Laser Tattoo Removal Aftercare

[00:00:00] BIlly: Welcome to the Faded podcast. This podcast is all about laser tattoo removal, aftercare, and what’s the best way to take care of your tattoo after getting laser tattoo removal? And why is it so important? We have a lot of clients come into Studio Kiku with ideas about what laser tattoo removal aftercare should look like, most of it’s wrong, and some of it can even lead to complications.

[00:00:25] BIlly: And what type of complications are we talking about here? Well, we’re talking about blistering infection, and those two can lead to scarring or. Post-inflammatory hyper or hypopigmentation, depending on how your skin heals. But all of those things can be avoided if you take care of your tattoo properly after you get laser.My name is Billy De. I’m the owner of Studio Kiku, one of the most trusted and well-known laser tattoo removal studios in the world.

[00:00:57] BIlly: We’ve treated thousands of clients [00:01:00] successfully. We’ve worked on all skin types, all types of tattoos, whether it’s permanent makeup, body tattoos, full color, black and gray on all skin types. You name it, we’ve done it, and we’ve developed a system that is proven to work. The aftercare is simple and it’s easy to follow.

[00:01:21] BIlly: So listen up. I’m gonna explain exactly how we do it here at Studio Kiku. And just a disclaimer, I’m not a doctor. This isn’t medical advice, this is just how we do it here. And if you’re planning on coming to Studio Kiku to get your tattoo removed, whether it’s permanent makeup or body tattoo, then if you listen to this, you’re gonna be able to prepare yourself to take care of your tattoo after you come to get your session.And I’m gonna be honest, I’ve heard stories from clients when they visit other laser tattoo removal studios, and they’ve been given instructions.

[00:01:55] BIlly: That’s just unbelievable. I don’t understand how this type of [00:02:00] information is being spread. and if you stick around to the end, I’m gonna give you a few tips on how to prepare for your laser tattoo removal.

[00:02:08] BIlly: So your aftercare is gonna be even easier

[00:02:11] BIlly: Immediate aftercare. What should you do immediately after getting your tattoo removed?

[00:02:17] BIlly: When you walk out of the studio, what’s the most important thing? We are gonna walk out of the studio, you’re gonna have a bandage on. We usually put a little bit of cream on your tattoo, and then we cover it up with a bandage depending on what it is. If it’s permanent makeup, we don’t bandage that. But let’s just talk today about body tattoos.

[00:02:36] BIlly: We’re gonna have another whole podcast about permanent makeup removal and the aftercare. But today is about body tattoos and how to take care of those. So you keep the bandage on for two or three hours minimum. You can leave it on longer if you’d like. And once you take the bandage off, you can wash the tattoo with. Lukewarm or cool water and a [00:03:00] mild soap. It’s important to use a mild soap. Don’t use any type of chemicals whatsoever.

[00:03:06] BIlly: Anything that’s active, no, A-H-A-B-H-A retinol, anything like that. You don’t wanna put that on your skin. Your skin’s already compromised a bit, so you don’t want to irritate it with chemicals. So just a mild soap and cool water. And what you wanna do is you just wanna pad it dry. You don’t wanna rub it.

[00:03:25] BIlly: You don’t wanna cause any friction or any irritation, just pad it dry and leave it alone. We don’t recommend putting any ointment on it right away. And the reason why is because if you put ointment on, especially any petroleum based ointment, what’s gonna happen is it’s gonna seal the heat. When we do the removal, the pigment shatters and it creates some heat under the skin.

[00:03:50] BIlly: That heat is gonna want to escape your body, but if you put ointment on, it’s gonna seal that heat in and it’s gonna kind of cook [00:04:00] inside your body. It’s like when you’re barbecuing and you take the meat off the barbecue and you wrap it in tinfoil, it’s gonna continue to cook a little bit while it’s in there.

[00:04:10] BIlly: Well, that’s not what we’re trying to do to our skin. The goal here is to let it cool. So what we recommend is not putting any ointment or anything on it for the first couple days. And in addition to that, what we definitely recommend is I icing the area 

[00:04:29] BIlly: And I’ll tell you a story in a second about one of our clients who over iced, but we’ve seen people over ice and cause damage to the skin. What you want to do is you wanna ice for a couple minutes on and take it off for a while, then put it back on for a couple minutes and take it off just a couple minutes on and off here and.

