From Deseret News archives:

Time to rethink the ink? New clinic erases tattoos

InkLifters uses lasers to remove skin art without causing scars

Published: Thursday, June 7, 2007 12:28 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Bob Tuler decided that his bulldog wasn't for him anymore. He didn't like the influence it had on his kids. So a few months ago he had the animal removed.

With a laser.

Tuler, like many others across the state, regretted the tattoo he had penned onto his right biceps years ago. He recently began the laser tattoo removal process with InkLifters, a tattoo removal clinic in Sandy that lifted off in March.

Tuler decided to have the cartoon canine removed to set an example.

"My kids have been asking if they can get one," he said. "I don't want that."

People get tattoos for many reasons. Maybe it's a girlfriend's name across the back, or gang signs on the arms, or a favorite cartoon character on an ankle. But many of those people eventually choose to have their body art removed.

"The most common one I take off probably is names," InkLifters clinical manager Lynn McMillan said with a smile. "I know when you get married you think it's going to be forever, but I take off a lot of names."

Story continues below
According to McMillan, the reasons to have tattoos removed are just as varied as those for getting inked in the first place. Some people want to join the police force, others to serve missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and still others desire to enter the military. All options bring people up against regulations prohibiting visible tattoos. InkLifters also currently treats two businessmen who want their gang tattoos removed to erase their former identities.

"Many people regret (getting a tattoo)," McMillan said. "We really wanted to be sure we could offer people a safe and nonscarring way of taking off tattoos."

Only doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants can operate the lasers. McMillan, a nurse practitioner who has worked with skin while working for Intermountain Healthcare in wound care, also has experience with lasers gained while working for a laser hair removal clinic. She teamed up with Steve Carlston, who has an MBA from the University of Utah and spent the last 14 years in banking and engineering. Together they formed InkLifters.

The laser they use removes ink from the skin without leaving a scar. The Q-switched YAG laser, specially designed for tattoo removal, bursts the ink molecules in the skin, cueing the immune system to kick in and clean up.

"(With surgical removal) you're pretty much trading your tattoo for a pretty significant scar," McMillan said. "The technology's gotten significantly better over the last five to eight years to where you don't need to scar the skin."

Recent comments

After $600 in treatment at Ink Lifters for a 2 inch tattoo I am left...

Marge | Nov. 24, 2009 at 9:57 a.m.

Talk to Bob Tueller now.... Ask him where he got his tattoo removed....

billy | Aug. 18, 2009 at 4:02 p.m.

InkLifters charges by the inch, which makes sense for tats that are...

Anonymous | May 28, 2009 at 10:52 p.m.

Image

Lynn McMillan, clinical manager at InkLifters in Sandy, removes a client's tattoo with a specially designed laser.

previousnext

Latest comments

Top 5 Players in minutes played: Utah 1 Fr, 2 Jr, 2 Sr Jr Carlon Brown...

Yep "self righteous" if the rest of us who don't rubber neck left, you would...

Jazz notes: 15th most-valuable team

Thank you for keeping the team here for all of these years, and for always...

Jazz fall apart late at L.A.

of misery, inconsistency, road games losses and of course, NO TITLE ! Long...

Glad to hear about Matt and the others who demonstrate you can play at a high...

I guess they forgot that God made clothes for Adam and Eve and that was...

and good luck.

Panel passes BCS playoff bill

There is an inherent problem in any rating system -- it takes into account...

Give Phillips some credit. He was 5/5 in field goals in the YBU game, and the...

Letters: Earth at center?

Mr. Bender's kind of thinking doesn't even acknowledge that the world is...

Advertisements