Every time a first-time client arrives for their first laser tattoo removal appointment, I ask, “Are you excited? Are you nervous?”

Most clients are both, which I totally understand, I too am having a tattoo removed (more on that in a different blog post!) and before that first session, I had butterflies in my stomach, but was stoked to get the process started.

If you’re coming to start laser tattoo removal here at Take It Off, that means you already had an in-depth consultation with us; outlining how many sessions we can estimate you’ll need, the price per session, options for pre-numbing before you come in, and a description of what tattoo removal feels like, and a brief lowdown on how your appointment will go.

If you haven’t yet come to us for a free consultation, you can book one now, and we’ll quickly summarize it here:

What to expect at your first session of tattoo removal

• Upon being greeted, we will ask you if you’ve had any medical history changes since your consultation. This is to ensure that there aren’t any new contraindications for treatment.

• We will then cleanse your skin, and take well-lit photos. Being able to track your progress is essential! Sometimes there might not seem to be much change, but seeing progression photos next to each other can illuminate those small but mighty changes happening in your skin!

• After taking photos, we’ll use our Zimmer to cool your skin down. This not only provides some superficial numbing, but it also helps protect your skin from the thermal event that is about to begin!

• After your skin is nice and cool, we’ll put on our laser safety goggles, and we will do an initial test pulse on your tattoo. We do this as a way to measure whether or not we need to go up in power or down in power for the safest and most effective treatment for you and your tattoo. We always let you know when we’re about to do that first test pulse, count down from three, and check-in with you after.

• Once we’ve found the proper protocol for your tattoo, we’ll get to rockin’ on that tattoo, but we’ll check in with you every few moments to make sure you’re not holding your breath, and that you’re doing ok! We always make sure to let you know that if you need a break, to let us know because you’re in charge of your body, and we want to make sure you’re comfortable during the whole treatment.

• After we’ve treated your entire tattoo, you’ll likely see what is called epidermal “frosting” on top of your tattoo. This isn’t permanent, it generally lasts about 15 minutes and indicates that our laser successfully targeted your tattoo, and carbon was released from the pigment up to your epidermis. Frosting usually is only seen in the initial treatments, as when the pigment particles get smaller and more spaced out, the carbon becomes less obvious on the skin.

• So, we’re done treating your tattoo, we will then take an after photo. After that, we will put Alocane on your skin and hand you an ice pack to take home with you. We will verbally give you aftercare information, a printed flyer with this information, it will be emailed to you, and it is also available on our website!

• Once we’re all done, we’ll check you out, and rebook for 8 weeks down the road.

The scariest part of your first session is just not knowing what to expect. As someone who has gotten removal, I like to describe it as hot oil popping your skin, or like a hot rubber band snapping you. It’s more annoying than painful, in my experience. But from experience lasering clients, I know that fingers definitely hurt a lot, and it’s safe to say that if it hurt a lot when you got tattooed, it’s going to be tough during removal as well.

If you’re worried about the pain, you can always purchase numbing cream and arrive already numbed for your treatment. We recommend Zensa Numbing Cream.

I hope this little blog post gave you some peace of mind, and it’ll leave you feeling empowered to make that first step in booking a consultation!

-Sarah Inloes (she/her)
Owner, CAE