[00:04:50] BIlly: You’re just trying to cool the skin down. We’re not trying to freeze it. We’re not trying to numb it. it’s not for pain. Let’s get that straight. We’re not icing it [00:05:00] to alleviate pain, although it may work for the pain a little bit. Uh, that’s not the goal. So a lot of our clients tell us, oh, I didn’t ice it because it didn’t hurt, and that’s not what.

[00:05:12] BIlly: I’m instructing you to ice it for I care about your skin. I want your skin to cool off. Whether it hurts or not, that doesn’t matter. What I care about is cooling down the skin so we don’t have any blistering, so we don’t have any hyper or hypopigmentation, which both of those can lead to scarring. So to take care of the skin properly, keep it cool. about that client who over iced. we did this little design. It was like a small little line design and you know, it had a definite shape obviously, ’cause it was a tattoo and the client iced her arm after everything was fine. During the treatment she left and she iced it. And when she iced it, she used one of those square.[00:06:00] 

[00:06:00] BIlly: Kind of ice packs and just put it on her arm and iced it and iced it. And I think she thought she was doing the right thing. And at the time we weren’t really aware of how much damage ice can cause the skin. And what she ended up doing was emailing us a couple days later and. She thought that we had burned her skin with the laser when in reality, and based on the photos that we saw, the burn mark was the exact shape of the ice pack. And there were areas that the laser didn’t go anywhere near. But it was red and blistered and discolored, and she thought that it was from the laser. And when she went to the doctor, she found out that it was actually an ice burn, and the ice had caused the damage to her skin, and it wasn’t at all the laser.

[00:06:55] BIlly: So after that, we’ve been really careful with instructing clients [00:07:00] on how to not damage their skin with ice. So if you’re gonna ice your skin, just make sure that you’re using some sort of barrier in between the ice, like if it’s a gel pack you just wanna make sure that there’s something in between that’s gonna kind of mellow that coldness out because your skin can freeze and it can cause damage, 

[00:07:19] BIlly: Icing is very important, but you gotta be careful with it. Okay, next, elevate the area. definitely, if it’s below the knee, we recommend lifting your feet and staying off your feet for the first day if you can. We’ve seen so many tattoos below the knee blister. 

[00:07:36] BIlly: So we recommend after getting laser tattoo removal to just chill that day. You don’t wanna go out and, and walk a. Big hike or run a marathon or something like that after getting laser tattoo removal, especially if it’s on your legs and especially if it’s below your knees to avoid blistering.

[00:07:57] BIlly: You want to elevate and you want to ice. [00:08:00] That’s very, very important.

[00:08:02] BIlly: After a couple days, then you can start using moisturizer. We recommend Aquaphor, but if Aquaphor’s not good for your skin, then any mild fragrance free lotion will do the trick. You don’t wanna overdo it, just a very thin layer, and you can do that for the rest of your life if you like.

[00:08:21] BIlly: It’s, it’s not really gonna harm your skin by moisturizing it. the only thing we do recommend is waiting at least 48 hours before you start moisturizing it. 

[00:08:29] BIlly: A lot of clients come to us from other studios or they’ve heard from their friends about what they should put on the tattoo after getting laser tattoo removal, and a lot of people think that you should put on an antibiotic. They think polysporin, whether it’s the petroleum or the cream, is the best way to go.

[00:08:48] BIlly: We never tell clients to put any of that on their tattoo, unless by chance it blisters and the skin opens. If it doesn’t open, which [00:09:00] we never try to make clients blister. You have huge blisters after getting laser tattoo removal, then something’s wrong. That’s not how it’s supposed to be, but if you do blister and the skin opens, a little bit of antibiotic is okay.

[00:09:16] BIlly: If your skin is not open and it’s completely intact, it’s not important to put any antibiotics on your skin. Do not do that. Okay? Something to definitely avoid. Any type of petroleum based ointment like Polysporin or even Vaseline, a lot of people think, oh yeah, I’m just gonna goop a bunch of Vaseline on it that’s gonna take care of it.

[00:09:42] BIlly: That’s gonna do exactly what I told you you don’t want to do with the, the tinfoil, the thing where the meat is cooking inside after taking it off the grill. If you lather a bunch of. Vaseline on top of your tattoo, or even that aloe gel stuff when you put [00:10:00] that on your tattoo after getting laser, it seals the heat in.

