TAT ZAPS

It’s been a crazy few months in my life, so I apologize in advance for the long gaps between my posts! I recently graduated with my undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado in Denver and moved to Miami, FL to attend the University of Miami for grad school. Because I started my tattoo removal sessions at What Were You Inking in Denver, I wanted to keep going there. 

I finally had the time off of work to fly back there and get a session and the CRAZIEST THING happened. I flew in on a Sunday afternoon and spent some time with friends. The next morning, I had my session at 10:30am. The session went well, but Jill skipped the red areas because she said the color is coming out of them well and she didn’t want to aggravate my skin. (Red ink can cause hyper-[or hypo?] pigmentation which can cause your skin to turn white and never be able to turn tan again if you over-work the removal of it) Since she wasn’t doing the red, I think she turned up the heat on the black! 

I asked her if my flight at 5:30 that day was going to effect it at all and she said no… well…. that may or may not have actually been the case. Jill was awesome and wrapped up my arm snugly so that I could get through the airport and security pat-downs without any trouble. The only problem was that about 2 hours into my 4-hour long flight, I started losing feeling in my left hand. I thought it was subtle, like my hand was falling asleep. I usually keep my arm in a sling while I’m healing because my arm gets so heavy from the swelling. Well, I looked in the sling to check on the bandage and it appeared that my arm was bulging out of the bandages… but only in the areas that didn’t have medical tape (which wasn’t a while lot because of how tight she wrapped it).

I hit the flight attendant call button and asked if they had a first aid kit on board. OH MY GOODNESS you should have seen the look on that woman’s face when I told her I had to cut the bandage off or I was going to lose feeling in that hand. LOL. I was escorted to the back of the plane and all four flight attendants scavenged around the aircraft for a pair of scissors (Southwest just got new planes and things are in different places, I guess, ha). Finally, a brave little flight attendant donned a pair of plastic gloves and decided to help me, since I couldn’t do it with the angle the bandage was at.

She cut the bandage off in one clean cut, but then I didn’t have anything to close it back up with more slack. This began another scavenger hunt for medical tape… strange it’s not in the same place…?
Regardless… they finally found some and taped one piece across the top and one on the bottom of my bandage. (There was one more piece of the original tape that we could re-use to close the center)

That seemed to work and I put my arm back in the sling and took my seat. They gave me a bag of ice which then looked even worse to all the other concerned passengers wondering what commotion was going on this whole time, lol.

As if that wasn’t enough of a hurdle… my boyfriend picked me up from the airport once I landed and when we were still about 20 minutes from his apartment, his alternator went out in his car! We broke down and were stuck for FOUR HOURS WAITING FOR PROGRESSIVE’s ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE. This entire time, my bandage is open to all kinds of fun things floating around the hot Florida air and I didn’t have anything to close it back up with. 

Because Jill wrapped up the bandage while my arm was still small, there wasn’t enough surface area to cover the amount that the cabin air pressure made my arm swell. Eventually, I asked my boyfriend if he had anything in his car I could use and he gave me a pack of Band-Aids! The little square of cotton in the middle of the Band-Aid was just the right size to cover the exposed part of my arm! Then, the two sticky sides held the bandage together until I could get home and clean it. 

Looks like I’m dating McGyver! My hero! <3

• Question: Any updates on that 5th session? - maki-bomb
• Answer:

  My bad- I thought I had uploaded those! Here’s some photos from right after the fifth session. I’ve since had a SIXTH session, so I’ll show some healed “after” photos soon. 
  Sorry I’m not great aout updating, I just recently graduated, gone on vacation, and am in the process of moving, but I promise they’ll be up within the next few weeks! :D
  Sarah 

• Question: I too have a large tattoo that I want removed sometime in the near future... are you experiencing any scarring?? Have you ever looked into something called manuka honey to help with healing?? I tried this stuff on a dog bite that had gotten badly infected a few years back. Manuka worked to heal the infection within a week's time. Anyways, much love and luck on your tattoo removal journey!! Kudos. - geminisnake
• Answer:

  Hey dear!!

