LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: In recent years the tattoo business has boomed, but at the same time tattoo removal is also flourishing. So here's a question: if you knew how painful it was to have a tattoo removed, would it change your mind about getting one in the first place? Triple J's Tom Tilley reports on the unique experience of one mother and her son.

DALTON DOWDEN, TATTOO AFICIONADO: I'm planning on getting pretty much my whole body covered except for my hands and my collar bone, sort of thing. Everything else I'm aiming at getting done solid colour.

TOM TILLEY, REPORTER: Dalton Dowden is getting some more coloured ink put in one of his six tattoos. Tattoos have always been a part of his life. Both his parents are heavily tattooed.

DALTON DOWDEN: It's just something that I've grown up with, it's just something that I've always liked. It's always been there, so I've always thought I've always wanted it.

Well, I mainly have my leg, that's my biggest piece. It's a little bit bloody at the moment because I just got all this blue put in. My upper body I have... one side of my ribs is pretty much done. The other side is an angel, and then I've got my family crest on my chest and I've got a funny little Hitler moustache.

TOM TILLEY: Which one do you regret the most?

DALTON DOWDEN: That'd have to be the one I didn't show. I'm sorry, I'm not going to show that.

TOM TILLEY: What is it? Can you describe it?

DALTON DOWDEN: It's a crown above my pubes, and it's been done very badly.

TOM TILLEY: As you can see, Dalton has made a good start on getting his whole body tattooed, but at the same time his very own mother is dealing with the consequences of tattoos that she regrets.

HELEN DOWDEN, DALTON'S MOTHER: I would have been about 14 or 15, and just got a little mouse that said, "Nobody's perfect", and just living in town with a bunch of girls and it was just partying from Thursday night 'til Sunday. As much alcohol and party as we could. Got the first one and went on from there. It was... they just became very addictive. They were just part of my silly childhood that I went, "Oh, I want to be tattooed" and got to 20 and went, "I don't like them".

The pain's unbelievable. The commitment is huge because you know what you're going to cop. The back's the worst.

TOM TILLEY: Helen, can you tell that's feeling now?

HELEN DOWDEN: Oh, horrible.

TOM TILLEY: Helen Dowden started getting her tattoos removed 19 years ago. But the pain made it hard to look after her three kids, so she put it on hold until four years ago. Since then she's been back six times to remove tattoos on her arms, legs, chest and lower neck. That's cost her $3,000 so far.

NEIL HAMILTON, COSMETIC SURGEON: When we talk about laser tattoo removal, it's more accurately described as the laser breaking up tattoo ink, and thus allowing the body's immune system - the body's white cells - to grab those ink particles and take them away through the lymphatic tree, and eventually excrete it out through the liver.

TOM TILLEY: What was it that sparked that turnaround in your attitude towards your tattoos?

HELEN DOWDEN: The children. Just having the kids. I just sort of went from... yeah, it was a wild, crazy lifestyle living in the city with all the girls, and went from there to, "I'm a mother, I've got a totally different lifestyle now. I'm baking cakes and cooking dinners and washing clothes and doing playgroup". So it was just totally different to what I was used to and, yeah, wasn't a part of my life that I wanted anymore.

TOM TILLEY: As more people get tattoos, inevitably more people will end up thinking about removal treatment.

NEIL HAMILTON: The tattoo removal industry is undoubtedly growing.

TOM TILLEY: But cosmetic surgeon Neil Hamilton says that the technology hasn't caught up with the trends in tattooing.

NEIL HAMILTON: We're getting much many tattoos now that are heavily coloured; we're getting much more tattoos that are coloured in, not just outlines; and we're getting much more tattoos done on areas open to public view, and each one of those factors is harder to get off. $500 to get on, $5,000 to $10,000 to get off. 20 minutes to get on, 20 to 30 months to get off.

TOM TILLEY: If that doesn't look painful enough, this is a picture of Helen's back a day later. She says she won't be able to go back for the next round of treatment on her back for another three months. Then she will need four more treatments, at a cost of almost $2,000, before this tattoo's fully removed.

(to Helen Dowden) Have you questioned whether it's worth it?

HELEN DOWDEN: Yes. Yeah, I have and it is worth it, yeah.

TOM TILLEY: Are you extra sensitive about the choices your sons make?

HELEN DOWDEN: No. At the end of the day it's their body.

DALTON DOWDEN: Mum was one of the first people that I came to about getting tattooed and the first thing she said to me was, "Figure out what you want, figure out exactly what you want and get a good photo of it and put it up on your wall and stick it up on your wall for about four to six months, and if you still like it after that, after looking at it every single day, get it done."

TOM TILLEY: When your mum was your age, she was covered in tatts and she didn't think she'd regret it. Doesn't that say to you that you might change as well?

DALTON DOWDEN: No, not really. I'll never get any taken off, like no... I'll never get any taken of. I'll just go over them.

HELEN DOWDEN: So far.

TOM TILLEY: Are you sure?

DALTON DOWDEN: Positive. I will never get any off.