[00:10:03] BIlly: And that actually happens with sunburns too. I’m from Florida, so I know all about sunburns. When you get a sunburn and you put that aloe stuff on your skin, you may think that you’re doing yourself a favor by putting the aloe on it and cooling it off. But what actually happens is it seals the heat in and it doesn’t allow your skin.

[00:10:25] BIlly: To release that heat and it can actually cause the blistering. I’ve had sunburn blisters on my head. I can’t tell you how many times, to avoid that. You just wanna let it cool off. Maybe some ice. But don’t leather any ointment on it. Just. Don’t do that. One last thing you want to do after getting laser tattoo removal is protect it from the sun.

[00:10:47] BIlly: I always tell people that shade is the very best protection. obviously not everyone can stay in the shade. So what you want to do is if you can’t go into shade, then wear something that’s gonna [00:11:00] protect your skin, whether it’s a hat or long sleeves or long pants. And in addition to that, I’d always put.

[00:11:07] BIlly: Sunscreen on, uh, wear sunscreen and shade, that is the safest bet. How long should you avoid the sun? We normally recommend after getting laser to avoid it for at least two weeks. If you can avoid it for longer, that’s better. But at least two weeks out of the sun is the best bet. And you just wanna, once again, protect your skin from getting hot. And the sun is not good for your skin anyway.

[00:11:35] BIlly: And if your skin is already compromised a little bit or if you have some sort of. Heat that’s in your skin, whether it’s from laser or even a sunburn. You don’t want to go into the sun when your skin is like that, so try to avoid the sun if you can for at least two weeks.

[00:11:53] BIlly: Some other things that you should avoid You also wanna make sure that you avoid hot [00:12:00] showers, jacuzzi, saunas, hot yoga, anything that’s gonna raise your body temperature. And that’s for the first two days.

[00:12:10] BIlly: A lot of people come in and they’re like, oh, can I work out tonight? Can I, you know, I go to the gym every day. I just can’t miss a day. Okay, that’s great. You can go to the gym if you want, if you have to go to the gym, but do like a nice mellow workout. Like you can lift a little bit if you have to do it, You don’t have to raise your body temperature so high. if you have to go to the gym. Take it easy, In the grand scheme of things, it’s only a day or two. Uh, your skin is there forever and you want to take care of your skin.

[00:12:42] BIlly: You don’t wanna do anything that’s gonna cause permanent damage. Swimming is another thing you wanna avoid for probably two weeks or so. chlorine in pools is not good for your skin after getting laser tattoo removal.

[00:12:55] BIlly: So the best bet if you can avoid swimming [00:13:00] for, 10 days to two weeks after getting laser tattoo removal.

[00:13:03] BIlly: Some other things that you will definitely wanna avoid. Are harsh chemicals like A-H-A-B-H-A retinol, any type of chemical that’s going to irritate your skin, exfoliation self tanner, anything like that, that’s a chemical.

[00:13:22] BIlly: Don’t put it on your skin for at least two weeks after getting laser tattoo removal. Now let’s talk about what you can expect during the process. When you leave after getting laser tattoo removal, it’s definitely gonna be irritated to think about what happened.

[00:13:37] BIlly: the laser penetrated your skin and hit the pigment inside your skin and shattered it. It’s like a little explosion in there. Obviously your skin is gonna be irritated, it might be red, it’s gonna be swollen. it could definitely be itchy and being itchy is something that’s quite normal.

[00:13:56] BIlly: I remember when I got laser for the first time, I was. [00:14:00] Shocked at how itchy my tattoo became, and it wasn’t immediately, it was like seven days after getting laser. I was like, oh my God, this itch is so bad. 

[00:14:11] BIlly: but.

[00:14:12] BIlly: You wanna be very careful that you don’t scratch it to the point where you itch your skin and you rip it open. And I actually did that. It was on my leg, and I was just like, I could not stop scratching it. And I ended up ripping my skin open and I ended up getting an infection. I did everything that I wasn’t supposed to and I didn’t ice it.

[00:14:33] BIlly: Uh, I did everything I wasn’t supposed to do. And. You can take it from me. You don’t want to do that. Once your skin gets infected, it just, it starts hurting. And the healing process is so long to avoid that. Um, if it does become itchy, just don’t scratch it to the point where you break your skin open. So swelling is normal.

