The increasing popularity of tattoos also means that tattoo removalists are doing a roaring trade. Despite improved laser technology making removal more effective, it is still a lot harder to get a tattoo taken off than it is to get it inked on, writes Amanda Smith.

In the 1939 Marx Brothers film At The Circus, Groucho Marx sings about Lydia the Tattooed Lady: 'On her back is the Battle of Waterloo, beside it the wreck of the Hesperus, too'. Inked into her body she also has scenes that show George Washington crossing the Delaware, Nijinsky dancing a rumba and Buffalo Bill with his lasso. Lydia was an early adopter of multiple tattooing, but what if she had started to regret it? Even with the most modern technology, it takes much longer and costs much more to get rid of a tattoo than it does to get one in the first place.

Love them or loathe them, there's no doubting the massive increase in people from all walks of life getting tattoos. Devotees are also getting tattoos that cover more and more parts of the body. With this explosion, getting rid of tattoos is also a growth industry. Dr Philip Bekhor is a Melbourne dermatologist specialises in removing ink from skin. One of the most common reasons to get a tattoo removed is if it's the name of an ex-partner, according to Dr Bekhor.

'Sometimes a tattooist will misspell a name or leave a letter out and cause lots of trouble like that,' he says. Other reasons for regret include those who get tattoos when they're drunk. In the light of morning they're often not so happy with their choices. Sometimes the desired image doesn't translate into a tattoo, or work on the skin. 'I remember once I had a patient who had multiple little bumble bees but they looked like a swarm of wasps, so the numbers had to be reduced. '

These days, tattoos are removed using laser technology. But up until the early 1990s, tattoos were cut out, which would leave a scar. 'If the areas were big it needed a skin graft which generally looked horrible,' says Dr Bekhor. 'Or superficial burning techniques were used which produced scars and often left residual tattoo.'

The big breakthrough came with high-powered lasers that could deliver a very short impulse which, rather than burning the tattoo, causes ink to fracture into smaller particles which can be removed naturally by white blood cells.

Getting a tattoo applied generally costs hundreds of dollars and, depending on size and complexity, is often completed in one session. To have a tattoo removed costs thousands nd requires multiple sessions. 'The shortcoming we have with modern tattoo removal is the number of treatments necessary,' says Dr Bekhor.

Some inks are much more difficult to shift than others. 'You could do 15 treatments, the black's gone and the green is still there,' says Dr Bekhor. 'Up to about three months ago the data suggesting that after 15 treatments only 75 per cent of tattoos had cleared is a fairly accurate assessment.' A new generation of lasers with shorter pulse width is now being trialled. The picosecond laser is showing promising results in removing hard-to-shift inks such as green in fewer treatments. 'We're all on a learning curve with this new technology at the moment,' says Dr Bekhor.

Laser treatment, according to Dr Bekhor, is painful. While getting a tattoo in the first place can also be hurt, it's again the sheer number of treatments for removal that compounds the pain. 'We find 30 per cent to 50 per cent of our patients do require local anaesthetic injected,' says Dr Bekhor. 'It feels a bit like boiling oil spitting on you.'

Dr Bekhor emphasises that the laser treatment is a medical procedure, although in some Australian states it is not regulated. 'If too much power is used you can get a burn and a burn can become infected,' he says. There is also the risk that some pigments can discolour. The flesh tints used by beauty therapists, for example, are made up of iron. If you change the oxidation state, you change the colour.

'If you have someone who's had a pink lip liner not in the right place and then you treat it with laser, you could turn it black. You become a goth for two years—not so popular.'

The skin I'm in Sunday 6 April 2014 Have you ever regretted getting a tattoo? Listen to The Body Sphere for the latest on tattoo removal. More This [series episode segment] has image, and transcript

Of course, the permanence of the tattoo is a huge part of its appeal. There have been experiments with semi-permanent inks that are easily removed in a single laser treatment, but they've been commercial failures.

'Tattooists are artists, often very good artists and they don't like to think that their work's not permanent and, if a tattoo is not permanent it loses its cache,' says Dr Bekhor.

'Think before you ink.'

Focusing on the physical, The Body Sphere is about the ways we use our bodies to create and compete, nurture and abuse, display and conceal.



