[00:00:00] : when it comes to tattoo removal, which is better saline or laser. In this episode, I’m gonna discuss both treatments and how they work. I’m gonna talk about the risks and the benefits of each of those treatments, and then I’m gonna talk about why in certain situations we would recommend one treatment over the other.

[00:00:21] : My name’s Billy DeCola . I’m the owner of Studio Kiku, one of the world’s most trusted and well-known laser tattoo removal studios in the world. We speak with clients on a daily basis, whether it’s for permanent makeup or body tattoos. And every client who comes in is looking for the safest, the quickest, and most effective way to remove their tattoos.

[00:00:46] : Most people have no idea how saline removal actually works. But before we dive into how it works, let’s talk about some of the terminology so we can clear up some of those gray areas. Saline removal [00:01:00] has many different names that it kind of goes under. So saline is kind of the umbrella term that describes all of these different types of manual.

[00:01:10] : Tattoo removal treatments, there’s a difference between laser tattoo removal and saline removal When we talk about saline removal, what we mean is taking a tattoo machine with a needle and dipping it into some sort of solution, whether it’s saline water or some type of glycolic acid.

[00:01:30] : Back in the day, tattoo was even used witch hazel, but all of these are a manual type of removal that’s much different than laser tattoo removal. But if you’re looking online and you’re trying to do some research on saline, you might get really confused because there are several different terms and even some brand names that have put names on this type of manual treatment.

[00:01:53] : So it gets really confusing sometimes. let’s take a look at some of the terms that are used to describe saline [00:02:00] removal. And then after we go over those terms, then I’ll dive into how it kind of works. Okay. some of the terms that can be used under the saline removal umbrella.

[00:02:09] : I’ve heard osmotic removal which is kind of a play on the scientific term. Osmosis. is a chemical removal also a glycolic acid removal and then there’s also hypertonic saline removal all of these are different ingredients, but they all kind of do the same thing.

[00:02:31] : and then in addition to the actual names of the ingredients, we have some brands that have taken. The ingredients and created their own name for them. So there’s LI-FT, which is LI ft. There’s Undo and there’s Botched Ink just to name a few. I think there’s a bunch more out there now. what they’re doing is they’re taking their own blend of these [00:03:00] chemicals and they’re putting a label on it, and they’re creating their own.

[00:03:04] : Name for that, but it all falls under the umbrella of saline removal. So now that we got that outta the way, let’s talk about what saline removal is. And when I say saline removal, I’m referring to all of those different chemicals, not just saline itself.when we talk about saline removal, what we mean is taking a tattoo machine and dipping it into a solution.

[00:03:27] : And you actually tattoo the solution right into the skin where the pigment lies under the skin and the intention is to put that solution into the skin. And it’s either supposed to bind to the pigment and then your body kind of rejects it and pushes it out. Or in some cases they say that it dissolves the pigment, which I really don’t think happens.

[00:03:50] : What really happens is the solution is tattooed into the skin and your body is like, what the heck is this? And it freaks out and it [00:04:00] rejects it so. You will get scabbing. You in some cases, may get some trauma to the skin, which could lead to scarring if it’s not done properly.

[00:04:11] : but in each case, your body’s rejecting that solution that was put into your skin. And along with the solution, the pigment is rejected as well. So it’s kind of like a surgical removal. If you think about it, you’re cutting the skin open with needles. your body is. Identifying not only the saline, but the pigment as an intruder, and it’s pushing it out. Now that we’ve gone over how saline removal works. Let’s talk about some of the risks and the benefits of saline removal, 

[00:04:43] : Some of the risks with saline removal are scabbing scarring. If you are doing it over an area where there’s hair, then you may get hair loss because of the scarring you could get infection, and you could [00:05:00] also change the texture of your skin by creating a scar.

[00:05:03] : I’ve seen it many times where clients have come in and they have tried saline removal several times before actually attempting laser, and it’s pretty obvious when you see scar tissue, what happens is the technician just goes pretty hard to try to, what they’re trying to do is dig out the pigment pretty much, and if you go too hard and you cause too much trauma, your body will.

