What should you know about Picoway laser tattoo removal?

A clinician maps the tattoo and chooses settings according to ink colour, depth, age, location, and your skin tone. The pulse creates a targeted effect in the ink while limiting heat spread, but the skin can still become red, swollen, tender, blistered, or crusted. Different inks respond differently, and some colours are more difficult to clear. A tattoo may fade progressively rather than disappear in one visit.

Your clinician should also ask about tanning, medicines, scarring history, allergies, and any previous tattoo treatment. Do not assume a tattoo that looks simple on a photograph will respond in the same way as another tattoo.

Attend a proper consultation and provide the tattoo's history, including cosmetic or cover-up work. Avoid tanning and follow instructions about creams or medicines before treatment. After a session, keep the area clean and protected, use the advised dressing, and do not pop blisters or remove crusts. Avoid friction, swimming, and irritating products until the surface has healed. Protecting the area from sunlight helps reduce unwanted colour change during recovery.

Contact the clinic if redness spreads, pain increases, pus appears, fever develops, or healing is not progressing. Seek urgent help for breathing difficulty, widespread hives, or swelling of the face or throat. Report marked scarring or a persistent colour change so the treatment plan can be reviewed.

Ask which ink colours are present, what fading pattern is realistic, how your skin tone affects settings, what spacing between sessions is advised, how scars or cover-up ink change the plan, and which warning signs require review.