Starstruck no more! Young Belgian woman finally has 56 star tattoos removed from her face after four-year ordeal

It took Kimberley Vlaminck three long years and nine painful laser treatments to finally look like herself again - her face no longer etched with 56 tattooed stars.

Vlaminck, a 22-year-old from Belgium, made headlines around the world in 2009 after she emerged from a tattoo parlor with an entire constellation inked on the left side of her face.

Then-19-year-old Vlaminck had initially lied to her parents and the media, claiming that she asked a local tattooist for only three stars near her eyes, but he kept adding more and more after she dozed off under the needle.

Then and now: Kimberley Vlaminck, 22, was pictured recently showing off the left side of her face, which no longer bears 56 tattooed stars thanks to nine laser treatments she had to undergo over the past three years



But she later confessed that she specifically requested the artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, to etch all 56 stars onto her face.

Vlaminck quickly came to regret her hasty decision as the image of her star-spangled face was splashed across websites and news reports around the world, with many people labeling her a 'freak.'

This week, the 22-year-old from the Belgian city of Coutrai had her final laser session to remove the last traces of the unfortunate tattoo, according to the local TV station 7Sur7.

A recent image of Vlaminck that has surfaced on the social news site Reddit shows the smiling young woman showing off the left side of her face - now blemish-free and bearing no visible scars.



Vlaminck began the process of removing her face tattoos back in 2010, and it took nine laser treatments, which she has described as 'very painful,' to regain her 'before' look.



According to some reports, the laser removal sessions cost Vlaminck more than $13,600.



Speaking to the station, the Belgian woman said that overcoming this 'personal tragedy' allowed her to open a new chapter in her life.

‘I work as a waitress and barely recognize myself now,’ she said.



In February of this year, Vlaminck appeared in a photo still showing half of her face speckled with slightly faded stars.



Clear as the night sky: Kimberley Vlaminck shown in February still bearing the 56 tiny black stars



In June 2009, Vlaminck threatened to sue tattooist Rouslan Toumaniantz for the cost of the stars' removal, insisting that a language barrier meant the Flemish speaker had misunderstood when she gave instructions in French and English to ink only three stars on her face.

Vlaminck said she avoided going out in public because the tattoos made her feel like a 'freak'.



But a week later she confessed to a Dutch TV station that she had been awake throughout and had indeed asked for the full 56 marks.

She said she lied because she was afraid of how her father would react.



Even still, Mr Toumaniantz - whose own face is covered in tattoos and piercings - offered to pay half the cost of laser removal, saying he did not want to leave a customer unsatisfied. He later retracted this offer, leaving Vlaminck to cover the cost alone. According to Belgian media, Toumaniantz said he did not regret tattooing Vlaminck , adding that it had given him publicity.

He has since started asking all his customers to give written consent to his designs. Bizarre: Tattooist Mr Toumaniantz (right) originally offered to pay half the cost of Miss Vlaminck's laser removal - even though she threatened to sue him and lied that she had asked for only three of the 56 stars