[00:05:29] : Respond by creating some sort of scar or scab. that happens quite often. And the other side of it is if you don’t go hard enough and you just barely tickle that saline into the skin, then you’re gonna damage the skin. You might get some scabbing, but you may not see any results. So there’s a fine line between going too hard and digging holes in the skin and causing too much trauma and going too lightly [00:06:00] and not causing enough trauma, and you see no results. So on both sides, that’s not good. You kind of have to find the sweet spot and finding the sweet spot is not easy. I’ve done. Tons and tons of saline removal, and I have seen great results and I’ve also seen no results. But I can tell you one thing I have not done is I have not gone too aggressively to where I’ve caused too much trauma to the skin to create scar tissue.One other thing that goes with any type of saline removal or manual tattoo removal would be that there is downtime. So once you tattoo the skin and you open the skin. there will be a period of time where you’re healing and you’ll possibly have a scar there that happens inevitably.

[00:06:51] : You, you will definitely have some type of damaged skin when you do the tattoo or you do saline. Now let’s talk about some of [00:07:00] the. Benefits of doing saline removal. I’ve talked a lot about the negative side of things, but let’s talk a little bit about why saline removal might be a good idea.

[00:07:10] : not all pigments respond well to laser. There are certain pigments that are very, very stubborn, if not impossible to remove with the laser, and in those cases there’s no other option but to try some sort of saline removal. When we have clients who come in, especially for permanent makeup.

[00:07:30] : Oftentimes we’ll reach a plateau where the laser’s not working anymore, and we’ll tell the client that, you know, we don’t think it’s a good idea to continue lasering this area because it’s just gonna cause trauma to the skin without seeing any results. So that’s when we will recommend trying saline removal.

[00:07:50] : We don’t guarantee that it’s gonna work, but at that point, there’s no other option and it’s worth a try as long as it’s done safely. We see [00:08:00] that a lot with brows. We see it with lip blush and freckles. Permanent makeup pigment, as I mentioned in a previous episode of this podcast, often includes ingredients that don’t respond to the laser titanium dioxide.

[00:08:19] : Some yellows just will not respond to the laser. and some iron oxide as well. When clients come into Studio Kiku, we always try laser first, and if the laser doesn’t work, whether it’s just a single test spot or if we do a session or two and then we reach a plateau, then and only then will we recommend saline removal. We do do it here, but we don’t advertise it and we don’t put it out there as a service that’s open to everyone.

[00:08:51] : We only offer it to our clients who have already tried laser or have done a test spot, and we’ve determined that the laser’s not [00:09:00] gonna work, and then we’ll do the sanely removal.You may ask why we would prefer to do laser over saline, and it’s very simple. Laser doesn’t damage the skin nearly as much as saline removal does there’s a lot of people out there who are marketing saline removal as less traumatizing to the skin, and that could be the case if we’re talking about a laser technician who doesn’t know how to do laser.

[00:09:31] : But if laser’s done properly, then it is definitely the way to go over saline removal. It’s quicker, it’s less damaging to the skin, and it’s more cost effective because it’s, it works way quicker. if you have the option to do laser or saline, I’d recommend trying laser first. Even if it’s just a test spot, then you can find out if the laser’s gonna work or not.

[00:09:57] : If you figure out that the [00:10:00] laser’s not gonna work, then and only then would I recommend doing saline removal.Just to recap, saline removal is a manual type of removal where you’re actually opening the skin and you’re inserting a solution that’s gonna be rejected by your body, and when your body rejects that, it’s gonna push out the pigment as well. That’s how saline removal works and laser is non-ablative, which means it won’t break your skin open.

[00:10:32] : It will just shatter the pigment under your skin. And once those pigment particles are tiny enough, then your body can absorb the pigment particles. That’s how both of them work. In some cases, we do recommend saline removal. And in some cases we’ll recommend laser. It just depends really on what type of pigment you have in your body.

[00:10:52] : I hope this was informative, and we will see you again next time on the Faded podcast.