Tattoo removal - state of the art

Summary Tattooing has been around since the early beginnings of modern civilization. The discovery of selective photothermolysis at last has made it possible to remove tattoos without leaving a scar. Q‐switched neodymium: yttrium‐aluminum‐garnet, alexandrite, and ruby lasers with pulse durations in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft 2007-10, Vol.5 (10), p.889-897
Main Authors: Pfirrmann, Gudrun, Karsai, Syrus, Roos, Susanne, Hammes, Stefan, Raulin, Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adverse effects/laser surgery
Biological effects
Clinical Trials as Topic - trends
Color
Humans
Lasers
Microscopy
Phototherapy - methods
Phototherapy - trends
Pigments
Pigments, Biological effects
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Practice Patterns, Physicians' - trends
Skin
Tattooing - methods
Tattooing - trends
therapeutic use/laser surgery
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Summary:Summary Tattooing has been around since the early beginnings of modern civilization. The discovery of selective photothermolysis at last has made it possible to remove tattoos without leaving a scar. Q‐switched neodymium: yttrium‐aluminum‐garnet, alexandrite, and ruby lasers with pulse durations in the nanosecond domain fulfill this need. Argon or cw‐CO2 lasers as well as intense pulsed light sources should not be used since they often produce significant scarring. This article provides an overview of current laser systems.Developments leading to new tattoo inks, feedback systems to detect the absorbance characteristics of tattoo inks, dermal clearing agents, and perhaps even lasers with shorter pulse‐durations might improve the results in the future.
ISSN:1610-0379
1610-0387
DOI:10.1111/j.1610-0387.2007.06405.x