THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408180652
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 143 lines
Divorce is an ugly thing. Karen Seymour had to sell her home, pawn a diamond bracelet to pay her attorney, and give away her cat, Tabby, when she moved into an apartment.
But the first thing to go was her tattoo - her husband's name etched, once lovingly, in her left buttock.
``It was in a place that no one could see but just the idea it was there. You don't want to be divorced and have his name still a part of you, like you're still his property,'' Seymour said.
``It wasn't cheap but it worked really well. Like my marraige, it's easy to pretend that it was never there!''
Seymour did what a lot of people still don't realize you can do - use laser surgery to remove a tattoo without pain and rare chance of scarring.
Tattooing, especially among women, has become amazingly popular since the likes of Cher and Naomi Campbell have transformed the configurations into something sophisticated and sexy. But with every in there is an out; business women find butterflies and briefcases don't match or their lives change and they need to erase bad memories.
``We do a lot of strange things when we're young. Getting a tattoo on my arm was one of them,'' said Tonya Martin of Norfolk. ``I could see my grandchildren asking me to explain what that marijuana leaf on my arm was.
``I just couldn't see myself explaining that so I got rid of it.''
Decorative tattoos date back at least 5000 years with the desire to remove them just as old.
``They've found evidence of mummies who had tattoos removed, sanded and covered them with acid or salt,'' said Dr. Matthew Galumbeck with the Center for Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery in Norfolk.
``There is a lot of scarring.''
Unfortunately for many, this process hasn't changed.
``I've seen people who've tried to sandpaper tattoos off, cut them out with a knife, using a welding torch to burn them off,'' said Dr. David McDaniel, director of the Laser Center of Virginia in Virginia Beach.
``Some of the worst cases have been with acids. They come to me because they end up with a scar or because they have a really light patch but you can't fix a scar. . . a lot of people aren't aware of the technology that is available today.''
McDaniel has been using laser surgery to remove tattoos for the past 13 years.
Older laser technology, dermabrasion (a surgical procedure of scraping off upper layers of skin), and skin grafting - methods still used by some plastic surgeons - almost guaranteed scarring.
``But newer lasers carry only a 1 to 2 percent chance of scarring,'' McDaniel said.
Tattoo ink is removed by using a specific wavelength of light which passes through the skin but is absorbed by the ink. Lasers use a powerful flashlamp tube ( like a giant electronic camera flash ) to pulse very high light through a laser pen. Different pigments and skin types require different lasers For example, persons of Asian, hispanic or African descent or heavily freckled people usually require different lasers.
The laser is focused on small areas the size and shape of a pencil eraser and each pulse outlines the tattoo design.
Tina Hicks of Norfolk recently had in intricate tattoo removed from her upper right breast.
As Galumbeck directed the six million watts of energy into her chest, Hicks barely moved.
``It feels just like someone is popping a rubberband against my skin,'' Hicks said.
``It doesn't hurt at all.''
After 20 minutes, Hicks sat up and looked at what was once a snake wrapped around a heart, lying on a bed of flowers. It was now an outline of pin-drops of blood and white dots that would bruise.
``I liked the tattoo but I hope to go into detective work, do some undercover work, and I can't have a tattoo like this,'' Hicks said.
The bruising will fade in about two weeks and the colors will begin to dissolve over the next four to eight weeks as the body abosorbs the ink through its natural filtering system. After that, Hicks will need a few more treatments for complete resolution.
On average, professional tattoos require five to six treatments, while amateur tattoos require three to four. The number of treatments depends on the amount and type of ink used and the depth of the ink in the skin.
Dark inks, such as black, blue and red, fade easily while white, green and yellows are the most difficult to remove.
``I get a lot of patients when other doctors have done all they can and they can't get rid of the green,'' McDaniel said.
``I've had to get rid of some green eyes left from a cat or an olive left from a martini glass.''
Generally, more than 95 percent of fading of the tattoo can be accomplished. However, there are over 100 tattoo inks in use, none of which are regulated by the Federal Drug Administration. Not knowing which tattoo ink, how deep or how much was used, makes it impossible for the physician to predict the removal of any given tattoo.
The cost also fluctuates with the length and type of laser - the price can range from the low hundreds to thousands because a combination of lasers might be needed to rid a stubborn tattoo.
McDaniel hopes to cut costs in the future by doing research with other area doctors and find out which lasers work best and in what conditions.
``Our aim is to get the tattoo off with the lowest bill,'' McDaniel said.
``It will be a science. Now it's an art.''
For people like Rose Taylor, that's enough.
She's 30 and has had the Chrysler imperial rose tattooed on her chest since she was 16. She used to consider it cute now it's a nuisance.
``I really like my tattoo but I have at least one person a day ask about it. I'd try to discuss business with a male, and his eyes were concentrated on my chest,'' said Taylor, a sales director in Virginia Beach.
``I'd advise anyone thinking about getting a tattoo to think about how it will affect them years to down the road. This isn't worth the hassle.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff color photos
Dr. Matthew Galumbeck places a patch on Tina Hicks' newly removed
tattoo. ``It doesn't hurt at all,'' Hicks, of Norfolk, said of the
laser surgery, which used 6 million watts of energy.
Tattoo ink is removed with a specific wavelength of light on a small
area.
COLOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF LASER CENTER OF VIRGINIA
Earlier methods of removing tattoos included (A) cutting it out, (B)
skin grafting, and (C) dermabrasion, in which the upper layers of
skin are scraped off. All three methods are almost guaranteed to
leave visible scarring.
Photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Tina Hicks waits after a media conference for surgery at the Center
for Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery.
by CNB