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Step 1
Research the various methods of tattoo removal. Lasers (including Intense Pulsed Light IPL) are effective, but somewhat painful and rather expensive. Some tattoo colors cannot be removed by laser, unfortunately.
Dermabrasion is cheaper, but extremely painful and may cause more scarring than other methods. The upside is that with enough time to heal between treatments, you can minimize scarring and remove any color of tattoo ink.
Excision is cutting away a tattoo and sewing the skin back together--an effective method that only works on small tattoos. -
Step 2
Know your tolerance for pain and your budget. If you have a large or very dark tattoo, you will need several sessions of treatments to really make the tattoo disappear. Large cross tattoos and butterfly tattoos with intense ink color are typically harder to remove.
If you opt for dermabrasion, but can't complete the treatments because of the pain, you will be left with a strange partial tattoo. If you opt for laser treatments but run out of funds, you will be left with a slightly faded tattoo. Just know what you are getting into before you start. -
Step 3
Know the time commitment involved. You cannot get all the treatments within a week or even a month. Depending on your tattoo, you need to wait 4-6 weeks between each treatment. The entire tattoo removal process could take more than 6 months.
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Step 4
There are some things you can do on your own to make a tattoo fade more before you try removal treatments. Sunlight will cause a tattoo to lighten, and there are some tattoo bleaching creams that also work.
