Boom in tattoo laser removal

Jimmy McManus slides up his shorts and points a laser at his inked thigh to show how he can blast off unwanted tattoos.

The part-time electrician began offering the service at Chapel Tattoo in Melbourne eight months ago to address a byproduct of the global body art boom: tattoo regret. Removing the skin designs has become a roaring trade, with one in seven people expressing misgivings -- some enough to spend thousands of dollars for several searing laser sessions.

Its a painful reminder to choose your tattoos a bit more carefully, McManus, 30, says of the procedure hes just demonstrated on his leg.

Chapel Tattoo isnt the only studio to begin offering to undo its handiwork, entering a new line of business as ultrahigh-powered lasers pioneered by dermatologists make the procedure safer and more bearable. The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery estimates its practitioner-members did about 96,000 removal procedures last year, 52 percent more than in 2012.

Tattoo removal is big business, said Andrew Timming, an associate professor at the University of St Andrews school of management in Scotland. Tattoo parlors doubling as removal shops are a brilliant business model because it creates its own demand.

It also drives growth in laser devices. Revenue from sales of aesthetic equipment by publicly traded companies expanded 20 percent annually from 2009 to 2012 and is now worth about $1.25 billion, according to Cutera Inc. (CUTR), a supplier of laser and light-based medical devices from Brisbane, California. Israels Syneron Medical Ltd. (FDG) says its the industry leader, with 28 percent of the global market.

One in five U.S. adults has a tattoo, according to a 2012 online survey of 2,016 Americans by the Harris Poll. Thats up from 16 percent in 2008. Many may end up changing their mind. Thirty-seven percent of people with inked skin regretted it after about 14 years, according to a survey of 580 people in the U.K. published in a letter to the British Journal of Dermatology last December.

Tattoo-regret seems to take about 10 years to set in and, since tattoos were widely popular in the early 2000s and still are today, my suspicion is that we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg, said Will Kirby, a dermatologist and medical director at Dr. Tattoff Inc., which runs a 10-store chain of tattoo-removal centers in the U.S.

Stephanie, who works in Melbournes film industry, expects to pay about A$2,000 ($1,850) for as many as 10 laser sessions to remove an orange-sized tattoo around her navel. The red, yellow and black stylized sun cost her about A$150 17 years ago.

I am happy to spend anything to get rid of it because I have to look at it every day and it makes me cringe, said the 35-year-old, who asked not to be identified by her last name to protect her privacy. I dont really want a tattoo. And I dont have the stomach I had when I was 18.

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Boom in tattoo laser removal