“It just wasn’t a well-thought decision in my life.” — Katie Struebing
Undoing the whims of an earlier you
You can get rid of unwanted tattoos, piercings and implants
Changing your anatomy with piercings, tattoos or breast implants need not be a lifelong commitment. With today’s laser technology, the healing powers of the human body and a skilled cosmetic surgeon — one need not wait ‘til death to part with unwanted body art.
“They may have had it done in a type of environment they did not feel was discriminatory,” said Jill Norvilitis, associate professor of psychology at Buffalo State College. “On a college campus, for example, people tend to accept these things, but suddenly you find yourself in the work environment and realize it may have not been the right choice.
“The regret may occur when people realize it may impact their career opportunities,” Norvilitis added. “In 20 years, I’m wondering if people will also regret getting tattoos in places that won’t be as firm as they once were. We all look at pictures of ourselves when we were younger and think: That hairstyle? Those clothes?”
The leafy tribal symbol Katie Struebing had tattooed on her stomach years ago was an impulse decision made after accompanying a friend to the tattoo parlor. Now as a registered nurse and mother of a 5-year-old son, Struebing does not view her tattoo with admiration.
“It just wasn’t a well-thought decision in my life,” said Struebing, 27. “As a medical professional and mother, I do not think it’s appropriate.”
Not only that, Struebing has become certified in the laser removal of tattoos, helping others with similar regrets undo their tattoo.
Tattoos
Those who regret getting a tattoo have three choices: Hide it, cover it with a better tattoo or have it removed. Some tattoos, however, just can’t be hidden, according to one West Seneca mother of three.
“I try to cover it because I’m sometimes embarrassed,” said the woman, asking that her name be withheld. “I wasn’t embarrassed when I was younger. In the summer I think about it all the time.”
The band of roses circling her ankle takes center stage whenever she wears a dress or shorts. Even capris can’t hide the red, black and green tattoo defined by three hearts, each bearing the name of one of her children.
“When my brother got married, I bought the tattoo cover kit for $25,” she explained. “It was awesome. That’s when I knew I was going to get rid of it.”
“A lot of people are coming in for revisions, explained Struebing, a certified laser specialist at Southgate Skin Center in West Seneca. “They hated what was done when they were 17, and they want something over top of it so they get the original lightened up.”
The tattooing process involves the injection of colored pigment, or ink, into small holes made in the skin. Medical laser treatments — using intense light and heat — shatter that ink, which is then engulfed by warrior cells within the body before eventually leaving through the renal system.
Depending on the size and location of the tattoo — and the color of ink used — multiple laser treatments may be required. Circulation, too, factors into the fading as tattoos closer to the heart tend to disappear more quickly, according to Paula Gorman, registered nurse at Southgate Skin Center. “Treatments are scheduled two months apart,” Gorman explained. “It hurts, but it is a very quick process. We can go over a fist-sized area in about 20 seconds.”
The procedure — sounding like a rhythmic beat of many laser pulses a second — includes a rest period. Patients commonly experience a metallic taste in their mouths, a result of the ink blasting. Pain is a given.
“It feels like [getting burned by] a lighter or getting hit by a rubber band,” said the West Seneca mother. “The removal is worse than when I got it. This hurts bad, but then it’s gone.”
No numbing agents are used, explained Struebing, because the laser is going deeper than the topical agent would reach. An injection of lidocaine, commonly used as a dental anesthetic, may lead to cardiac issues in some patients.
Blistering is not uncommon and tends to occur more if the tattoo ink is red or sky blue. Aftercare instruction as well as implementation is critical to the prevention of scarring. The cost at Southgate is $40 per square inch.
Piercings
Depending on the size, piercings often grow out, a healing process those with conventional pierced ears learn after not wearing earrings for period of time.
But what happens if you had your tongue pierced, and your little nephew liked the shiny jewelry so much that he tried to snatch it away — repeatedly?
“It got awfully annoying,” admitted Tana Gruss, 32. “That was the moment I decided to take it out for good. I had it for years, and I never chipped my teeth. I never really had a problem with it. I just decided I didn’t want it anymore.”
She also had second thoughts on her snug, a piercing through the thick part of her ear’s cartilage.
“It never did feel quite right,” she said. “It grew in, but it took three months. Within three weeks, I knew it wasn’t right. You can usually tell when your body is rejecting a piece of jewelry. I couldn’t sleep on it. I couldn’t move.”
And then there was the staple barbell Gruss wore on the back of her neck. It gave her no problem when her head was shaved, but as her hair grew back, so did the irritation.
“Even though I put my hair in a ponytail, whenever I turned my head my hair snagged the jewelry and pulled,” Gruss recalled. “So I do have scars — four little dots — on my neck that I do not like at all, and there is no way to get rid of them other than cosmetic surgery.”
It’s not only the spontaneous nature of many piercings that leads to second thoughts, it’s the required aftercare that may foster piercing regret, according to a professional piercer.
“It’s the healing process that people don’t bank on,” said Heidi Serth of Art-N-Body in Amherst, a tattoo artist with 10 years of piercing experience. “I have had people come in a couple of days later telling me they don’t like it; a lot of times it was after nose piercings. Because it’s a puncture wound, it takes the body longer to recover.”
Breast implants
Second thoughts on breast implants rarely occur, but when they do it is for one reason more than any other, according to cosmetic surgeon, Dr. David Regan of the Center for Plastic Surgery in Williamsville.
“They want a larger size,” he said. “It’s extremely rare for someone to hate their implants and want them out. It almost never happens. The problem with implant surgery is it’s completely elective and because the size is so subjective and there is a large range of choices you can make, people may change their mind, but that is rare.”
Making an informed decision is a big reason implants are more likely to have and be held for life, said Regan.
“To make it to the operating room for this procedure, you have been seen in the office several times, and usually people have seen not just one surgeon, but two or three,” he said. “They’ve done their research and are pretty well informed by the time they get to the operating room. The more people know ahead of time, the less chance they will be dissatisfied in the end — as opposed to tattoos or piercings which both may be a more spur of the moment thing.”
