Laser hair removal uses light energy to target melanin in the skin, but tattoo pigment can often be mistaken for hair follicles and damaged by laser energy, leading to damage or discoloration of tattoos.
A licensed medical laser technician will create a template to protect your tattoo from being exposed to laser light, making sure there is at least two to three centimeters between it and treatment area.
It’s Not a Good Idea
If you currently have, or plan to get, a tattoo, it is essential that you understand that laser hair removal should not be used on areas covered in ink. Should you choose laser hair removal in advance but then decide to get inked in an area intended to be treated, complications could ensue as the laser beam would become attracted to its dark pigment and cause severe third degree burns on your skin.
Reason being that laser hair removal works by using light energy to destroy hair follicles on your skin and can attract darker pigmented follicles to darker tattooed skin to cause severe damage in both areas. There have been reports in the press about people suffering third degree burns as a result of laser hair removal over a tattoo, making it essential to use only experienced practitioners to ensure an efficient process and to avoid third degree burns as an outcome of laser treatment.
Tattoo removal may involve other methods that won’t cause any lasting damage to either your ink or skin, if that’s your choice. After having it removed you could opt for laser hair removal using an experienced practitioner so as to not end up with faded and scarred tattoos as a result of their process.
An experienced practitioner will know exactly how to work around your tattoo, creating a template to protect it and ensure there is at least two to three centimetres between the treated part of skin and tattoo, to protect your artwork while also avoiding blisters from developing.
It’s Not Safe
Laser hair removal should never be performed on any area of skin covered with tattoos, as their pigment absorbs light and heat from laser technology, damaging both your tattoo and skin with each removal attempt. Instead, using different technologies for both tasks would compromise skin integrity, cause burns, or reduce color quality of tattoos. Laser hair removal works by sending concentrated beams of light into hair follicles where heat and light damage them so they no longer produce hair; unfortunately this technology cannot differentiate between natural pigment and ink pigment and thus will damage both simultaneously!
reports in the media of people suffering laser hair removal treatments gone wrong at unregulated medical practices or those employing inexperienced employees, leading to severe burns that require hospitalization. When performed on areas covered with tattoos, risk increases significantly and could leave blistered skin or permanent scars as a result of laser hair removal treatments gone awry.
Laser hair removal on tattoos should be avoided due to its pain. People often compare getting tattooed with having laser hair removal performed on that body part – most people report feeling that getting the latter hurts more! Pain associated with laser hair removal usually feels similar to rubber band snapping against skin.
People with tattoos but who still wish to remove unwanted body hair should explore options other than waxing, shaving and depilatory creams for hair removal. There are other safe and effective alternatives which won’t risk damaging skin cells or diminishing vibrancy of their tattoo. Among these are electrolysis and tweezing as safe methods without risking damaging or interfering with natural pigmentation of their tattoo – better alternatives than laser hair removal on already covered areas of skin that already feature ink artworks.
It’s Not Convenient
Tattoos are an increasingly popular body modification trend that come in various sizes and colors. Although getting one may be fun, the process of maintaining it may become tiresome over time if there’s lots of hair that needs to be removed from its surroundings. Laser hair removal is a popular cosmetic treatment which uses light energy beams to target and destroy hair follicles to stop future hair growth; however it should never be used on skin where you have an existing tattoo as this technique would cause irreparable harm to its coloration and design.
Because your skin contains pigment, laser mistargeting could damage and discolor tattoo ink causing painful blisters and permanent loss of tattoo color – not ideal in areas covered in tattoos that you wish to rid yourself of hair removal.
Additionally, it’s important to remember that tattoos tend to become particularly sensitive after treatment with a medical laser, which could last several days depending on its size and location. Your body has already begun adapting to its new state; adding laser hair removal into this mix may only complicate things further and complicate matters further.
Electrolysis offers an effective alternative to laser hair removal. Electrolysis works by selectively extracting individual follicles instead of targeting all of them at once; though not as quick or convenient, electrolysis will provide lasting and permanent solutions without harming any tattoos.
At this stage, it would be wisest to forgo laser hair removal on areas where you have tattoos until your skin has completely recovered and the ink no longer visibly shows through. Instead, consider waxing, shaving and other methods of non-harmful hair removal such as waxing. Alternatively, speak to your tattoo artist about safer solutions for tattoo removal.
It’s Not Effective
Laser hair removal is a popular and safe cosmetic procedure that uses light energy to destroy hair follicles responsible for unwanted hair growth. Unfortunately, however, the same kind of light energy used for laser hair removal cannot differentiate between dark pigment from hair follicles and those in tattoo ink; thus causing distortion or colors fading in tattoos as well as potential serious burns to skin tissue.
Laser hair removal treatments performed unregulated or by non-trained practitioners have led to many people being hospitalised and this should never be attempted when you have tattoos, even if the hair in those areas is not particularly thick. Therefore, it should always be avoided.
Be mindful that if you already have tattoos and have undergone laser hair removal, any future attempts at tattooing could render this treatment ineffective because the tattoo will have permanently altered the layer of skin beneath.
Similar to laser hair removal, if you decide to get laser hair removal on an area where you have recently received a tattoo and undergo laser hair removal treatments there, any additional top-up treatments would likely cause permanent damage to the layer of skin beneath your tattoo. Luckily, other hair removal methods do not cause such permanent damage and include epilation, waxing and shaving – though we advise against shaving those areas where you recently got inked!
Interested in hair removal near tattoos? For the safest way possible, book a consultation with L’Ombre today – they use alternative laser technology which won’t harm either you or your tattoos – book now to book your free L’Ombre consultation and book your free hair-free body! Get in touch now to arrange an appointment and book it!
