I have a set of 2 script tattoos, one down the side of each foot, that I absolutely adore! The problem is that the artist who did the tattoos was a family friend, and an amateur. So while I love the tattoos themselves, the quality isn’t quite what I had hoped it would be. It has been about a year and the Artist has neglected to even schedule a touch up with me. My roommate got a similar tattoo, and it has prompted me to do some thinking about my own. I don’t want to cover them up or remove them, but I want them to look better. But the black ink has bled out in places, and I feat that cover up or removal are my only options.

looking to get some stuff faded on my arm from elbow to the top of my hand…everything i have there basically goes from the lightest grey to a few black lines…not many…wondering if anyone has good experience with this application…laser removal is out of the question cause its so expensive.
well i just want to lighten them to add on to them…not remove em all together. i do not regret any of my tattoos i just want to make it easier to add on to since its so dark…i am currently 40% tattooed, workin on the other 60%

For me, it is this one, from a 21 year old girl who already regrets her tattoos (80% of all people who get tattoos eventually regret them)

Hi! I am 21 & have my entire back tattooed -Yeah, the whole thing.. I got the first piece done for my 13th birthday. That piece was done by an amateur & ended up scarring horribly. I mean BAD. To this day the 4×4 tribal piece is easily irritated, always puffy & well.. scarred. I was so self conscious about it that I decided to add to it – aiming to take the focus away from the black scar.. So at 15 I added to it… I was involved with the wrong crowd of people at that time in my life & was exposed to heavily tattooed people so it was "no big deal" – Plus, this was a while ago & the removal procedures/theories were fairly new & extremely pricey! To make a long story short by 19 I had most of my back piece done. It is very colorful, containing: black, white, greywash, violets, turquoise, orange, green, red etc.. I am very very serious about removing it but am terrified of the scarring. Not so much the cost but the chance of a bad heal w/ scarring & tattoo traces unable to be removed. I really wish I would have never began this insane body modification as I am now a mature adult with a great corporate job, family responsibilities & the desire to be more feminine I guess – Not such a freakshow. It’s like living two lives with this amount of " permanent art".. Thats just the thing – PERMANENT – Wasnt thinking about that @ 13…I know it sounds dumb & this probably isnt the forum to post my story in but I really want some "real" feedback. We all know that $$ is the name of the game & everyone will try to sell you something – especially when they can take advantage of others in such an emotional desperation oriented way. I was considering this tat be gone – sounds weak though – maybe good on a little tattoo – what about a huge back piece?! Can someone vouch for the credibility of removal on large long lived professional tattoo’s?!

For hundreds of personal stories by kids who got tattoos they now hate and can;t do anything about, visit these sites:

http://www.faqs.org/qa/qa-634.html

http://www.innocentenglish.com/tattoos/wrecking-balm-tattoo-fading-cream-reviews-does-it-work.html

At least that girl did not have a face tattoo. Here’s what will most likely come from Face Tattoos = future suicide. These design choices are so notoriously linked with regret that it has been found the suicide rate for people with face tattoos are much higher than average. Whatever the thinking in getting a face tattoo, the chances of regret are so great that it’s just not worth it. The face is the one area that you can’t really cover up in public and many people underestimate the impact of face ink.
But if face tattoos lead to suicide, doesn’t the same principle apply to other tattoos?

One of the businesses booming (along with the medical profession and pharmaceuticals thanks to the "hepatitis C-tattoo" alliance) as a consequence of the tattoo-craze is the dermatology industry. According to the American Society of Dermatological surgery, over 50% of everyone receiving a tattoo wants it removed.

Tattoo removal via laser surgery is among the fastest growing areas of the dermatology industry.

Depending on the size of the tattoo and colors used, the laser tattoo removal surgery can be very painful and very expensive. Tattoos performed by commercial tattoo parlors are much more difficult to remove because the tattoo is deeper, the ink more complex and thicker. It normally takes between 10 and 15 laser surgery sessions to remove the average tattoo, but 25-30 sessions are not uncommon, depending on the complexity of the tattoo. When you consider the average single session costs between 0 – 0, the removal surgery can be very expensive, costing as much as ,000. That tattoo might cost 00 to remove. And may I remind you, health insurance does not cover tattoo removals – this is strictly out of the pocket expenses. And yet despite this enormous personal cost, most people are so disgusted with their tattoo they’ll literally pay any cost to have it removed.
Plastic Surgeon Tolbert S. Wilkinson, of San Antonio, Texas, who has removed tattoos warns:

"If people only realized how difficult it is to remove a tattoo, understood how costly and how painful tattoo removal is, and recognized that society as a whole still views tattoos as a stigma, maybe they would think seriously before getting one.
Laser removal costs a minimum of ,000.00 (national average) per tattoo, and takes at least 10 to 15 treatments, spread out over two or more years. Even with this treatment, the tattoo is still visible." http://www.heloise.com/tattoo.html

Tattoo author Laura Reybold, writes that ". . .an ever rising number of people are so unhappy with their tattoos that they are willing to pay anything to have them removed."

