Removing A Tattoo :::
Until only a few years ago this meant replacing the tattoo with a scar, with the ink removed by often highly painful procedures.

Even with modern laser therapy scarring can occur, just as it may be impossible to completely eliminate a tattoo, depending on inks used. Various problems can come up with the tattoo that a person has chosen to adorn their body with for the rest of their lives.

Some individuals who want to get a tattoo will neglect to properly research the tattoo artist and wind up with shoddy craftsmanship from a beginner, or "scratcher", or from artists who have not yet perfected their tattooing technique.

Sometimes it is the design and artistic quality of the work that is the problem. Other times it is that the "artist" sets the needle depth on the tattoo machine too deep, causing unpleasant scarring and thick, fuzzy lines, or too shallow, causing dotted, shaky, uneven lines.

Also, there is the problem of the impetuous individual who is too young or cannot afford a professional tattoo and decides to get what is called in medical terms an amateur tattoo. This involves dipping a needle into India ink and "hand poking" the design into the skin.

These designs seldom come out well. Individuals no longer believe in sentiments that designs on their bodies used to proclaim. Names on their skin no longer belong to anyone they feel close to or love. Perhaps placement has become a problem which hinders employment opportunities. Or its just that their tattoos are outdated and they want to clear some space for new designs.

Whatever the reason, people often regret choices they made when they were younger about getting tattoos, especially those in their twenties and thirties.

Many need to have them removed just to survive on the streets, such as gang members who are no longer affiliated with the gang whose name or symbols they had tattooed upon themselves. Programs to trade in gang tattoos for community service are in effect in such places as Salt Lake City, UT, Ventura, CA, and Milwaukee, WI.

Sometimes all a design needs is to be covered up with a better tattoo or reworked to improve the design, but this is not always the case. Removal is sometimes the only option and the methods and advantages of each must be investigated.