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Top Document: rec.arts.bodyart: Tattoo FAQ 7/9--General care/removal Previous Document: PROGRAMS FOR TATTOO REMOVAL IN JUVENILES See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge The following is a personal account by Cindy Browning <browning_cindy@smtpmac.bah.com>, of her decision to have her tattoos removed professionally. --- I started getting tats at 24 with a very small shoulder piece. I dated and ended up marrying a self-professed (now professional) tattoo artist, and got more pieces, all blackwork. The marriage ended, and I was left with a lot of tat work; some good but most, painful reminders. I had heard of tat removal, but these rumors were usually prefaced by "It hurts a lot, worse than the tat, it doesn't always work, and it's incredibly expensive." I saw the results of a removal on a friend of mine--she had a racist symbol on her hand, and her mom sent her to have it removed for around $500. (being married to the artist, none of my tats had cost anything--you get what you pay for.) I decided to go with cover-up work. Got several pieces from '89-91, blackwork and color, all by recognized professionals I knew. Some of the nicest ones I got were around my ankles--Egyptian-themed pieces from historical sources, a tribal tiger head from a book catalogue. My job was extremely unconventional--a retail store manager specializing in jewelry, minerals, and the occult. Located in a very hip, trendy area of Washington D.C., celebrities walked in regularly. The store owner encouraged us to be interesting-looking, and tats fit with the fashion-forward clothes that we wore. I left my job abruptly in '91, and used my computer skills to enter the extremely rigid, conservative world of government consulting. At first it was easy to cover up with black hose, long sleeves, and blazers, but this became increasingly constrictive. I began dreaming of wearing shorts, white hose, sleeveless shirts, bathing suits, anything, without being a one-woman free tattoo show. My life changed. My rock & roll friends were bored with my stories of work, not impressed that I was earning money, driving a new car and living on my own instead of in grimy group houses. New friends made judgments about me once they found out I had tattoos. Romance was difficult--there was always the "I have......tattoos" conversation to go through. There are surprising numbers of unenlightened men out there who think you are a) sleazy b) ready for sex at ANY time c) perverted d) into "pain" e) gross f) all of the above if you have tats. I think I met all of them in the D.C. area. One approached me on the mall on July 4th when I was celebrating freedom in my own personal way by wearing a tank top. He ran his slimy finger down my tattooed upper arm and said, "Pretty" in a Hannibal Lecter voice. I ran away. I think it was then that I began my soul-searching, before searching for doctors who could effectively remove tattoos, starting with my ankle pieces. My search was futile. I met at least one dermatologist who was really nice 'til I took off my shirt, at which point I believe she thought I was a candidate for Psychotic Monthly. I did eventually meet a man who said he didn't care if I had tats, but had none of his own. But those T-shirt aphorisms you read about non-tattooed people are true. We were driving past a boutique one night, and there was a velvet sheath dress in the window, cut up to here and down to there. He looked at me sadly and said how he wished I could wear it. I said, "Huh?" as I am not overweight by any means. I then realized what he really meant, that he wished I did not look like the missing 5th member of the Cycle Sluts from Hell in the dress. Groan. I did so well that I was offered a new position and a promotion at a new office in San Antonio. I grabbed it. Upon arriving and perusing the local rock & roll paper, I saw an ad that read "Married to Mary Lou but still have Debbie on your arm?", advertising the Laser Institute of San Antonio. I called, made an appointment, and went as soon as I could. The doctor (Dr. Marc Taylor) was very friendly, if a bit surprised by my tat work, but said he could help me. I saw a short video that showed results that looked miraculous. He warned that scarring could occur, and with professional tats, several treatments were necessary, scarring one's pocketbook as well. But I didn't care. All I could see was a rainbow, with white stockings and shorts and sandals at the end. Let me tell you, not wearing shorts in Texas in the summer makes you look like un-American. And I have no wish to look like someone's dad, or the Captain of the Love Boat, with dorky ankle socks. Now, you might say that individualism is prized in Texas. But after years of having tattoos, I stopped caring about what others think, and am concerned with my own comfort level. So far I have had one treatment. It went on for about 20 minutes, and felt somewhat like getting a tattoo, but more like a rubber band snapping on my skin. The machine is about 2 feet high and has a probe on a mechanical arm coming out of it, sort of like a dental drill. There's a pen-shaped attachment on the end, and a plastic shield (to keep the laser from shooting all over the room). The doctor, the attendant nurse and I all had to wear eye protection. The pen attachment shoots out little bursts of light, accompanied by an unpleasant crackling noise. The initial consultation was $45.00, and each 15-minute treatment is $195.00 (with incremental amounts added for every additional minute. It was $240 for 19 minutes. Aftercare is exactly the same as that for a tattoo, with 6-8 weeks between treatments. The results from my first treatment; there are areas where the tats have completely disappeared, although I was advised that this might not happen on every try. --==*-< >-*==--==*-< >-*==--==*-< >-*==--==*-< >-*==--==*-< >-*==-- This ends "rec.arts.bodyart: Tattoo FAQ 7/9--General care/removal." This should be followed by "rec.arts.bodyart: Tattoo FAQ 8/9--Miscellaneous info." User Contributions: 1 Yusuph Aug 16, 2012 @ 12:00 am I real to know much the history of tattoo, from the begin. Please send for me the all details/summary or imformation of tattoo. You can find me also on facebook as Toto mbata chico. Thank u Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:Top Document: rec.arts.bodyart: Tattoo FAQ 7/9--General care/removal Previous Document: PROGRAMS FOR TATTOO REMOVAL IN JUVENILES Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Part9 - Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: stan@cosmo.pasadena.ca.us
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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