Houston Tattoo Removal Blog

Our frequently asked questions page on our website does a great job answering the most common questions regarding laser tattoo removal. We go over what kind of laser is used, how the ink is removed from the body, number of sessions needed, cost of treatment, side effects and several other aspects of tattoo removal. This is a great way to get a basic understanding of laser tattoo removal and expand on the aspects that you are most interested in.

A very common question that we get here at New Look is how long does it take for the skin to heal after a laser treatment. A short answer is that most of the healing takes place within the first 72 hours but it can take up to one to two weeks to heal completely after your first treatment and then it takes less time with each session. Here are some of the key factors that affect time of healing after a laser tattoo removal treatment:

1. How many treatments have you had?
2. How dense is the ink in your tattoo?
3. Are both the wavelengths of light needed for your laser tattoo removal treatment?
4. How well does your immune system respond to injury?

You will tend to heal faster and faster as you progress through your treatments. After your first laser tattoo removal session you may take from one week to two weeks to heal completely. After your second treatment it may only take you five days. After your third maybe only three days until you heal within 24 hours of your last treatment. As you progress in the number of treatments you have had, you have less ink which has a result of less damage to the skin.

Density of the ink is important because the more dense your tattoo is, the more the laser energy is absorbed and the longer it takes to heal. With a very old tattoo that is not very dense, it may only take five days to heal even after your first treatment.

If we go over your tattoo with both the 1064nm and the 532nm wavelength of light (usually because of colors or very, very faded black) it may take longer for you to heal as well. For instance, if you have a black tattoo that has been lasered four times to the point where it is very, very faded, we may decide to add the 532nm as well to get the last bit out. Since you have had two lasers go over the same area you will probably require slightly longer to heal than the previous treatment when we only used one.

The last thing that is important to talk about is the immune system. If your immune system is good shape because you are healthy then you will follow the general rule that it takes one to two weeks to heal after your first treatment and then less time as your treatments progress. However, if you have diabetes or other health problems it could take you slighty longer. Not to worry, everyone is usually healed, including having no scabs, after the first month. Most of the healing is done within the first 72 hours.

We have changed our office hours at New Look Laser Tattoo Removal in Houston. Our new hours of operation are Monday-Friday from 10am to 7pm with our last scheduled appointment being at 6:30pm. These later evening hours five days a week will allow us to meet your after work needs. Thank you and Happy Holidays to everyone.

During the holidays we are all looking for that special gift to give those we care about. We have all done sweaters, electronics, movies, gift certificates to books stores and coffee shops, etc. It feels great when you can give someone something they really want. Tattoo removal is certainly something the person you care about will remember for a lifetime.

Here in our Houston office we would be happy to help you with your special holiday gift. We have a very professional staff and testimonials that will show you how we have changed the lives of others. Give us a call or an email and we can figure out how to best help you give the gift that truly does last a lifetime to someone you love.

At New Look, we pride ourselves on not racing through our treatments. Tattoo removal sessions don’t take very much time, but we’ll do our best every time to pay very close attention to your tattoo in order to cover the entire inked area and get a great reaction from the skin. On later treatments especially, it might take a bit longer to keep making the sort of progress that our patients are hoping for. That being said, patients see the most progress in their first few treatments and see less progress from later treatments as the easiest-to-access ink has already been removed.

Treatment times generally range between a few minutes and up to 20, 30, or 40 minutes. A simple tattoo consisting of cursive writing will be treated very quickly. We’ll likely spend more time numbing the skin with our cooling machine and bandaging up the skin than with the procedure itself.

If you are interested in learning more about laser removal training or cosmetic laser school, New Look Laser College’s tattoo removal training program may be of interest to you.

We’ve partnered with CareCredit (a GE Money Bank company) to offer 12 month, no-interest financing for our Houston tattoo removal patients. CareCredit is the leading provider of financing for cosmetic medical procedures like laser tattoo removal, and we’ll pleased to be able to offer our patients two financing options when they purchase a package of treatments:

1) 12-months no-interest.
2) 24, 36, or 48 months with a reasonable interest rate (11.9%)

It is easy to apply for CareCredit. You can either apply at our Houston clinic after you’ve completed your free tattoo removal consultation or before you start your first treatment. You can also visit CareCredit’s website to apply.

When you get on CareCredit’s website, you first click on Apply at the bottom right corner. You’ll select “Apply at Home” on the next page. It will allow you on the third page to enter the name of the clinic (New Look Laser Tattoo Removal) then click “Next”. Select the Houston location and choose “Apply Now”. Another window will pop up and you’ll be able to fill out the application in just a minute or two. You’ll be immediately approved and provided with an account number. Write down that number and bring it into our office and we’ll take care of it!

Please ask Nicole or Braley in our Houston tattoo removal office if you have any questions.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our new and future patients! We are thankful for many things this year - our families, friends, our great Houston staff (Braley & Nicole), our upcoming new office (we’ll be moving to it in early December), and all of our great patients. We enjoy spending time with them and being the leading provider of laser tattoo removal in Houston.

The staff here at New Look Laser Tattoo Removal pride ourselves on being available for our tattoo removal patients. This takes several different forms - we are open Monday through Friday from 10am to 7pm. That’s five days a week, every week that we perform laser tattoo removal. That’s a big advantage for our patients - you don’t have to wait until the one day a month that we offer this treatment. We own (instead of rent) our lasers and patients benefit from our experience.

Another way we like to make ourselves available to our patients is responding the patient questions as quickly as possible. If patients wish to ask our certified laser specialists a question after their tattoo removal treatment is complete we do our best to respond as soon as possible.

If you live in or near Houston, Texas and are interested in removing an unwanted tattoo, call New Look, the Houston tattoo removal experts. Tattoo removal is the only procedure we perform at our Houston and Dallas tattoo removal clinics as well as our new Austin clinic.

New Look Laser Tattoo Removal will soon be opening a new tattoo removal clinic in Austin. This will be our third clinic, after our Houston and Dallas clinics. Like our other clinics, our Austin tattoo removal location will focused exclusively on laser tattoo removal and quickly be the most-visited speciality clinic for this popular procedure. Check back soon for updates on our first day in the Austin market.

The Harris Poll conducted a survey across the United States about tattoos and tattoo removal several years ago. It found that 16% of adults have at least one tattoo, with the highest incidence among 25-29 year olds (36%) and 30-39 year olds (28%).

Democrats were slightly more likely 18%) than Republicans (14%) to have a tattoo. Equal percentages of males and females have tattoos.

Surely in the years since this survey was conducted (2003) the number of Americans with tattoo has increased. We seem to recall that 50% of 20-29 year olds in the United States have a tattoo. Let’s see if we can find more current data.

New Look Laser Tattoo Removal is the leading provider of tattoo removal in Texas with locations in Houston (713.783.2000) and Dallas (214.632.6300). To learn about training for laser tattoo removal visit New Look Laser College, this page on tattoo removal education, or this page on tattoo removal schools