Come Prepared
• Come in wearing loose clothing over the tattoo.
• Remove makeup and lotions prior to arrival.
• Do not drink alcohol or smoke anything for at least 24 hour prior to treatment.
• Do not come to an appointment if you have a sunburn or if your tattoo has an open wound on it.
• Be aware that your tattoo may not look presentable for 1-3 weeks after treatment, so schedule your appointment accordingly with any special events.
• Be aware that pain receptors are heightened during premenstrual and menstruation phases.
Numbing cream is available prior to the start of treatment at an additional $30 cost. It takes about a 30 minute wait time for best numbing results. Majority of people do not require numbing.
Rapid Repair Balm is an all natural, antimicrobial, nourishing aftercare balm. It assists in a speedy recovery and can be used instead of Aquaphor or Bacitracin (in case of blistering). It can be used during Gua Sha lymphatic drainage after a tattoo removal session to help the body expel the ink. It also works great on new tattoos and it smells like chocolate!
Aftercare
• Elevate the treated area as often as possible to reduce swelling.
• Use ice for 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off until the pain and swelling subside. You may need to do this for a few days. Be sure there is a barrier between the ice and your skin.
• If a dressing is applied at your appointment, it is okay to remove it later that day when you get home. You should remove it before showering. Do not sweat with it on. If you want to continue using dressing for comfort purposes over the coming days, clean the area before placing a new dressing and continue using the Aquaphor as you normally would throughout the day.
• Use scent-free, sensitive soap to gently cleanse the treated area twice a day. Dove soap works well.
• Keep a thin layer of Aquaphor or Rapid Repair Balm on the tattoo for 3-7 days or until any scabs are fully healed. It's important for the treated area to be able to breathe.
• Should blistering or bubbling occur, do not panic, this can happen. If the blister/bubble gets bigger than a dime, pop it with a sterile Lancet or small sterile needle and use gauze to gently press out any fluid until the blister is flat. You may need to do this multiple times as blisters can refill. Apply antibiotic ointment, such as Bacitracin or the Rapid Repair Balm, twice per day and loosely cover the area with gauze until the skin is closed. This may take a couple of days to resolve.
• Do not scratch or pick at the tattoo. Allow all scabs to fall off naturally. If scabs are forcibly removed, even if you think it's about to come off, scarring will most likely occur.
• Avoid direct sun exposure until that "shiny new skin" appearance you get after a scab falls off has disappeared. Once your healed, natural skin is back, then it's okay to have the tattoo in the sun. Use mineral sunscreen (Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide), sold in most drug stores, should sun exposure be unavoidable, and reapply as instructed on the bottle.
• You may resume your normal skin care products on the treated area after any scabs are fully healed.
• No soaking, hot tubs, pools, oceans, or anywhere that you could get an infection until the skin is fully healed.
• Reduce intense weight lifting on the treated area until swelling has significantly lessened, otherwise you may experience lymphatic drainage interruption.
• Do not undergo any other cosmetic or medical treatments on the treated tattoo for at least 6 weeks.
• Be patient and give your body a chance to process and expel the ink.
Specialized Aftercare
Gua Sha is a traditional Chinese medicine technique involving a smooth-edged tool (provided at your appointment) used to gently scrape the skin, stimulating circulation and lymphatic drainage. Lymphatic drainage massages and at-home Gua Sha has shown to accelerate the body's ability to clear tattoo ink after a laser removal treatment.
