Can I Receive Laser Treatments While Pregnant?
Whether you started your tattoo removal journey before pregnancy, or you are wanting to rid yourself of an unwanted tattoo before your baby arrives, here at Vanishing Point, we do not recommend receiving laser treatments while pregnant or breastfeeding.
The laser emits heat and light into the skin, breaking apart the ink particles of your tattoo. Once that is done, your white blood cells will take those broken-apart pieces, and carry them away and eliminate them naturally as if it was any other toxin. That being said, during pregnancy there is an increase to photosensitivity. That means the skin is more sensitive to light and will react more with the laser. This could lead to complications with the integrity of your skin, scarring or discoloration.
Pregnancy also increases the risk of infection. Laser tattoo removal is considered very safe, the risk of infection is fairly low. We don’t expect blistering or open skin, but if it does happen, the risk of infection is increased. If someone does develop an infection, they are commonly treated with antibiotics, which can be challenging to treat in a safe way as it could affect fetal development.
As far as the safety of the baby is concerned, studies are rarely carried out on pregnant people, especially when the procedures are considered to be cosmetic or elective. There is not enough information or research out there that would ensure the baby’s safety, and therefore is not recommended. That lack of research and data alone is good reason to hold off on treatments.
As with pregnancy, there are no studies indicating how laser tattoo removal would affect breastfeeding. We believe it is better to be cautious, and recommend waiting until breastfeeding is completed before starting or resuming treatments. Tattoo ink can be made up of different chemicals, minerals, or metals, and there is no way of knowing if it would transfer into breast milk.
If you’ve already started your tattoo removal process before finding out about your pregnancy, pausing tattoo removal treatments does not hurt anything. Your white blood cells will continue to work at breaking down the ink. A lot of times, because the body is working so much harder at providing for another life, there is a significant amount of ink that will disperse during that down time from treatments.
For all of those reasons listed above, we will not laser any clients that are currently pregnant or actively breastfeeding. Please feel free to reach out to any of our certified technicians with any further questions!
