7. Application of the Crystal 2000 Laser Device in Cosmetology

A.A.Radaev

There is no statistical data on the age of people willing to remove their tattoos. Some people decide to remove tattoos within a couple of days, some people make this decision within 50 years, whereas the others think that tattoo removal will cause a scar and, thus, they have been suffering for many years. The most widespread motivations for tattoo removal appeared to be as follows:

1. A person is fed up with his or her tattoo because the tattoo has been made in a wrong way or in a wrong place;

2. The tattoo appears to be in the way of normal intimate relations;

3. The tattoo impedes career development and promotion;

4. A person does not want to explain his children the tattoo's history;

5. A person has grown up and considers the tattoo as childish and unattractive, affecting his or her image.

Usually, when a person has decided to remove a tattoo, he or she comes to see the cosmetologist with a very strong motivation. Many people suppose that the tattoo removal will cause a scar. This had been true until recently. Many methods were tested for tattoo removal, and they were all based on the same principle: to excise a skin locus containing the tattoo. To this end, local acid application, derma abrasion, cryogenic surgery, surgical excisions, and infrared coagulation were used. All these methods could effectively remove tattoos. However, the aesthetic effect of these methods left much to be desired. The probability of emerging disfiguring scars was very high, and the scars could be more unwanted than the tattoos themselves.

For the first time, laser-based tattoo removal was tested at the dawn of the laser-age. To this end, a ruby crystal laser was used in 1960. Unfortunately, the first experiments were a failure. This resulted from a poor understanding of the processes occurring in the skin under laser radiation. Furthermore, the laser radiation parameters were chosen at random.

During the following forty years, scientists made considerable a breakthrough in laser technologies. This time span made it possible to gain wide clinical experience and to advance laser methods. As a result, they became almost solely adequate to tattoo removal for their good aesthetic effect. Currently, tattoos and scars are widely removed using the state-of-art Crystal 2000 (810 nm; 15 W) infrared laser device. This unique laser ensures a perfect aesthetic effect after the removal of black, dark-blue, and dark-green tattoos. The dye granules of these tattoos can be located not only in the epidermis, but also in the underlying cutaneous layers. The use of this laser faces a very low risk of pigmented changes.

After laser exposure, a tattoo disappears gradually, not immediately. The contrast decreases and then disappears. The removal process can last 3 weeks to 12 months, depending on the tattoo's type and size. Transient side effects can be observable after the laser session (such as hyperpigmentation, changes in the skin color, the emergence of various patches, and changes in the skin texture). However, these side effects disappear within 3 to 4 weeks.