[00:14:55] BIlly: Irritation, redness is normal. Itchiness is definitely normal. [00:15:00] And if you have itchiness after, you know, it’s usually after. Seven to 10 days or something like that, it’ll start getting really itchy. There are some things you can do to kind of chill that out. There are lotions that are anti-itch lotions. I think Curele has one Curele Itch Defense.

[00:15:20] BIlly: That works really well and a lot of people, and I myself, have tried this too, and it works if you use a hemorrhoid cream. think it was preparation H Cream, that cream totally took the itch away. It was like magic. And I, I remember I couldn’t sleep. My leg was itching so bad I couldn’t sleep. And I put the hemorrhoid cream on and I was just like, ah, that feels so much better.

[00:15:48] BIlly: So that’s an option. Don’t freak out if that happens. It’s completely normal. yeah. So. Swelling, ice it. It’ll alleviate the swelling, the redness. That’s just the brakes and you’re [00:16:00] gonna have to deal with that a little bit. And itchiness, you can put the ointment on. But those are three things that you should definitely expect to happen, what you should not expect to happen.

[00:16:09] BIlly: Is huge, blisters, open skin, that sort of thing. If you have had that experience getting laser tattoo removal, then I promise you something is wrong. Back in the day when we used the old school lasers, uh, it was normal for people to, you know, bubble up and blister and scars and everything. That was kind of the, the norm.

[00:16:34] BIlly: Nowadays there’s much better technology. We use the P away, which is a picosecond laser, which is a super fast poll duration. The faster the pulse duration, the less damage to your skin. And nowadays, we shouldn’t be blistering or having any type of open skin. So if you have open skin or if you’re, blistering to the point where you’re like, what’s going on [00:17:00] here?

[00:17:00] BIlly: Something is wrong and you might wanna change what you’re doing, whether it’s your fault for not icing or going to the beach or whatever it may be. Or if it’s the laser technician’s fault for cranking up the machine too high, which I find that to be quite common. a lot of times the laser tech might try to.

[00:17:22] BIlly: Over please the client. So what they end up doing is turning the laser up a little too high, or maybe way too high, and it causes blistering. And like I said, blistering is not good. ’cause once the skin opens, it can become infected.

[00:17:37] BIlly: Um, you can get post-inflammatory hyper or hypopigmentation, which is very, very common, especially on Fitzpatrick. Four to up, you know, anywhere from like Asian skin up, you know, east Indian, African, African American, all, all the darker skin tones are prone to [00:18:00] hyper or hypopigmentation. 

[00:18:01] BIlly: So to avoid that, you want to treat it properly and not treat it too aggressively. And if it is treated properly, you want to follow the proper aftercare instructions. These are the instructions that I give. And we give our clients here at Studio Kiku. We’ve had great success doing this, you know, very straightforward aftercare protocol.

[00:18:26] BIlly: Um, we do sometimes adjust it a bit for individual clients. If they have a a unique case, we will adjust it somehow, uh, depending on maybe their. Previous experience with us, uh, you know, we always check with our clients to find out like, how was your last session? Did you blister? Did you have any issues? Uh, sometimes people have issues with the type of ointment we provide and they have a, a little reaction to that, so we might want to change things up.

[00:18:56] BIlly: You always have to adapt 

[00:18:58] BIlly: There’s not one [00:19:00] set way that works for everybody.

[00:19:02] BIlly: let’s talk about healing times. Now, there are some variables that impact how quickly your tattoo will heal, and number one would be location on your body. The farther away from your heart, the slower it’s gonna heal. Anything on your torso heal pretty quickly.

[00:19:21] BIlly: Face is super fast, but arms down to hands and fingers. They heal slower and your legs all the way down to your feet and toes, they definitely heal slower. The size of the tattoo. So sometimes bigger tattoos because they’re. Generating more heat and it’s just a bigger piece. Those tattoos oftentimes take longer than something super small and tiny. If it’s a fine line tattoo, that’s gonna heal within like a couple days. Um, a big piece like a. Back piece or something that’s heavily shaded, that’s gonna take a little bit [00:20:00] longer.

[00:20:00] BIlly: And it’s just because if you think about how much trauma was caused to the skin, bigger wounds are gonna take a little bit longer to heal than smaller ones. And I’m not talking about like open wounds or anything like that, I’m just talking about the skin getting back to normal. The amount of pigment saturation is another huge factor in how long it’s gonna take to heal and also how your tattoo is gonna heal. In general.

