Time to rethink the ink? New clinic erases tattoos

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."

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."

Tuler attempted to have his bulldog tattoo surgically removed last November. He now carries a thick pink scar just to the left of the tattoo.