Certain types of tattoos - including those done with yellow or blue ink, or older and bigger tattoos - are harder to remove than others with laser treatment, according to an Italian study.
Even smaller tattoos done with black ink can take multiple years to erase, and it can be harder to erase tattoos from the skin of people who smoke as well, said researchers whose findings appeared in the Archives of Dermatology.
About half of young people who get a tattoo ultimately choose to have it removed, the researchers said. Laser pulses are used to break up tattoo ink, and the tiny ink particles are then removed by immune cells.
Of 352 people getting a tattoo removed with the socalled Q-switched laser, just under half had their tattoos successfully eliminated after 10 sessions, and three quarters after 15 sessions, according to the study led by Luigi Naldi, from Centro Studi GISED in Bergamo, Italy.
Smokers, as well as people who had their treatment sessions less than two months apart, were less likely than others to see their body art disappear.
Naldi said that because of the laser's reaction with the individual pigments, yellow and blue inks may change colour but not disappear with treatment.
People with those colourful tattoos "should be aware that removal of this tattoo may be more difficult and may not be satisfactory," he told Reuters Health.
The effect of smoking could be explained by smoking's impact on the immune system, he added.
David Goldberg, head of laser research in the dermatology department at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said anyone considering a tattoo should make the decision very seriously.
"It takes about a half hour to get a tattoo, but it can take years to get it removed," Goldberg said.
