Question:
I receieved a very stupid tattoo on my right forearm ,
it was from a friend who was practicing to open his business, and
after many nights of hanging out getting smashed, I consented.
Horrible art, horrible placement. Right smack the center of the
forearm, a poorly done pitchfork. At the time I was working as a
mucisian, and oh well ...I could laugh about it.
A couple years later, I find myself working as an engineer (finally
cashing in on that education), and am terribly embarassed. Worst yet,
I find myself trying to repair my estrangement from my family - mostly
christians. So I took a stupid act, and compounded it further. I had a
tattoo artist "do his best man, it'll look cool" to convert it into
something other than the pitchfork. At least nobody said when it was a
pitchfork "Hey, what's that?" They all knew it was a lamely executed
pitchfork.
So now, I had the most stupid looking piece of junk on my arms, that
looked like some weird kind of coat of arms, with strange letters,
uneven sides, and kindergarten quality artwork, right on my forearm.
People would see it, and stare. Because, as anybody would do, they
thought "What the hell is that?" Everyone would eventually ask, "So,
what exactly is that supposed to be on your forearm."
Long sleeved shirts at work, finally, I went to a reputed good artist,
and the best he could offer was "A shark. I could put a shark over it,
but it would have to be mostly black. I can mottle it a little, but to
have it look good, it will need a tail, and dimension, or else you
will have another lousy tattoo. Which means, it will be substantially
larger than it currently is, but will at least be a good tattoo." I
looked at most of his artwork, in the front studio, and decided I
would do this. In honesty, at least he did something that looks okay.
I cannot blame him for trying to minimalize the design, and adjust
enough to completely cover this "Shield of Stupidity," which I
commonly used to refer to the bastardized pitchfork. The shark was
done 5 years ago. I was stoked to at least not have the "SOS" anymore,
but I felt the shark was not done as well as it could have been. The
only question somebody might ask is "Is that a dolphin, or a shark?"
Now, I regret it all. Were I to have my arm hacked off, and wear a
hook, it would be less damaging to my image. Unfortunate. I wear long
sleeves in the dead of summer, and despise this thing on my arm.
After surveying the options, ruby laser and dermal creams, it appears
that only ruby-laser will provide great results, at great financial
cost.
Does anybody have good advice? Are there any creams that will work?
Also, how about the laser surgery - has anybody done it?
Answer:
I had a bad homeade tatoo - followed by a bad (worse) coverup attempt.
Original was red/yellow/green/black. Coverup was mostly black, with some
dark purple. I went with the Ruby laser first - $400 for consultation and
initial treatment. This busted apart / lightened the black significantly.
It did nothing to remove any of the color.
6 months later I went to a facility that used a combo of Q-Switch laser and
dermabrasion. Note* some dermabrasions leave nasty scars, this Dr. said
his would not, and he was right. They were able to remove 90% of the
colored ink, and about 60% of the remaining black ink. I have no scarring
at all. What I am left with is a light black (looks like a bruise) fuzzy
blob. My next (and hopefully last) step will be to go back for an
additional Ruby treatment to get/reduce the remaining black ink. I haven't
been in a big hurry to do this because now it is barely noticable.
The original tattoo (1991) cost a bottle of Jack Daniels. The cover-up was
$150 (1995) . The removal so far has been around $2400 (400 for the Ruby in
1996, and 2000 for 6 Q switch sessions in 1999).