Tattoos removal popularity increases with number of people getting inked

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Tattoos removal popularity increases with number of people getting inked
July 13, 2010
By Megan Martin
The Vancouver Sun


MONTREAL — Youthful indiscretion? Inebriated decision making? Maybe someone's name you'd rather not be reminded of?

Regardless of the reason, the bottom line for the tattoo industry is a second revenue stream — removal.

Inked celebrities and the emergence of popular reality television shows on the topic pushed tattoos up a notch or two on the socially acceptable ladder. But as the number of people getting tattoos goes up, so does the number of people getting them removed.

The tattoo industry has embraced the spike in their business in recent years. More people want tattoos, and they want bigger ones.

But when your clientele starts to regret their decision to ink themselves in substantial numbers, why send them somewhere else for removal when they can just return to the scene of the crime?

Tattoo parlours have caught on. Many of them now offer removal services in their shops, creating an unique revolving-door business model. Customers come in and pay to get inked and then come back at a later date and pay again — and again and again — to have it removed.

"It takes several sessions so it could end up being very expensive," said Dr. Yves Hebert, who has been practicing cosmetic medicine for 20 years. "It can sometimes take 10 to 12 sessions and you pay per treatment, sometimes $200 to $400 each time, depending on the tattoo."

There is no set price for a tattoo; it varies considerably with the amount of work involved and the location.

The removal process uses beams of light to explode the ink particles in the skin. The ink is then absorbed by the body. People have to wait weeks in between treatments to allow the skin to heal. There are some risks involved with the process, such as scarring or changes in pigmentation.

In spite of the steep cost of the treatments, Hebert said he's never been so busy.

"It's booming," he said. "I started doing tattoo removal about five years ago and it was like one or two patients a week. Now we get a minimum of one to two patients a day, sometimes even four to five."

With that big of a spike in demand, tattoo parlours aren't being left out of the action.

"In the last eight years, tattoo removal has been steadily increasing, so it just makes business sense to offer removal services," said Jennifer Wiet, head manager at Adrenaline Professional Tattoo and Body Piercing, a well known Montreal tattoo parlour. "We get a significant number of calls from people asking where they can get their tattoos removed, so this year we decided to start having a technician come in with a laser machine to do removal here."

Adrenaline had been doing minor tattoo removal since 2006 but is able to handle more complex removals now.

Wiet is no stranger to ink; she's got 14 tattoos.

"When Adrenaline first opened in 2000, the demand was for a lot of really small tattoos," she said. "I think the birth of reality television shows such as LA Ink really changed not only the amount of people coming in, but also the kinds of tattoos that people were getting. Now we're doing fewer small tattoo and more big designs instead."

Even people getting their first tattoos are having more dramatic pieces done, she added.

Although the industry is experiencing a surge in popularity right now, parlours have been consistently successful for a long time, said Bruno Delorme, a marketing professor at Concordia University and partner in the BDC Consulting Group.

"Here and in the States, there a lot of tattoo parlous surging despite the recession," Delorme said. "Tattoos can sometimes provide a form of escapism; when times are tough, a tattoo is something permanent and comforting."

After Hurricane Katrina, tattoo parlours were surging in the south. When you lose everything you want something that'll always be yours, Delorme added, it's comforting.

And it is trendy.

"A lot of people aren't putting as much thought into getting tattoos anymore because it's easier to get one nowadays and people don't have to hide them as much," Wiet said. "Laser treatments are more mainstream now too, for hair removal and other treatments, so people are also less hesitant about the prospect of having a tattoo removed one day."

And that all adds up to money in the bank for the parlours.

Still, laser tattoo removal isn't for everyone. Some tattoo parlours have come up with another solution.

"Our artists are also great at covering tattoos," Wiet said. "A lot of times they can disguise a tattoo by integrating it into another one. We also tell people that they can go get a few laser sessions done, not to remove the whole thing but just to lighten it enough that we can then put another tattoo over it while disguising what the client doesn't like."

While offering these additional removal services are good for a parlour's bottom line, not everyone in the business likes the idea of undoing what has been done.

"It's true that tattooing is a business, but most artists don't want to put their art on people's bodies that they know is likely to be taken off in a year or two," Wiet said, "Most painters wouldn't want to sell a painting if they thought someone was going to paint over it in two years."

For that reason, professional tattoo artists try to guide people in their decision to get inked.

"A lot of people come in and they ask for their boy or girlfriend's name and we try to talk them out of it generally because it's not really a good idea and it's taboo in the industry," she said. "But the artist has to meet the needs of the client so they do it, but most of the time they know they'll be seeing that client in a year or so when they want the name removed."

Tattoo removal services are just another consumer product, said Angelo Barbieri, owner of LCI Lasercom Cliniques International, which offers tattoo-removal services.

"People spend money on all kinds of things; this is just another service," Barbieri said. "It's true that tattoos are a lot more mainstream now, but naturally some people do it because their friends have it or it was a trend at the time."

Then people come to a point in their lives where they're not happy with their tattoo anymore, he continued.

"Everyone has a different reason for wanting it removed. The bottom line is that they're just not comfortable with it anymore."

And not everyone likes the idea of parlours offering removal services. Hebert cautioned people about having their tattoos removed in non-medical settings.

"It should be done under medical supervision because the laser is a serious machine and it can be potentially dangerous," he said. "If there's a complication, people without medical training aren't necessarily equipped to deal with it."

Though laser operators need training, there are no regulations requiring they be used in a medical setting.

People should educate themselves about the process before having it done, Barbieri said.

"They need to make their expectations clear so that they aren't disappointed by the results of the procedure after spending large amounts of money to have it done."

If you're interested in getting inked, Wiet suggests getting something called body paint done first.

"It's temporary and it allows you to see how you like it before getting anything permanent done," she said. "Because at the end of the day, getting a tattoo is a long-term commitment."
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette




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* More women than ever are getting inked
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Related Stories from Around the Web

* Tattoos removal popularity increases with number of people getting inked

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Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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Tattoo remover Simon Assouline uses laser to remove a tatoo from a customer at Adrenaline tattoo parlour in Montreal Tuesday, June 29, 2010. For an article on the growing business of tattoo removal.

Tattoo remover Simon Assouline uses laser to remove a tatoo from a customer at Adrenaline tattoo parlour in Montreal Tuesday, June 29, 2010. For an article on the growing business of tattoo removal.
Photograph by: John Kenney, Montreal Gazette




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anonymous

11:56 AM on July 13, 2010

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I have a friend who has suffered from Hep C for years after deciding on a whim to get a little tattoo on her ankle at a party... too bad there's no removal service for that.
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10:49 AM on July 13, 2010

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you said it
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5:49 PM on July 12, 2010

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tattoos suck...
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Tattoos removal popularity increases with number of people getting inked



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