  First of all, I want to congratulate you on making the decision to get your tattoo removed. It is a HUGE decision and a lot goes into it. I like to remind people that just because I’m getting some of my tattoos removed does not make me “anti-tattoo,” some tastes just change over time. 

  To answer your question, I am not experiencing any scarring after the five sessions I have had. However, my remover-lady has made it a point to explain that scarring is different for every individual. For example, if you know you are prone to scarring, you are more likely to scar, but, that will also vary with how much you pick/itch the scabs you get throughout the process.

  I haven’t heard of manuka honey, but am not sure I want to ‘mess with’ the healing process. One of the misconceptions about laser tattoo removal is that the majority of the work is done by the laser. On the contrary, your body actually does an amazing job pushing out the ink from your body once the laser has fragmented the ink particles to be small enough for your body to process out. 

  Best of luck and if you take pictures throughout the process, feel free to email them to me and I will post them here on the blog!

  All the best,
  S 

Alrighty folks, here’s another account of how I feel. (Enough pictures for now, right?)

Yesterday, (Thursday, April 18th) I got my fifth session of tattoo removal here in Denver, CO. I initially bought a pack of five sessions, so this marked my half-way point! 

My arm, per-usual, swelled up pretty large. My tat-zap-lady told me that she cranked up the voltage on my lasers each time I came in. Being the fifth session, this one was pretty intense. The area around my troll tattoo is nearly bleeding and smaller areas that don’t typically blister did so this time. When she was done and wrapping up my arm, she said, “You’re handling this very well. Be prepared for some pretty large blisters tomorrow.” Well, she was right! Ha. 

You can see from that picture (just post-shower) that the blisters are pretty intense, even on the bottom arm-band. Great contrast to the tattoo up top that hasn’t been touched, though! 

I scheduled my sixth session for June and am excited to see how it goes! I can’t wait until these are all gone and I can stop dealing with this pain and fuss of blisters every month and a half. 

As much as the process SUCKS and HURTS and I complain about it to my amazingly patient boyfriend… I am very grateful to be going through this and to have the opportunity to have this clean slate. I’ll keep updating pics as the process goes, but not a whole lot new here; 
- zapping hurts
- 3 days cleaning w/ antibacterial soap & wrapping
- SUPER heavy arm from all the swelling
- kinda hard to wash my face with a gimp arm
- kinda hard to drive (buckle up) with a gimp arm
- 2 weeks of scabs
- begin again! :D

<3 Sarah

Wanna see what the tattoo zapping really looks like? Check out this video of my third session. My little brother came along and taped for me and I mashed it up. If you listen, he’s asking some questions you may have, too!

Alright, folks! I know it’s been a while for those of you who are following me for my tattoo removal! Here are some before/after shots after three sessions. I’ve since gotten another session and have another one this Thursday, so STAY TUNED! I’ll post more blister pics if I can! haha

• Question: How's your tattoo removal going? - motorcyclesdontfly
• Answer:

  It’s awesome! I’ll post more pictures, soon! :D Thanks for asking!!

Oh hey! Great Wall!

Sorry for the lack of postings my little Tumbulitos (oh yeah). I’m in the process of preparing to TRAVEL TO CHINA for four months and I’m a little more than a little stressin’. All that aside! Here’s a little update about my beloved tattoos that I’m removing. (:

BLISTERING:
Now, while this session was probably the biggest blisters I’ve ever had on my body. EVER… they healed pretty normally. The recommendation from my laser-tech-lady was to keep them in a sterile wrap for three days. I was pretty darn skeptical that the big ones would be gone by then, but they really were for the most part. I did have to wrap the big one up just for one extra day because it was still a little oozey. (NOT going to lie… that caramel-colored-sticky-nastiness was not the most attractive thing in the world)

SCABBING:
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the scabs from this process are different than normal scabs. Typically, scabs have a very thick, sharp texture. However, these little scabs o’ joy are waxy and flaky. This is what makes them terribly itchy. TERRIBLY. I mean… I never had chicken pox as a child, but I can only imagine it is NOTHING compared to these scabs. Again, that hydrocortisone cream is going to be your BEST friend here. Be careful not to over-apply, though! You can apply the cream in thin coats up to three times a day. 

