Think before get inked

The art of tattooing has gained extraordinary popularity nowadays, making the industry of tattoo consumables a great generator of revenue. The high demand of tattoo products encouraged a rapid multiplication of the number of manufacturers, and stimulated innovation in the manufacturing of tattoo colorants. This led to the appearance of organic pigments on the market – an advancement to the previously used inorganic counterparts. Organic pigments attracted consumers with their height coloring ability and photo stability that make them advantageous compared to inorganic dyes. Tattoos have become a part of contemporary fashion, however there are many considerations to think about before getting a tattoo. For instance, many companies have restrictions around visible body art in their employment policies. Additionally, some studies have shown that inconvenient physiological changes may occur due to the presence of tattoo pigments in the body. Evolving personal preferences, poor art-work, allergies caused by low quality ink, and changes in the tattoo trends have all contributed to the growth of the global tattoo removal market, with laser procedures making up the largest shares.

Laser tattoo removal

For several decades, researchers focused exclusively on the improvement of laser technology for tattoo removal. Anderson and Paris’s discovery of the principle of selective photo-thermolysis created a scientific revolution in laser removal techniques and allowed the procedure of laser removal to reach the highest level of efficiency. However, practice has shown that some colors of pigments are resistant to laser irradiation, and some types of pigments, when exposed to it, undergo a dramatic conversion of chemical structure. It is still disputed whether the mechanical disruption of the tattoo pigment is followed by site clearance due to macrophages, or if the chemical cleavage of organic pigments with simultaneous loss of the chromophore leads to the fading of the tattoo. A further possible explanation for the bleaching of visible pigments is the alternation of the fine structure of carbon particles leading to transparency. Experience has also shown that in many cases it is impossible to completely remove tattoo pigments from the skin.

Chemical pigment extraction

In the 1990s, the method of chemical tissue destruction for tattoo lightening, applied and studied by French doctor Gustave Variot in 1888, was reappraised. Many alternative techniques of tattoo removal had been tried and abandoned during the last thirty years, and only the ones that proved effective became widespread. In the early 2000s, a new tattoo trend originated – Permanent Make-up, a technique of injecting ink to highlight the facial features. Subsequently, a demand for permanent makeup removal from the face emerged. Unlike body tattoo, permanent make-up removal is an aesthetically-sensitive procedure. It soon became clear that laser irradiation triggers a conversion of red shades of the lip pigments into purple. Scientists have explained this phenomenon as a change of valence of iron oxide, a compound commonly used in inorganic lip pigments. White titanium oxide (the main ingredient that regulates shades in tattoo inks) also undergoes a valence transformation. Under the influence of increased ambient temperature, during a removal session, white titanium oxide changes color to bluish or greenish. Organic pigments, in turn, caused a panic among permanent makeup masters. Attempts to remove organic pigments with lasers have resulted in their transformation into unexpectedly bright colors that were unacceptable to be worn on the face. These pigments also showed great resistance to laser irradiation during follow-up sessions. The need for an alternative to laser removal for facial tattoos has spurred experiments to improve chemical removal methods. A variety of acidic, alkaline, and saline solutions are now used to remove unwanted facial tattoos. Those solutions have obtained the common name “removers” and have become an indispensable tool in the practice of permanent make-up artists.