While tattoo removal has been the staple of Dr. Tattoff's business since 2004, recent public interest in various tattoo removal methods have brought much attention to the chain of tattoo removal clinics. In a recent article by USC's Michelle LaRue, tattoo removal expert Dr. Will Kirby and his brother and head of marketing for Dr. Tattoff, Ian Kirby, discussed trends in both tattooing and tattoo removal, as well as how the process of tattoo removal works. From the article:

The old ways of removing tattoos, according to Beverly Hills’ Dr. Tattoff employee Ian Kirby, do not sound fun.

“[People] would blast your tattoo off like a bazooka and leave a horrible scar. Other options for tattoo removal are dermabrasion which is like scrubbing it off with a wire brush, excision which is cutting it off and sewing the skin back together, you tend to have a scar that way.”

Kirby says laser treatment gets rid of tattoos without damaging the skin. “If you think of a pigment molecule like a marble under your skin and your body doesn’t want that pigment molecule there because it’s a foreign body but it’s a marble its too big for your body to remove. The laser comes in and it works like a hammer to smash that marble into a million different pieces that are really small and now they’re small enough for your body to remove.”

In 2009, Dr. Tattoff did fourteen thousand tattoo removal procedures. The youngest patient was fourteen and the oldest eighty-seven. The average patient was female between eighteen and thirty-four. Whether it was someone fresh out of jail, a USC student, or a customer who literally got his tattoo a few hours earlier, Kirby said they all had one thing in common: they wanted a fresh start.

“It’s more than getting a haircut, it’s more than getting your nails done, it’s more than getting a new apartment, it’s a brand new lease on life, it makes you feel like a new person,” says Kirby’s brother and co-worker, dermatologist Dr. William Kirby. Dr. Kirby sees ex-lovers names, fraternity letters, and the ever-so-trendy barbed wire tattoos every day. Some tattoos, however, are more extreme than others.

“I’m a big Willie Nelson fan, I’ve been to Lukenback, Texas, and I have seen Willie Nelson’s face on a woman’s private parts where her pubic hair is Willie Nelson’s beard,” says Dr. Kirby.

Where the tattoo is on the body and what type and color of ink used all determines how easily a tattoo can be removed. The closer the tattoo is to the heart, the easier it is to remove because there is more blood flow. Dr. Kirby says many of his patients – like the owner of Electric Body Tattoo – will clear up an area of skin in order to have another tattoo put in its place. More business for laser removal places can actually mean more business for tattoo parlors.

Visit www.drtattoff.com for more information on tattoo removal or to book a free consultation for your tattoo removal.

Here's a tattoo removal treatment from just a few days ago in which we removed a large tattoo that read "Family" from a young man's forearm. This is a great example of how quick and effective tattoo removal can be. The white area that appears over the ink is called "frosting". It's caused by heat rising up out of the skin and typically dissipates a few mintues after the tattoo removal procedure.

Having performed over 50,000 tattoo removal procedures, the experts at Dr. Tattoff are largely considered the leading authority on tattoo removal.

At Dr. Tattoff, very rarely after a tattoo removal treatment session a patient will contact us with concerns about redness, itching, and minor inflamation far outside of the treated tattoo area. This is called contact dermatitis.

Contact dermatitis is an inflamation of the skin that results from direct skin contact with certain substances such as soaps, cleansers, creams, lotions, ointments, some plastics, adhesives, over-icing, tapes, and possibly other substances. While these symptoms may result from other tattoo removal procedures, contact dermatitis is NOT caused by laser tattoo removal procedures performed at Dr. Tattoff clinics. In addition, this red, itchy rash is not contagious or dangerous, but it can be uncomfortable and may take 2-4 weeks to heal.

If you have received a tattoo removal procedure at a Dr. Tattoff clinic and you notice that you have a rash around the area, please contact the medical staff at your Dr. Tattoff clinic so they can explain how to properly treat the area and prepare you for your next tattoo removal session.

Tattoo removal is performed on three clown faces on a patient's arm at a Dr. Tattoff tattoo removal clinic. As you can see, the difference between the area before tattoo removal as opposed to after the procedure is dramatic. As the tattoo was put on many years ago and is dark ink on light skin, this patient is going to have excellent results from his tattoo removal procedure.

Visit www.drtattoff.com for tattoo removal before and after pictures and more tattoo removal videos, or to book an appointment for a free consultation for tattoo removal.