"Yet an ever rising number of people are so unhappy with their tattoos that they are willing to pay anything to have them removed. Tattoo removal laser surgery is becoming big business for the dermatologists who perform it."
(Laura Reybold, Everything you need to know about the dangers of tattooing and body piercing, p. 30)

Ronald Scutt, says in Art, Sex and Symbol that even among sailors in the Royal Naval, over 50% regretted ever getting a tattoo. And among the married it rose to over 70%

"From the statistics of the Royal Naval survey, the most significant factor to emerge was almost certainly the incidence of regrets. Out of the whole sample, more than half admitted that they wished they had never been tattooed. In the married group, the figure rose to around 70 per cent."
(Ronald Scutt, Art, Sex and Symbol, 1974, p. 179)

One article claims that as many as 80 percent of people with tattoos regret their tattoo. (www.spacecom.af.mil/hqafspc/News/News_Asp/nws_tmp.asp?storyid=02-93)

I need to know if TCA peel is good for removing tattoos, and what are the risks of it leaving scars? I would also like to know what doctor to see about TCA peel. I would like to know if it would be ok to do the treatment myself. What is the cost of seeing a doctor for a treatment, and what is the cost of doing it at home? How long should I wait between treatments? How do i use TCA peel? I would also appreciate any other information you could give me on TCA peel.

i have a tattoo on either wrist i got when i was younger. and i dont wanna get the laser removal too expensive. so is there skin colored ink i could get put over my tattoos to make them less noticable?
i mean i wanna cover them up for good. not just with make up ..

I have this tattoo that I HATE! I have other tattoos that I love, but this particular one I got on an impulse and it looks horrible. Initially I was gonna have it covered up with another tattoo, but now I’m not so sure. I just wish it was completely gone, but I’ve heard that laser removal is expensive and usually not covered by insurance. So does anyone know if those "tattoo removal creams" actually work? I have heard of one product called ‘wrecking balm’ but I’m wondering if it really works or is just another gimic? please some insight!

My girlfriend’s sister just had a baby boy (yay) and that got us thinking about if we got married and had kids how things would be like. One thing that concerns her are my tattoos; they are playboy bunnies, which aren’t exactly a family oriented theme.

I play it off like they are just tattoos, not a big deal. My tattoos are not of naked girls or hardcore skulls and such. However, she is worried about raising a family with a father who as "soft port symbols permanently on his arms". Mostly I think she’s concerned about what other parents would think…maybe like her sister ?!? <wink>

Tattoo removal is not an option, to $$$ even if I wanted it. Since my bunnies are big, a coverup would require a basic half sleeve on each arm…not exactly solving the ink problem, but maybe bunny-less is better. And also something I’m not excited about doing.

Anyway, as a future parent to-be, have any other parents had issues with their ink ?

Pair of Bunnies

I’d be lying if I didn’t wish my bunnies were gone somedays and I had clean arms again …even for a day . I’ve forgotten what it’s like *not* to have bunnies peering back at me in the mirror. However most daysi love them.

Hi,Im Ms. Cathy Lee this is just mini portable laser eyebrow tattoos removal machine equipment device brief video,more information plz email me, we can share all experience here right?

I’m 15 and I have 3 tattoos I would like to have lasered off. I got a job just to save up to get it done. I’m so sick of look at it all the time. And I didn’t really think it through when I got them about 2 years ago..

1. How much do you think it would cost to get them faded as much a possible?

2. Do I need a parent to come with me or just someone over 18?

3. Where is the closest place possible that specializes in laser tattoo removal? (i live in southern maine)

One is musical notes on my wrist, one is 3 dots (my crazy life) on my pinky, and one a just a dumb line on my ring finger from backing out from getting something else. (they are homemade and were done with india ink)

Here are some pictures:
(i know i got them in the worst places possible)

a year ago, i got a little tattoo on my rib cage of baby harp seals. i really wanted them to be light in color, preferably white, with a very minimal black outline. i love my seals, but the black outline is not as subtle as i wanted it to be. i know i can’t make the line thinner, but is there a way to lighten it to be more of a grayish color? i hear tattoo removal creams are miserable when it comes to removing tattoos, but they do effectively fade them. is that true? or will it just make the tattoo blurry looking?
any input would be great, thanks!

