Are you allergic to your tattoo? A small percentage of our patients are removing their tattoo because they have developed a strong allergic reaction to their tattoo. For most of these tattoo removal patients, they have received their tattoo within the last month and are experiencing redness, itching, swelling, and discomfort from their tattoo. Red ink is the most common color of tattoo ink that causes an allergy. Allergy to tattoos makes the tattoo removal process somewhat more difficult and uncertain compared to tattoos that are being removed for purely cosmetic reasons. Your immune system is having an allergic reaction to your ink and your body’s ability to flush the ink we shatter out of your body can be complicated by the body’s rejection of the ink. For some patients we will be able to successfully perform a laser treatment on your tattoo and shatter the ink in your tattoo, but the ink will not be flushed through your immune system. This is often difficult to predict but when you come in for a free consultation at New Look we’ll be able to discuss some of these issues with you.