[00:20:25] BIlly: Heavily saturated tattoos are definitely gonna generate more heat during the removal process. It’s gonna be more painful. It’s definitely gonna be. Um, a little bit more difficult to heal than something that’s lightly shaded. So pigment saturation is a huge variable in the healing time and also kind of how it’s gonna feel during the process.

[00:20:50] BIlly: Your skin type and your Fitzpatrick scale, like where you lie on the Fitzpatrick scale is definitely gonna have. An impact [00:21:00] on how quickly your skin heals. The lighter the skin, the less trauma from the laser. The darker the skin, the more trauma, uh, the more absorption of the laser. The melanin actually absorbs that, uh, laser energy.

[00:21:16] BIlly: So the darker your skin, the longer the healing process. And last but definitely not least, is your overall health and your immune system. So the more healthy you are and the better your immune system is working, the quicker you’re gonna heal. That’s why it’s really important to make sure that you drink lots of water, you get good rest, you eat good food, and you have happy thoughts.

[00:21:47] BIlly: All of those things will boost your immune system. So do things that are gonna boost your immune system and that’s gonna help your healing process. That is so very important. 

[00:21:59] BIlly: If you can [00:22:00] follow those aftercare instructions, I think you’ll be very happy with the results and your tattoo removal process will be much easier and you’ll get better results.

[00:22:10] BIlly: Now, here are some things that you can do to prepare for your laser tattoo removal session. It’s very important to take care of it after the fact, but if you follow these steps coming into your laser tattoo removal, it’ll be much, much easier. Number one. And, um, this is kind of common sense for a lot of people, but some people just don’t get it.

[00:22:33] BIlly: Sun exposure. You want to avoid sun exposure on the treatment area, no matter where it is. If it’s a little tattoo on your arm, you can put your body in the sun all you want, but protect that area. From Sun, whether it’s putting some KT tape on it or just lathering sunscreen on it. Whatever you gotta do. If you’re gonna be out in the sun, make sure you’re protecting the treatment area from the sun.

[00:22:59] BIlly: [00:23:00] We normally send clients home if they have sun exposure on the treatment area. The best bet is to protect your skin from the sun before you come in, and we normally say two weeks. That’s just the general number. If you can protect it for longer, that’s great. Protect your treatment area from the sun.

[00:23:20] BIlly: Don’t come into the treatment with the suntan. We will send you home. Maybe some other people won’t, but you don’t wanna do that. Trust me. 

[00:23:28] BIlly: Another thing you can do to prepare for your laser tattoo removal session is bring a cold compress with you or an ice pack. If you can ice or use a cold compress on the way home from your treatment, you’ll be in good shape. The quicker you can get ice on your tattoo after getting laser, the better. We normally ice people here, uh, after we do the treatment, like before, during and after we ice and we blow cold air.

[00:23:56] BIlly: As soon as clients start walking out the door, it could be a [00:24:00] couple minutes. All of a sudden the heat just starts coming back and it’s a combination of the heat from the laser and also just your body temperature. Those two combined just will increase the heat. you’re gonna start feeling like, Ooh, this thing’s hot.

[00:24:15] BIlly: So it’s important if you can, and a lot of our clients do this, they’ll bring an ice pack and they’ll leave it in the car. They’ll keep it in their bag, whatever. If you can ice it on the way home, you’ll be happy that you did. And one of the most important. Preparations for laser tattoo removal is to plan ahead. What you don’t want to do is get laser tattoo removal today and tonight, have a juujitsu tournament, or the next day have some sort of event that’s gonna require you to be out in the sun or a wedding or something like that.

[00:24:50] BIlly: So Plan your tattoo removal treatments around your schedule so you’re able to follow the aftercare and now you know what the aftercare [00:25:00] instructions are. What I would recommend is when you book your appointment, make sure that you’re able to follow those aftercare instructions for the next couple days, for sure, and a couple weeks if you can.

[00:25:14] BIlly: Don’t book your laser tattoo removal session and go to Mexico to the beach the next day. It’s not a good idea. Even if it’s a week away or whatever. You want to enjoy your vacation and you want to have a good time, so just plan it properly 

[00:25:29] BIlly: That’s how I recommend taking care of your tattoo after laser tattoo removal, and those are some steps that you should do to prepare yourself for forgetting laser. We’ll see you on the next one when we talk all about. Permanent makeup removal and the most frequently asked questions that we get here at Studio Kiku.