Hi, I am a 26 year old female who has a dream of pursuing a career in acting. I acted all through high school which I loved, but after I graduated I still wasn’t really sure of who I was yet or what I really wanted to do with my life so I had no intention of going to college right away until I figured all that out first. I have gone through a lot of changing and finding myself in the last 9 years. Right after I graduated I got side tracked on my path to discovering myself and I headed into my "party days" which I think everyone eventually goes through and during that time I made some pretty poor choices, one of them being the idea that I wanted to get a tattoo without even researching what design I wanted or anything first. Being my first tattoo I didn’t know where to go or who was good so I just picked a place and went there. I chose a generic rose design off the wall and the lady did a horrible job and ruined my first tattoo. I was so upset, but only a few months later I went in for another tattoo and then another until now i have 8 total tattoos. (They are not all from the same place.) Getting tattoos whether you have bad ones or not is extremely addicting like drugs. Plus a lot of what I did during that time in my life is a blur as to why I did them. Well now that I am older and a different person than I was back then, I regret all of them, not because I hate tattoos, but because of what I got, where I got them, and who tattooed them for me. If I had a clean slate, which I don’t, I would have 3 or 4 and I would choose more small elegant designs in more hidden places from an artist that would do them right. If that would have been the case I would probably have no problem right now because I would love them and they would be more compatible with my life. Since cover up creams don’t really cover and all methods of removal is painful and way too expensive, I made the decision to have all of mine fixed and or covered up with new ones from the recent artist that I really like and whos work is awesome. So far (still a work in progress) they all looking much better then before, but now some of them are much bigger making it even harder to conceal under clothing. Since I can’t just start all over I figured that atleast trying to make them better would give me more self confidence again. It is working because I am starting to feel pretty and sexy again. For years I wouldn’t even wear a bikini strapped tank top or bathing suit in public because I was so embarrassed of my tattoos. Well, a few weeks ago I reliezed that I am finally ready to go to college and make something of myself. As of right now I am planning on getting an RTF (radio television film) degree which I am really excited about and think I would be good at, but all of that is mostly behind the camera stuff and when in front of the camera it is broadcasting type stuff not really character acting. I am finding that I still dream of acting on tv or in theatre and I keep finding myself wanting to take more acting classes and everything to do with the drama department. I am really confused. I can’t seem to get it off my mind and I know that even though my tattoos are getting fixed, will I ever be presentble for a career in acting? What should I do? Fixing my tattoos right now is all about being able to feel good and accept myself again, but I don’t know if I am too tattooed for a career in acting or not.
My tattoos are starting to look much better than they did before, but even so, I still only "LOVE" 3 of them. All the others just look okay to me now, but they are defintely not what I would have chosen if I had a clean slate. How do I learn to accept myself again and be confident with my body and tattoos knowing that though they are not ugly anymore they are still never what I wanted them to be?
I just want my self esteem back. I remember how i was in high school and I was so confident and happy and it sometimes feels like my tattoos alone shattered that for me. I need to find that love for myself again, but I don’t know how. Please give me some advice on how to love myself again despite my very much regreted tattoos.

I would like to get rid of a tattoo but removal is expensive.. ok maybe shouldnt have had it but hey ho to late now. Someone told me there is a skin coloured ink that can be tattooed over tattoos to cover them, is this true does anyone know??

I’m all for women’s equal “right” to get tattooed. This question has nothing to do with whether or not one thinks it is “proper” or “classy/trashy” to be tattooed. In fact, I find tattooing on women to be attractive, though that’s only one aspect of tattooing. And I highly respect women like “Somebody” on here, who are very smart about and dedicated to tattooing.

My question is serious – not sexist.

Tattooing in Western society has had a “culture” of it’s own, and we all know that culture is about MEANING. What does it mean to be tattooed? Why do people get tattooed? My OPINION on the right reasons to get tattooed includes:
–the images being tattooed inspire you
–the images fuel your imagination
–a more recent thing (in the West): love of art and taking that art beyond banal “canvases” of museums (along with this there is something “deep” about the permanence of it and the fact that it is on skin, w/ blood, etc)

–to mark affiliation with a group. Affiliation with a group makes people feel like they are a part of something larger than themselves.
–a memorial

Along with these comes a sense of permanence. Permanence reinforces commitment. Finally, I think tattooing has also been resorted to by marginalized/disenfranchised people as a type of property. If nothing else in this world, at least they have their tattoos, which will go with them to their death.

