Before and After My First Treatment

Whenever I am anticipating an event or situation to be painful (e.g. an exam, a race, a debate about the healthcare reform bill, etc.) I tend to build it up in my mind to be painful beyond epic proportions. I believe this is what people call “coping”. I do this so that when I am faced with the possible painful event and/or situation it is never as bad as the one my imagination has created.

When mentally preparing myself for my first laser tattoo removal treatment I imagined it would be like having scalding, hot, grease splashed onto my skin over and over. The experience wasn’t unlike what I just described; however, believe it or not, it was tolerable. I had the option of having the tattoo injected with lidocaine before hand. Unfortunately that would have meant $100 extra dollars, and since my tattoo is fairly large I would have exceeded the maximum dose before the entire tattoo was numbed. Instead I opted for a few Tylenol and some nitrous oxide.

This is the tattoo before:

And this is after the first treatment:

Detail of the blistering:

Size of tattoo: 10’x7'

Percent fading: 0%

Time under the laser: ~20 minutes

Pre-medications: Tylenol 650mg, nitrous oxide

Pain Level: on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst pain imaginable) I would rate it a 6. I was still able to have a conversation with the Physician Assistant during the procedure.

Wound care products used: Bacitracin, Telfa pads (non-adhesive bandage), and Coban™ (a self-adherent dressing - awesome stuff).

After Effects: A small amount of sero-sanguinous drainage and blistering for about 3-5 days. I stopped bandaging it after 1 day because it was sort of a nuisance. I do not recommend this. If you can, keep performing wound care for at least 3 days.

Unexpected response: After day 3 my arm swelled up and took on a yellow tinge. I was not expecting that at all. After day 10 I thought I was out of the woods, the blisters began to scab, there was no swelling and no yellow tinge to my skin; however, the itching began. Oh the itching. Never in my life have I experienced an itch on this level. I half wanted to be put in a straight jacket and locked up. I ended up having to scratch it. I do not recommend this either. In order for the tattoo to heal properly itching is not advised. To relieve the itch without scratching I applied Benadryl cream and when that wouldn't get the job done I would lightly scratch the tattoo with a gauze bath sponge. Both these remedies worked effectively.

Next treatment: second week in April.