NEW DELHI: A new breed of patients - estranged lovers, college-goers and job aspirants - are thronging the Lok Nayak Hospital these days. Their common need is to get the tattoos they once got as marks of love, eye-catching designs or meaningful artistic expressions, removed.
Doctors say that while getting a tattoo done is easy, the removal takes anywhere between eight and nine sittings of laser treatment over a period of six months or more. But anyone whose need is urgent-—somebody who is getting married and doesn't want to carry any visible memory of his/her past relationship, or someone applying for a job in the army— the doctors remove a layer of skin before laser treatment for effective removal of the tattoo.
Laser therapy—the most common method for tattoo removal—works by splitting the ink into smaller fragments, allowing them to be broken down by the body's immune system and naturally excreted .
"Permanent tattoos, particularly the multi-coloured ones, are difficult to remove even with lasers. It requires treatment for up to six months; and in some cases, the tattoo marks still remain," said Dr V K Garg, head of the dermatology department at Lok Nayak Hospital.
In private clinics, tattoo removal costs anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 per sitting depending on the size and colours used; but in government hospitals, the treatment is free of cost, which explains the reason behind the rush there.
According to Dr Kabir Sardana , a skin specialist at the Lok Nayak Hospital, they handle four to five such cases every day. "Indians have dark skin which absorbs a lot of energy . We are working on a new technique for tattoo removal wherein about 0.2 cm of the layer of the skin in target area is peeled off before laser application . It can reduce the number of sittings," said Sardana.
As a 21- year- old, Aditi Ghosh (name changed) thought there was nothing more desirable than a series of increasingly dramatic tattoos . "I liked people commenting on them. The process was almost addictive; I even liked the pain," she said. Now, as a 28-year-old housewife, she is at pains to get them removed. She spent around Rs 2,000 having them put on, but more than Rs 50,000 so far on trying to get them removed. "I had no idea it was going to be so difficult , painful and expensive," she said.
She is not alone. Every year, thousands of people, many of them teenagers, have their bodies permanently tattooed . Despite the fact that at least half of them later regret it—some almost immediately—the numbers queuing up for body art are growing rapidly . The use of infected needles for tattooing is a major cause for hepatitis and other blood-borne infections also.
"In my view, one should avoid tattoos or consider the pros and cons seriously before going for it. Also, multi-coloured and big tattoos are difficult to go and they should better be avoided," said Dr S C Bharija, the head of the dermatology department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
Doctors say that while getting a tattoo done is easy, the removal takes anywhere between eight and nine sittings of laser treatment over a period of six months or more. But anyone whose need is urgent-—somebody who is getting married and doesn't want to carry any visible memory of his/her past relationship, or someone applying for a job in the army— the doctors remove a layer of skin before laser treatment for effective removal of the tattoo.
Laser therapy—the most common method for tattoo removal—works by splitting the ink into smaller fragments, allowing them to be broken down by the body's immune system and naturally excreted .
"Permanent tattoos, particularly the multi-coloured ones, are difficult to remove even with lasers. It requires treatment for up to six months; and in some cases, the tattoo marks still remain," said Dr V K Garg, head of the dermatology department at Lok Nayak Hospital.
In private clinics, tattoo removal costs anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 per sitting depending on the size and colours used; but in government hospitals, the treatment is free of cost, which explains the reason behind the rush there.
According to Dr Kabir Sardana , a skin specialist at the Lok Nayak Hospital, they handle four to five such cases every day. "Indians have dark skin which absorbs a lot of energy . We are working on a new technique for tattoo removal wherein about 0.2 cm of the layer of the skin in target area is peeled off before laser application . It can reduce the number of sittings," said Sardana.
As a 21- year- old, Aditi Ghosh (name changed) thought there was nothing more desirable than a series of increasingly dramatic tattoos . "I liked people commenting on them. The process was almost addictive; I even liked the pain," she said. Now, as a 28-year-old housewife, she is at pains to get them removed. She spent around Rs 2,000 having them put on, but more than Rs 50,000 so far on trying to get them removed. "I had no idea it was going to be so difficult , painful and expensive," she said.
She is not alone. Every year, thousands of people, many of them teenagers, have their bodies permanently tattooed . Despite the fact that at least half of them later regret it—some almost immediately—the numbers queuing up for body art are growing rapidly . The use of infected needles for tattooing is a major cause for hepatitis and other blood-borne infections also.
"In my view, one should avoid tattoos or consider the pros and cons seriously before going for it. Also, multi-coloured and big tattoos are difficult to go and they should better be avoided," said Dr S C Bharija, the head of the dermatology department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
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