Think for example of sailors who were among the first to popularize getting tattooed. During long shipping voyages in crap conditions, they could use all the inspiration they got. And these people really had no property—even the clothes on their backs were often in pawn! If they went “overboard,” the one thing they would have is their tattoos—also what they look at and dream about during long days away from home.

Now why are trendy people getting tattooed nowadays?
–“dangerous” factor. People thinks it makes them “wild” or “dangerous” in some way. But guess what? It used to be much harder to get tattooed. You had to travel or interact with certain “dangerous” people to do so. These people were not “polite,” not there to be nice to you or stand for any of your bullcrap. It sickens me how encouraging people are on this site towards people asking “Should I get this tattoo?” No! Tattooing is not meant to be as easy to get (even if cheaper than) Starbucks.

In the current atmosphere of “Have a nice day,” “convenience” tattooing, any associations of “danger” are actually removed.

–to “symbolize” something. This is such a load of b.s. Yes, tattoos do “symbolize”…they indeed “mean” something. But there are many different ways of representing or symbolizing. The type of signing that trendy people usually do is not the type of signing common to tattoo culture. It would take a long and complicated discussion to explain this… you either get it or you don’t.

–to memorialize. This was the one past (traditional tattoo culture) motivation for tattooing that the trendy people have harped in on and blown all out of proportion. I don’t know if it’s because they see stuff like Miami Ink where everyone (as instructed to them by the show’s producers) walks in with some story about how blah blah happened and they need this tattoo of blah blah to represent that.
Trendy people seem to feel the need just to make ANY mark on their bodies to mark that something happened. “This shooting star is because my grandma died.” Huh?

–anxiousness to be “experienced.” As teens, most of us felt anxious about losing our virginity. Once you had sex, you joined the ranks of the non-virgin population—the EXPERIENCED population! A similar process seems to be at work with tattooing—people are anxious to get MARKED in any way to join this “club”.

But here is the thing: joining the “club” isn’t meant to be easy. There is inconvenience….pain….stigma….permanence. Inconvenience, Pain, Stigma, Permanence—these are the things that the trendy tattoo people are bent on getting around. Everything (questions on Yahoo Answers, for instance) are driven towards avoiding these obstacles— BUT THEY ARE THE VERY OBSTACLES that give MEANING to being tattooed, to being in the “club”!!

In the absense of this meaning (tattoos have become meaningless fashion), the trendy people try to add “meaning”—“symbolism”. In real tattoo culture, someone is inspired by something so much that they want it permanently put on their body. In trendy tattooing, people decide first that they “need” to get tattooed (to become part of the cool, experiened club, to attract people sexually, to work out their psychological issues of things like isolation and poor self image)…and THEN they try to “think up” a tattoo (usually some banal shape or image inspired by commercial logo-ing/branding) and add to it some stated “meaning.” Do I need to go any further in explaining how utterly bankrupt this trendy tattoo culture is?

Trendy men and women are equally guilty of lowering the standards of tattoo culture and turning it into cheap branding. But women especially seem significant in this process. Because of the nature of popular “women’s culture” ALONG WITH women’s historical relationship to the art of tattooing, they especially have sought to remove the
INCONVENIENCE (“Can I pay with my credit card?” “What brand of lotion should I buy?” “How many times a day should I rub it in?” “Let me just get a little star here on the spot today” “Let me go online and ask…”)
PAIN (“Where does it hurt least?” “What creams can I use to reduce to numb it?”…)
STIGMA (“Stop calling it a tramp stamp” “I got my tattoos for me, they are mine” “Why get it in a place where you can’t show it off?”)
PERMANENCE (“How much does tattoo removal cost and does it really work?”).

Notice that the vast majority of people asking tattoo questions on this site are women.

What do you think this means? Thanks
I wish I could change the title of this question a bit; It is hard to articulate succintly.

I don’t really like the sound of "women ruining" — it makes it sound like women (of course I only mean certain ones) as the agents….
I think a better way to say it is that tattooing has changed towards ACCOMODATING this class of trendy people–both sexes, but especially to accomodate some of the desires of women, who are a relatively "new" clientele for tattooing.

I have a few tattoos I would like to remove, various colors and the like. I have done laser tatoo removal and it works, but is extremley painful… Looking for an alternitive. (Other than not getting them in the 1st place.)