Laser tattoo removal procedure

 Our teeth, hair, and skin are all good ways to communicate our feelings and personality, but in the 21st century, we’ve started decorating our bodies in subtle but intentional ways. Tattoos, piercings, heavy makeup, and body paint are just a few ways we’ve started to add a little personality and “you’re not who you used to be” to our appearances. When you put a bunch of ink on your skin, however, that can sometimes not be a great thing — after all, tattoos are permanent, so who knows when you’ll want to get it removed or if you’ll regret it later. What’s more, if you get a “bad tattoo” (you know, one that you don’t like), then what are your chances of getting it removed if you’re not a surgeon?

The standard tattoo removal options aren’t exactly the most pleasant, but at one clinic in California, patients have one more alternative. Elite San Francisco Tattoo & Piercing offers an innovative treatment that takes out tattoos using a device that just melts them away with liquid nitrogen.

What’s the process like?

The process of tattoo removal is pretty straightforward. Patients first arrive at the tattoo removal clinic, where an expert performs an initial examination of the tattoo to evaluate its condition. If it’s a tiny one, they might just remove it with a needle or topical anesthesia; for the larger, more colorful tattoos, they’ll then perform a liquid nitrogen tattoo removal that involves first immersing the tattoo in liquid nitrogen.

This will melt the ink off the skin and soften the tattoo ink, which will then be brushed off into a sterile collecting bottle. (An intravenous drip can also be used to infuse the tattoo ink with liquid nitrogen.) The resulting liquid nitrogen tattoo ink is then transferred to a cartridge that’s loaded into an autoclave machine that’s powered by electricity. An operating room is then used to cure the tattoo ink before removing it, and in a very real sense, the entire process is painless.

What about the pain after the procedure?

There are different levels of pain after tattoo removal, depending on the size of the tattoo. If the tattoo is only a few millimeters in size, then it won’t be a problem. But if you have a big one that’s hiding underclothes, like say a back tattoo, you’ll want to be aware of the after-effects — like the pain when you’re in a bathing suit or sweatpants, especially in warm weather.

“Tattoo removal is painful, but if you have a small tattoo, the pain is not that great,” Dr. Alexandra Rosenfeld of Elite San Francisco Tattoo & Piercing said in a video. “When you have a big tattoo that is hiding under clothes and if you don’t get treated it will become that much more inflamed and swollen and will cause problems with people in various clothes.”

If you decide to have it removed, what are the odds of it coming back?

On the one hand, it’s important to keep in mind that tattoo removal, whether it’s laser, needle, or some other form, is never going to be 100 percent effective. Dr. Rosenfeld tells Fortune that the long-term success rates for getting permanent tattoos removed are roughly between 50 and 70 percent. If you get a tattoo done a few years ago and have recently been in a damaging accident or got burned in the sun, you’re not likely to be able to get it removed for good — but that can change over time.