Complications of laser tattoo removal are:

• possiblities of burning the skin, discoloring dark skin with the laser,
• hypopigmentation (white spots, more common in darker skin),
• hyperpigmentation (dark spots),
• and textural changes. Severe burns that may and could result in scarring

*Some of the pigments used (especially Yellow #7) are known to break down into toxic chemicals in the body when attacked by light.*
This is especially a concern if your tattoos are exposed to UV light or laser removal; the resulting break down end up travelling to the kidneys and liver. Laser removal of hard tattoos may also be complicated depending on the substance of the pigmenting material. In one reported instance, the use of a laser resulted in the ignition of embedded particles of firework debris.

Laser tattoo removal often requires many repeated visits to remove even a small tattoo, and may result in permanent scarring. Unlike Tattoo Removal Cream, laser tattoo removal has as many as 8 to 12 treatments, spaced about 8 weeks apart. At each session, not all of the tattoo pigment particles are fragmented, and the body removes the smallest fragments over several weeks. The result is that the tattoo gets lighter. The remaining large particles of tattoo are then targeted at the many different treatment visits, causing further lightening. The number of treatments depends on various many different things, including the area of the body treated and more vital also, skin color. Forearm and ankle tattoos take longer.

The amount of time for the tattoo removal and the success of the removal is different with each person. It is hard to estimate the number of treatments needed. Factors that determine this are: skin type, location, color, amount of ink, scarring or tissue change, and layering.