Dr. Will Kirby is widely considered to be one of the world's leading experts on laser tattoo removal, having published the Kirby-Desai scale earlier this year and having overseen tens of thousands of tattoo removal treatments. The Kirby-Desai tattoo removal scale was covered in this month's issue of MedEsthetics. That article appears here. From the article:

Accurately estimating the number of laser treatments required and the approximate cost of a patient's tattoo removal procedure may have been made easier with the publication of a proposed grading system known as the Kirby-Desai Scale. Published in the March 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, The Kirby-Desai Scale: A Proposed Scale to Assess Tattoo-Removal Treatments offers a practical numerical scale to assess the number of laser tattoo-removal treatments necessary to achieve clearance. Based on a retrospective chart review of 100 tattoo patients who achieved total clearance, it suggests an algorithm to assign numerical scores to six parameters: skin type, location, color, amount of ink, scarring and layering. The Kirby-Desai score derived by totaling the values of these six parameters correlates with the number of treatment sessions required. Providing patients with accurate information is one of the most important things physicians can do in terms of setting realistic expectations, says William Kirby, DO, FAOCD, lead author on the original research and principal at Dr. Tattoff, Beverly Hills, California. As we continue to improve the way we relay information to patients, we will become more efficient with this emerging technology, and this increase in efficiency will make treatment more cost effective.