LASER TATTOO LIGHTENING FOR COVER-UPS

Lasers have come a long way and can sometimes lighten up the tattoo enough for a good cover-up in just 2-3 sessions. Without it, we can be severely limited in what will cover the existing tattoo, and it can mean we spend way more time tattooing over the area to try to bury the existing tattoo underneath. Any money that might have been saved by skipping the laser process will just be spent in the tattoo studio.

Most importantly, the outcome is better when we don’t have to sacrifice the design because we’re working with a big, dark cover-up. I’m so glad that I lasered mine before covering them. A coverup usually needs to be bigger and darker than the existing tattoo, and only black really covers black, but black’s the easiest color for the lasers to break apart, and the lighter it gets, the less you have to compromise when it comes to the new tattoo.

  • I would suggest starting with a few sessions to see how light it gets. I’ve been able to cover some of mine really well with only 3-5 sessions of laser tattoo removal, but every situation is different.

HEALING AND TIME BETWEEN LASER AND COVER-UP

Most laser places will want each treatment to be at least 6-8 weeks apart. I like to wait at least 6 months after the last laser treatment before we start the coverup. In those 6 months, the skin will not only be healing underneath, but the tattoo pigments that were broken apart by the laser treatment will lighten, as they are flushed out through the lymphatic system.

Tattooing over it too soon sometimes means that we’ll have to go over the new tattoo again, if some of the new pigment gets flushed out along with the older, lasered work.

I sometimes make an exception for larger projects, where the lasered area is a small portion of the project. Sometimes excitement makes it hard to wait for 6 months, so I will occasionally line the whole project a few months after the last laser session, and wait to shade and color the coverup area (knowing that we might have to hit some of the lines again at the end).

PAIN AND NUMBING CREAMS

Laser removal is a bit more painful than getting the tattoo, but it’s way faster too. For example, the whole top of a hand can often be lasered in less than 5 minutes.

Many laser places provide numbing creams or injections, or even just ice first (helps a ton) and I would recommend that you take advantage if they do. Makes it way more pleasant, lol.

WHERE TO GO

I’ve had many, many laser treatments done over the years, at different places all over the country and this is my favorite so far:

 I’ve most recently been going to a chain called Removery. I’ve had good results so far and like the people doing the procedures. They’ve been taking the time to change the settings on the laser as we go, so they can target the different colors (while some places just attack the black first and use that same setting for everything). They have locations all over the place.  https://removery.com/


I’ve had great results, great healing, no scarring and have very much enjoyed the people that work at the one in SF.