Posted on 09/17/2007 10:27:23 PM PDT by LouAvul
Laura Hathaway initially had no regrets after getting a tattoo on her lower back when she was 21. But now, 10 years later, she wants it gone.
The pharmaceutical sales representative from Atlanta, Georgia, says it doesn't fit in with her current lifestyle as the mother of a 2-year-old boy who just started to talk. "The other day I bent over and he said, 'What's that?' and it just confirms why I'm having it removed."
Dr. Scott Karempelis of Atlanta Dermatology Associates is performing a multitreatment laser procedure that will gradually erase Hathaway's tattoo with little or no scarring. The process is painful, expensive and time-consuming.
Karempelis says that in spite of the drawbacks, "business is booming." He and three other dermatologists in his office see more than 30 patients a day who want tattoos removed by laser.
The American Academy of Dermatology reports tattoo regret is common in the United States. Among a group of 18- to 50-year-olds surveyed in 2004, 24 percent reported having a tattoo and 17 percent of those considered getting their tattoo removed.
Karempelis uses a state-of-the-art laser that targets the pigment in the tattoo. "It goes through the skin without damaging it and hits the pigment depending on which wavelength and which color you have, and it blows it into small pieces."
The tattoo ink is then reabsorbed into the body through the lymphatic system. The process must be completed over several sessions in order to protect the skin from damage.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I once saw a girl in a rear-echelon Army unit, who had “mom” tattooed on her bicep. I assumed that she called herself a “federalist.”
You got that right. I simply don’t understand the mentality of tatoos. It’s like selecting a pair of shoes that one will have to wear for the rest of life without ever changing the style unless they are surgically removed.
I see so many people with tatoos, I feel like I'm surrounded by carnival roadies.
I don’t like tattoos anyway, but I saw the ugliest tattoo on the back of a young woman’s neck/back the other day. It was some kind of thing with butterfly/bug type wings and then a human head in the middle of the wings—looked like a woman’s head with bushy hair. I can’t imagine she paid for that. It was so hideous I thought it must be homeade. She was showing it off though. Hard to believe that she’s going to cherish getting that thing on her body when she starts getting up there in age.
bttt
I saw a girl with a tattoo of her throat slit. And blood dropping from it.
Really, you have to wonder ...
Not only that but the dye fades ... and stretches with age. These folks aren’t thinking ahead.
I better jump in here before this thread takes a more youthful, fiercely libertarian turn.
Yea...all tats might as well say "I drink too much beer. I am stupid. And for values, I go with whatever cheap trashy behavior is hip at the moment."
I know I am too harsh on this topic, but I can not help it. I was raised to aspire to something better than trashy street "culture." I am too old to see it any other way.
Your hip-hop culture, your rap music, your baggy trousers, your Nazi motorcycle helmets, your punk body piercings, your green and purple hair, your bad-ass dogs, and your tats....I regard it all with spitting contempt.
In a somewhat similar vein, I regularly use a small local print store for some home office usage (multiple copies, color printing, etc.). One of the girls there is probably 17 years old, beautiful young girl, with a completely sweet, innocent 'girl next door' type of look.
One day she wore a low cut top which revealed multiple large tattoos on the upper portion of her breasts(yes it was cut that low).
I was a bit surprised and could not help but think: why would such a beautiful young lady destroy herself that way?
I don’t get the tattoo craze. Maybe one small inconspicuous one, but more than that makes a person look like a savage. Same with body piercing. Pierced ears are one thing, but looking like a human pin cushion is barbaric.
Insecurity. Peer pressure.
When I was that age, I grew long hair, wore bell bottoms, and walked barefoot. All because of peer pressure. But when I grew up, I cut my hair and bought some shoes.
I am soooo glad that tattoos weren't "in" when I was young and stupid.
Amen to that!
She wants her tramp stamp removed now that she has kids.
Interviewer: Well, I want to thank you for applying for the job, but..........
Saw this 30 something woman the other day with 2 little kids, she's all tattooed up and she's got the slut garb on....Ya get in line at stores and almost everyone in line is tattooed up...Weird people.
Makes me wanna live in the boonies, find a cave.
Anyone know the stock symbols of the companies that make these lasers? This seems like a good investment idea.
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