• Question: How do scientists laser off tattoos? I thought they were completely permanent.

    Asked by kingers7 to Tom, Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim on 28 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by lozanderson, ludwigbeilschmidt, harzard456, tigerowl4.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      Our Drs or nurses use a laser that heats up the granules of ink very quickly, making them explode. Some of the remaining fragements blow out of the skin and what is left can usually be dealt with by the body.

      It hurts a bit and often leaves either a very faint tattoo or a ‘ghost’ where the normal skin pigment has been removed, but generally it works very well.

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      There you go: The laser breaks down the ink (by ablating it, which is the name for the process that causes the ink to ‘explode’) so that the body can finish the job.

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