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Tattooed face…

Article medically reviewed by Dr. Gavin Chan (MBBS, cosmetic doctor, liposuctionist)

Templestowe Lower, Berwick and Beaumaris Clinics

Dr. Gavin Chan has a background in intensive care, anaesthesia, and emergency medicine. Since 2005, Dr. Chan has provided cosmetic procedures, including anti-wrinkle injections, dermal fillers, liposuction and laser treatments. He is a doctor trainer for various dermal fillers and anti-wrinkle injections. Read More

I was shocked to read a story in the news of a Belgian teenager who was tattooed over her face whilst apparently sleeping through the procedure!

She alleges that she only wanted 3 stars, but ended up with many more.

She and her family are suing the tattoo artist for $18400, the apparent cost of removing the tattoos.

Laser tattoo removal can be performed on a case such as this, and fortunately, for this girl, there are a few things about these tattoos that make it favourable for laser removal;
It is black – black is one of the better colours to remove as there is a good contrast between this colour and her normal skin. Also the lasers are highly attracted to black. Other colours such as white and green may be harder to remove . We usually use our Ruby laser to remove green tattoos and this works well. White ink on the other hand tends to oxidise and turn black initially, and then takes longer to remove.
It is on her face – Believe it or not, but the face actually heals better and faster with a smaller chance of scarring than the body when it comes to laser. We find this to be true not only for laser tattoo removal, but also from laser skin resurfacing or laser freckle removal. I recently removed a tattoo from a man’s face, and it was amazing to see how ‘normal’ the skin appeared after it came off.

In the end, this tattoo is likely to take more than one year to remove, and over 10 sessions of laser treatment.

I wish this girl the best for her treatment.