A novel titanium sapphire picosecond-domain laser safely and effectively removes purple, blue, and green tattoo inks

Abstract

Background: Green, blue, and purple tattoo pigments are often the colors most resistant to laser removal. Recently, the first ever production picosecond-domain laser with a 785 nm wavelength was developed to improve the rate of clearance of green, blue, and purple tattoo inks.

Methods: Twenty-two tattoos from 15 subjects with skin phototypes II-IV were enrolled in the study. A total of four treatments were administered using a single 785 nm picosecond-domain laser wavelength. Blinded assessment of digital, cross-polarized photographs taken approximately 8 weeks following the last treatment was performed using an 11-point clearance scale.

Results: Fourteen subjects with 21 tattoos completed all study visits. The 21 tattoos contained the following pigments: black (n = 15), green (n = 13), blue (n = 8), yellow (n = 5), purple (n = 4), and red (n = 3). Treatments were performed with a 2-4-mm beam diameter and fluences ranging from 1.1 to 3.1 J/cm² . Blinded assessment of photographs found 85%, 81%, 74%, 61%, 11%, and 5% clearance from baseline photos for purple, blue, green, black, red, and yellow pigments, respectively. Treatments were well tolerated with typical erythema, edema and one case of pinpoint bleeding. No scarring was noted.

Conclusion: This first study of a new 785 nm picosecond-domain laser demonstrates safe and effective removal of multicolor tattoos. Although clearance was shown for a multitude of colors including black, the 785 nm laser wavelength has special affinity to purple, blue and green tattoo pigments. Lasers Surg. Med. 9999:1-7, 2018. © 2018 The Authors. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: 785 nm; picosecond; removal; tattoo; treatment.

Figure 1

Cross‐polarized, digital images taken before (a,c,e) laser treatment and after (b,d,f) the 4th treatment. Purple, blue, and green pigment cleared almost completely, while some residual yellow and black ink are clearly visible. Cross‐polarized photography enhances visibility of tattoos over conventional lighting or non‐polarized flash photography.

Figure 2

Average clearance for each tattoo color treated with the 785 nm wavelength are shown following the 4th treatment. Purple ink was the most completely removed followed by blue, green, black, red, and yellow (Error bars show sem).

Figure 3

Average clearances for each tattoo color treated with the 785 nm wavelength compared to an earlier study that using the same device but with the 1064 nm and 532 nm wavelengths. Clearance was determined by blinded reviewers following the 4th treatment using an identical scale in each study. Purple, blue, and green inks show the most benefit from 785 nm treatment, while black ink was cleared more effectively by 1064 nm and red and yellow by 532 nm, as expected (Error bars show sem).