Color tattoos will absolutely not disappear if you erase them the same way as black ink

These days, with all kinds of news, the world outside the clinic feels pretty chaotic too.

Anyway, let’s get to the point.

When it starts getting warm enough to wear short sleeves,

people begin to say, “I keep getting bothered by this red rose tattoo I got 10 years ago,”

and more and more of them come in.

But most of these patients have one thing in common.

They say, “Even after five or six sessions somewhere else, the color still doesn’t fade.”

Today I’ll explain why, step by step.

What on earth is different about this?

Color tattoo removal is a procedure that uses laser energy to break down colored ink particles embedded in the skin’s dermis

so that macrophages can

absorb and eliminate them.

Conventional Q-switched lasers mainly used two wavelengths, 1064nm and 532nm,

and mostly handled black and red,

whereas picosecond lasers use multiple wavelengths

to break down green, yellow, and even blue ink.

The key is that the speed unit changed from nanoseconds (one billionth of a second)

to picoseconds (one trillionth of a second), making it 1,000 times faster.

A misunderstanding that often comes up here

The key point of this article

Color tattoos like red, green, and yellow were hard to remove with existing lasers.

PicoWay uses multiple wavelengths, so it can break apart ink particles of every color, not just black.

Color tattoos like red, green, and yellow are


hard to remove with existing lasers.


PicoWay uses multiple wavelengths


so it can break apart ink particles of every color,


not just black.

Let me explain why.

Each ink color absorbs different light wavelengths.

Black absorbs 1064nm well,

and red responds to 532nm.

But green and blue are a bit tricky,

because they barely respond to either of those wavelengths.

So even if you keep firing 1064nm at a green tattoo,

all that happens is the skin gets hotter while the color stays the same.

A woman in her 30s who came in last month really stood out to me.

She had a green leaf tattoo on her wrist for 8 years,

and had received seven laser treatments at another clinic,

but the color was almost unchanged.

Looking at the chart, every treatment had used only the 1064nm wavelength.

The wavelength that works best for green ink is

actually 755nm alexandrite.

After three sessions with picosecond 755nm,

about 70% of it faded.

But this isn’t all good news.

There’s one thing I definitely need to mention:

even picosecond lasers can cause white or peach-colored tattoos to

turn black instead.

When titanium oxide gets heated,

it reduces and changes to black.

So even among color tattoos, depending on what color it is,

and how deeply it is embedded,

the approach has to be different.

Director Wi Young-jin’s key takeaway


The reason a color tattoo won’t fade is usually not a lack of skill,


but a mismatch in wavelength.


Because each color responds to different wavelengths,


the first step is choosing a device that matches your tattoo’s color.

This is how I break it down in the clinic

The approach varies quite a bit by color.

The table below summarizes the questions I get most often.

Honestly,

pastel shades like yellow and light green

can be hard to completely remove even after more than 10 sessions.

That said, if they fade by about 50 to 70%,

they’re often barely visible to the naked eye,

so many people aim for that level.

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering this

Q1. I’ve already had several sessions somewhere else. Will starting again still work?

A. This is a point many people misunderstand,

but if the ink has already been broken into smaller particles by previous treatments,

then once the proper wavelength is matched,

the remaining pigment often fades quickly.

In fact, there are quite a few cases where people who had 7 to 8 sessions elsewhere

are satisfied after just 2 or 3 sessions.

Q2. How many weeks apart should the sessions be, and how much should I expect to spend in total?

A. The usual interval is 4 to 8 weeks.

It takes time for the ink to be cleared by macrophages,

so if you do it too often, the effect is weaker

and it only increases the burden on the skin.

The cost varies depending on the tattoo’s size, color, and depth,

so it’s hard to give a blanket estimate,

but in general, color tattoos cost more per session and take more sessions than black ones.

Q3. Is there any concern about scars or pigment changes?

A. Picosecond lasers do reduce heat damage significantly,

but they are not completely harmless.

In particular, if you have a darker skin tone

or the tattoo is deeply embedded in the dermis,

temporary hypopigmentation can occur.

Most people recover within 3 to 6 months,

but it’s important to adjust the wavelength and intensity settings before treatment

to match your skin condition.

I hope today’s article was helpful. This has been Wi Young-jin.