There are a lot of ways to remove unwanted hair from your body, such as tweezing, shaving, waxing, etc. Among all of them, the most effective method of hair removal is laser hair treatment. This treatment works by targeting pigments in the skin, such as hair follicles.
Since tattoos are also a kind of pigment, it is natural to ask “will laser hair removal damage tattoos?”
Yes, laser hair removal will damage tattoos. But the bigger issue isn’t the damage suffered by the tattoo, but rather the damage suffered by the skin. Since laser hair removal targets pigments, it can’t differentiate between hair follicles and tattoos and attacks the skin. This causes blistering, burning, and other side effects.
Let’s take a deeper look at how laser hair removal affects tattoos.
Does Laser Hair Removal Damage Tattoos?
To know “Is laser hair removal safe on tattoos?”, you will have to have an idea about how the treatment works. Laser hair removal works by zapping your skin with a laser.
The laser is directed to particular pigments, which are present in hair follicles. The hair follicles absorb the laser and convert it into heat.
The heat produced is high enough to destroy the hair follicles and stop hair growth. Now, what happens when you zap your tattooed skin with a laser? When you tattoo your skin, the ink is stored in your skin as pigments.
As a result, when a laser falls on the skin, it can not differentiate between the pigments of a hair follicle and a tattoo. This results in the ink of the tattoo, which is stored as pigments, absorbing the laser and heating the skin.
Due to the skin heating up too much, it will start to redden, blister, and burn. So, not only the tattoo but the skin will be damaged as well.
So, can you get laser hair removal on a tattoo? No, you can’t.
Can You Get Laser Hair Removal With Tattoos?
Now, is not getting laser treatment on tattoos the same as not getting laser treatment when you have tattoos? It most certainly isn’t, if you are avoiding the area of your skin where there is a tattoo.
For example, if you have a tattoo on your thigh, and you want to get a Brazilian laser hair removal, then it won’t be any issues since the areas are different.
If you want laser hair treatment in an area where there is a tattoo, you still can get it, but you have to be extra careful. For instance, if you have a forearm tattoo, and you want to get rid of unwanted hair on your forearm, then the technician has to move the laser in such a way that it doesn’t touch the tattoo.
In the latter instance, whether you can get laser treatment when having a tattoo will depend on the type, and design of the tattoo and where it is situated.
Can You Get Laser Hair Removal Before A Tattoo?
Getting laser hair removal after getting a tattoo can be tricky, but so can getting laser hair removal before a tattoo. This is because you can’t get a tattoo immediately after getting laser therapy on your skin.
Since tattoos and laser hair removal, both make the skin pretty sensitive, you should give it some time to come back to normal, and then get laser treatment.
Is Laser Hair Removal & Tattoo Removal The Same?
One of the biggest misconceptions people have, which leads them to get laser hair removal on tattooed skin, is they think laser hair removal and tattoo removal are the same.
Making the mistake is quite easy since both of these procedures use laser. But the type of laser used in these two methods is different. The laser used to remove tattoos is designed to break the particles of tattoos on your skin. It also helps to get rid of all artificial coloring on the skin by not touching the skin pigments.
On the other hand, laser hair removal directly attacks the skin pigments, which can cause permanent scarring and other damage to the skin.
So, no, laser hair removal and tattoo removal are not the same.
Final Words
One of the most common questions we face when providing laser hair removal treatment is “will laser hair removal damage tattoos?”.
If you have tattoos on your skin, please refrain from getting laser hair treatment on the tattooed portion of the skin. Call us today to get more details about laser hair removal on tattooed skin.
FAQ
The method of protecting your tattoo during laser hair removal varies according to the size of the tattoo. If it is a small one, then covering it with band-aids will be enough. But if the tattoo is large, then the technician will protect it by moving the laser around it.
Yes, the laser can fade a tattoo. The laser that is designed to remove tattoos targets the ink of the tattoo. Since the ink stored as a kind of pigment in the skin, the body’s immune system will start to break the ink particles apart, which is slowly fades the tattoo.
There are plenty of ways to remove hair from a tattoo. The best way to do this is electrolysis, which is a more permanent solution than shaving, waxing, or tweezing.
