Dana Rivkind was 18 when she got her first tattoo. A rose ... on her chest. "It was a stupid kid decision. I didn't really have any good reason for getting a tattoo." Rivkind says. And it wasn't long before Dana looked at that rose with regret.
"Probably a couple years. It was in a terrible location. it wasn't sexy. it wasn't pretty."
Now in her 30's, and with a big job at Microsoft, Dana decided the rose had to go. She started removing it with laser treatments in 2003.
That was five years ago. And it's still not completely gone. But it's better. "Now it just looks like a bruise and could easily be covered up with make-up." Rivkind says.
According to plastic surgery nurse Michelle Boone they usually see people in their late 20's and mid 30's starting families. They have kids. They are in the job market. It's affecting their careers. She adds getting the tat removed is a long, expensive and often painful process. "You really have to hate that tattoo. You don't want to do this frivolousyl. It's expensive. There's healing involved. The skin gets real blistered. It's ugly for about two weeks."
Web Extra:
Green is the hardest color to remove And also -- one of the most common. Red and black are the easiest to come off. There are new inks being formulated for tattoos that are supposed to come off with "one" laser treatment. But some are skeptical that they'll catch on. " It's going to be more expensive. It's just now coming out onto the market. I wonder how successful that's going to be. Because people do tattoos on an impulse and rarely do they stop to think that in 6 months I'm getting married or getting a new job...." says plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Gegory.
How much is it worth to Rivkind to remove her rose tattoo? "I've paid 175 dollars a treatment. The last one was my 9th treatment." Do the math..that's nearly 16-hundred dollars..and she's not done yet.
For more information from the National Institutes of Health on tattoos and tattoo removal:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/piercingandtattoos.html