Tattoo Removal - Reasons

There are a lot of reasons for possibly wanting a tattoo removed. These reasons for removal cover a wide range of personal, social, cultural, physical and medical aspects.

the Tattooist - Norman Rockwell

Personal Reasons:
Many people want to change their old tattoos, whether the problem was with the design itself or just shoddy work on part of the artist. Many people have the names of their ex-significant other tattooed on them. They want to replace them with a new partner or just remove them. Years ago, the only option was to line that name out and again get the new named tattooed under it ( see the famous painting the Tattooist by Norman Rockwell ). But today, with modern tattoo removal methods, a name tattoo can be easily removed. This probably makes for a much better quality relationship with your new partner as well!

Tattoo removal from neck

Social and Cultural Reasons:
Life circumstances of people can change and they no longer want, or can have, any visible tattoos. This can be for a any number of reasons. Some can have important events coming up (wedding, etc). Employment issues also come up frequently - both in people's current work situations and also for those seeking new employment. Some employers just aren't impressed with visible tattoos. Military personal have also been required to remove their visible tattoos before they could be accepted into the military. People who have moved on from gangs want to remove gang related tattoos.

Allergic reaction to the tattoo ink

Physical and Medical Reasons: For some reason many people who had gotten tattoos earlier in life have developed allergies to the tattoo ink. In fact, allergic reactions have become more common among adults with tattoos over 10 years old. Immediate removal is necessary to help a person cope with the allergy. Complications resulting from decorative tattoos are relatively rare considering the popularity of tattooing; however, the introduction of foreign substances into the skin can result in a toxic or immunologic response. In addition to the transmission of infectious disease, reactions to tattoo pigments have also been described. These reactions include acute inflammatory reaction; allergic hypersensitivity; and granulomatous, lichenoid, and pseudolymphomatous types of histopathologic reactions. Localization of skin disease in tattoos has also been documented. Another reason for removal is infection. Infection can happen shortly after the tattoo has been placed on, and unfortunately there aren’t many ways to remove a fresh tattoo. Laser removal is the best method of removing newer tattoos.

Many methods such as Laser Removal, Intense Pulsed Light Therapy, Dermabrasion, Tattoo Removal Lotions, etc. are popluar these days for tattoo removal.