse Power

Q-switched lasers ideal in pigment treatments: Widespread medical opinion based on extended clinical research says pigment is ideally removed using Q-switched lasers. Their nanosecond pulses generate powers in the Megawatt range producing a powerful yet contained photo-mechanical effect in which pigment particles shatter and destroy the cells they are contained in; effectively removing the pigment.

Less risk of unwanted side effects:

Our QX-MAX Laser System is the highest single pulse energy generating, Q-switched laser on the market reaching peak power up to 320 Megawatts. This allows larger spot sizes to remain effective by avoiding the scattering effect of laser light in the tissue. In turn, laser energy can penetrate deeper into the skin to treat deeper-lying pigment. The use of larger spot sizes requires less fluence to be effective, reducing the risk of unwanted side effects such as tissue splatter, bleeding, and textural changes (See Fig. 3).

Remove more and deeper lying pigments:

The QX MAX single nanosecond (billionths of a second) pulses are more efficient at removing pigment than multiple pulse technologies that generate equivalent high energies. Single pulses are not affected by the optical shielding phenomenon arising from pigment destruction; more and deeper-lying structures can be reached and removed. Laser treatment efficacy and efficiency in a single session are thus maximized.

Maximize Laser Tattoo Removal Treatment Safety and Efficacy

Only single-pulse laser treatments allow a laser’s energy to reach deeper pigments. The QX-MAX’s higher single-pulse energy efficiency makes individual treatments more effective compared to less advanced systems. In multi-pulse laser treatments, optical shielding arises when the first pulse generates gas and steam within the skin as it strikes the pigment. Consequently, successive pulses are prevented from effectively reaching the deeper-lying pigments. This is why Fotona’s QX MAX technology is designed to provide the highest, single pulse energies for pigment-tattoo removal treatments.

Single Pulse vs. Multi-Pulse Laser

An average tattoo takes 3 to 8 treatments to remove completely. The number of treatments depends on the age, color, quality of ink, and technique used to create the tattoo (professional vs. homemade). Learn more about the process in our FAQs section.

Laser Beam Profile Consideration

In addition to high single pulse energy, the homogeneity of the laser beam profile is important in laser systems. A homogeneous beam profile provides safety during treatment as it enables even distribution of energy across the treated area. A homogeneous beam profile minimizes epidermal damage and decreases bleeding, tissue splatter, and transient textural changes in the skin. However, due to the non-linearity of Q-switched lasers, achieving homogeneous beam profiles has been a serious challenge for the laser industry. In the Fotona QX MAX, a special patent Fotona Optoflex technology is used to achieve an almost perfect homogeneity of the beam profile (See Fig. 7).

Wavelengths for Laser Tattoo Removal

Laser wavelength must be considered when removing pigments from the skin, especially with complex multi-colored tattoos. The wavelength determines which pigment color or chromophore the treating laser energy will be predominantly absorbed in for selective removal. To ensure safe and effective treatments you’ll need various wavelengths to treat a wide range of pigmented lesions.

Our Fotona QX Max Laser System combines four different wavelength options, in an advanced, high powered solution for all color tattoos

• 1064 nm Nd:YAG for dark pigments, black, dark blue and brown inks
• 532 nm KTP for red, tan, purple and orange inks
• 650 nm for green inks
• 585 nm for blue, sky blue inks

This selection of wavelengths provides the ability to remove even the most complex, multi-colored tattoos.

Maximizing Patient Comfort and Minimizing Side Effects

Laser tattoo removal is the safest and easiest way to remove an unwanted tattoo. At Premium Tattoo Removal we know how to effectively remove ink while minimizing pain.

With today’s technology, we are able to precisely target the ink in your tattoo with minimal side effects. The laser energy gently passes through the outermost layer of skin until it reaches your tattoo’s pigment and leaves the lower layers untouched. The skin is very rarely broken, although some swelling and sensitivity in the skin are common.

For your comfort, we use the Zimmer Cryo 6 cold air machine the gold standard for epidermal cooling.

Unlike other cooling methods, such as contact cooling, cryogen spray, or ice packs, the Zimmer Cryo 6 can cool the epidermis before, during, and after treatment. By simply blowing this cold air on the skin for a few minutes, the skin will be thoroughly cooled for treatment – reducing pain and the risk of thermal injuries.

Patient motivations for laser tattoo removal

• Tattoo is an ex’s name
• Patient gets tired of having limited clothing options
• Patient doesn’t want their children to see it
• Tattoo is limiting acceptance to jobs or military
• Artist did poor quality work
• Tattoo has faded over time
• Attitudes toward the tattoo’s meaning have changed