Tattoo Removal

I've finally started the process that I've been talking about for years. I'm getting the tattoo that's on my left shoulder removed. I got this when I was a child of 22 and I apparently thought I would never age....

How quickly one's opinion changes. Since I was 25 or 26 I've started having moments when I really wish that I had been a little less "bold" and gotten the artwork placed in a less conspicuous place. As it stands - for the past 6 or 7 years, I've been unable to wear anything sleeveless to work (not that I think sleeveless attire is appropriate for the office, but you should see what some of the girls I work with wear here in the summers - I'm not kidding when I say tube tops and mini skirts), unable to walk through a bar in something sleeveless without getting at least 3 or 4 comments (the best one being "is that a squirrel??"), or unable to wear a bridesmaid dress without it looking like I have a giant bruise on my shoulder after I've tried to cover the tattoo.

On Monday I went to the clinic for my first appointment with the laser. When I had gone for my consultation, the woman told me that it would be painful. Since I didn't find it painful when I got the tattoo, I didn't think it would be painful to have it removed. Then the woman told me that it's about 5x more painful than getting a tattoo. They recommend some deep tissue numbing cream, but it's pretty expensive - so I decided to be an idiot and think of the pain as my punishment for being such a twit when I was 22.

So Monday it was. I arrived for my appointment at 2 and was sitting in the chair next to the laser by 2:10. By 2:17 I was putting my sweater back on and marveling at how fast the procedure was.

But it HURT! I had no idea what to expect - but it certainly is quite a bit more painful than getting a tattoo. And it's GROSS too. After she was done, I managed to get a glimpse of my shoulder and it was all white and puffy and gooey. Quite sick really. Later on it hurt too. It felt like I had been branded or burnt badly. However, less than a week later it's just a little crusty and I'm amazed at how faded it is already.

I'm going to have to go back for at least two more treatments, but all in all I'm extremely impressed with the whole thing. It hurt, but the laser part only took about 2 or 3 minutes, so it wasn't too bad.

Now I have to wait two months before I can go back for my second treatment. Apparently even though it looks like it's healing quickly - the longer I wait between appointments the better.