COLOR CHANGE:
MY TROLL IS PINK! Ha… maybe none of you find this quite as amusing as I do, but my nice little skin-tone troll has turned pink. It looks like she has a cute little rosy sunburn. I actually sent a picture of it to my laser-tech-lady to make sure everything was a-ok, and she said I was fine. It’s just all part of the healing process.

OVERALL:

Besides the itching and flaking, I can say this time was more intense right off the bat, but healed a little quicker than the first time. I can’t wait until my next session! Unfortunately, I can’t get in until January because I’ll be in Beijing from September - December. Check back, though, because I’ll post some cool stuff from China! (:

S 

• Question: please describe to me your experiences with tattoo removal and the aftercare following. i'm getting my first session done today and i'm tremblin' in my boots :c - jackie-moon-blog
• Answer:

  Jackie!! The first thing I can guarantee you is you’re going to be completely fine. Technicians are trained professionals are there to help you and wouldn’t intentionally injure you in any way, but also know that some people are just naturally more prone to scarring.

  For real in-depth descriptions and aftercare, I recommend you scroll back to the earlier posts on my blog. One in particular is titled “Erasing History: Tattoo Removal” and it’s the basics for your first time. After that, you’ll find posts going up to Day Nineteen after the procedure so you know how the swelling, blistering and scanning all progress.

  I just got my second session done and it was much more intense than the first one. I think it was more intense because she not only went a little more aggressively, but I had also just gotten over a pretty bad sunburn. My advice? Take care of your skin, drink plenty of water, and don’t be nervous! I’m here if you have any questions! (:

  -Sarah

REDNESS GALORE!

Zombie Troll Rises!!

Yesterday at 2:30pm, I got my second session of tat-zapping, as I so endearingly call it. This was WAY more intense than the first time and I ended up clenching my hands up so hard that they fell asleep while she was zapping my back. WHEW! She told me I was a trooper, though, because most people need to cry or take breaks and I’ve been able to go all the way through both sessions without any of that! (: I’m going to put up some photos from this but be warned… they’re a little graphic this time!

• Question: You're supposed to apply some sort of ointment or cream on it right? But how about if you have a blister? I've got blisters covering the whole of one word and I'm too scared to apply ointment on that incase it pops. Did you ignore those while they healed down, or lightly applied? - dennisxh-deactivated20150228
• Answer:

  When you’ve gotten a treatment recently, you’ll have the blisters for about three days. During that time, you can put a thin layer of antibiotic ointment on it (up to 3x per day) if you’d like, but I was the same as you. I didn’t want to even touch the blisters in case they popped too soon. I basically just woke up, cleaned them in the shower with antibiotic soap, patted them dry, and wrapped them in a sterile bandage for the day, until they healed.
  
  Once the blisters have popped on their own and turned into scabs, the skin is dry and becomes quite itchy. At this time, you can apply a thin layer of Aquaphor, Vitamin E Ointment, or Hydrocortisone Cream to the scabs. I use the Hydrocortisone and it worked wonders!
  
  I hope that cleared some things up for you!
  
  S 

I haven’t had much to update yet! The itching annoyance has gone down dramatically and my scabs are nearly completely healed. When I run my right hand on the back of my tattooed bicep, I can still feel a little bit of raised scabs, but they’re almost completely gone. I wash them with antibacterial soap in the shower every morning, but haven’t had to apply cortisone in a while because the itching isn’t even that bad. I don’t think I’ve applied creme for about 3 days now. My next removal session is a week from tomorrow, so look forward to some EPIC bandage/blister pics for round two! :D Stay tuuuned!