Free Republic

Regret, job searches and changing rules within the military are fueling tattoo removals. The industry has grown at faster pace than ever before and it's estimated to be worth $83 billion within two-years. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 46-percent of millennials have removed tattoos before entering the job market. The technology to remove tattoos has also come a long way since the 1990's. La Mesa doctor Ellyn Levine said she has been removing more tattoos than ever before, and uses the most most effective method there is today. "I think the technology has advanced literally in...

Some mistakes can be erased with Confession and Reconciliation. Others require a laser. That’s the thinking behind a popular program sponsored by the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Monterey, Calif., in which retired and off-duty physicians volunteer their time to remove tattoos from people who feel their ink is holding them back from putting past mistakes behind them.Laser tattoo removal usually costs hundreds of dollars a session, but Catholic Charities offers laser treatments for $20 or less to people who go the extra mile to prove that transforming their physical appearance is just the first step in transforming their...

The year is 2001. Eighteen-year-old Rees Barnett impulsively walks into a tattoo parlour and picks the trendiest designs off the wall display: a tribal arm band and a shoulder tribal tattoo. But over the years, both those symbols quickly went from cool to ​cliché, leaving Barnett with tattoo regret. “Unfortunately, I can’t blame it on booze,” he said. “[It's] one of those bad decisions that you wake up and realize, oh crap, I’m stuck with these.” Now, at age 32, the pension fund analyst is erasing this part of his past at Precision Laser Tattoo Removal in Toronto. A technician...

Two men were arrested on Monday in Kalmar in southern Sweden on suspicions of assault for using a pair of scissors to cut away another man’s tattoos. The incident is alleged to have taken place last weekend and involved two young men who for some reason decided to forcefully remove several tattoos from a third man, reports the Oskarshamns Tidningen The men used the scissors to cut away the tattoos, removing chunks of skin in the process. According to police, several tattoos were taken off completely, while others were partially removed. Police remain uncertain as to the relationship between the...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Kelly Brannigan was suffering from a case of tattoo remorse. Just a year ago, Ms. Brannigan, 24, who holds up Case No. 24 as one of the models on the NBC game show “Deal or No Deal,” had been full of hope when she and her fiancé had each other’s names tattooed across their inner wrists. But now, when she looks at the letters — P-A-T-R-I-C-K — she is reminded of the failed relationship. For help, she turned to Dr. Tattoff, a chain of tattoo removal stores where nurses use lasers in a series of treatments...

Former Minnesota Rep. Tim Penny has long been an outspoken opponent of pork barrel spending because he says so many projects don't merit federal aid. In "Pig Tales," an article which Penny contributed to in the most recent edition of Reader's Digest, he held up Cayuga County's Merry-Go-Round Playhouse's receipt of $150,000 in discretionary funds from Rep. James Walsh to help pay for renovations as "Beltway Robbery." "One reason so many pork projects pass is that few people know about them," Penny wrote. "They're slipped into bills without debate or a committee vote. If Congress openly debated their merits, how...