How Long Does it Take to Remove a Tattoo?

Tattoos are meant to be permanent. Your body naturally tries to rid itself of ink deposited in the skin, but the ink particles are too large for that to happen. The laser focuses on those large ink particles, and shatters them into more manageable pieces that your white blood cells will encapsulate and filter through your lymphatic system.  Laser tattoo removal is highly dependent on your body’s own lymphatic system, circulatory system, and metabolism. Other major factors include the kind of ink that is used, age of the tattoo, depth of the ink, colors used, and ink layering. That all being said, the amount of time it takes for you to see your tattoo start to fade depends on how your body responds to the treatments.

Removing a tattoo will take multiple sessions, no matter the size. The sessions are spaced at a minimum of 8-12 weeks apart. This allows your skin to heal and your body to start removing the ink by means of your white blood cells and immune system. Many people start to see fading start after roughly 3 treatments. The timeline varies greatly from person to person, but most people need between 5 to 15 treatments to fully remove a tattoo.

Our technicians are highly trained and have your best intentions in mind.  We may at times suggest waiting longer than that 8-12 week downtime in between treatments in order to give your body more time to work eliminating the ink. Taking into account the amount of time in between treatments, it is not unusual for full removal to take anywhere between 1-3 years, while the tattoo is gradually fading and lightening during that time.