Tattoo Removal Statistics

Kirby-Desai score below 4: a simple black tattoo on fair (Type I–II) skin, trunk placement, amateur application, the easiest case to clear.

Kirby-Desai score 5–9: a single-colour professional design of moderate density on an extremity, a typical middle case.

Kirby-Desai score above 15: a dense multicolour cover-up on darker (Type IV+) skin with scarring can require 15 or more sessions across years.

the scale scores skin type, anatomical location, ink colour, ink density, scarring and whether the tattoo is a cover-up, then sums them to an estimated session range.

the standard minimum interval between laser sessions, the time the lymphatic system needs to clear the pigment fragments the previous session produced.

longer intervals produce better fading with fewer total sessions, because the immune system has more time to remove debris between treatments.

the Q-switched Nd:YAG pulse duration at 1064 nm, shorter than the pigment particle’s thermal relaxation time, creating the photoacoustic shockwave that shatters it.

picosecond lasers deliver pulses 10–30× shorter than nanosecond devices, giving higher peak photoacoustic pressure with less thermal damage, most useful on resistant ink and darker skin.

carbon-based black absorbs all visible wavelengths and clears best, typically to over 90% in 4–8 sessions for amateur work, 6–12 for dense professional work.

green ink absorbs red light, but red wavelengths penetrate deeper with lower targeting precision, so many green formulations fragment incompletely even after 15+ sessions.

yellow has a narrow absorption window; standard Q-switched devices often produce negligible fading and even picosecond lasers give unpredictable results.

titanium-dioxide white pigment can undergo a reduction-oxidation reaction under laser light and turn grey-black, an often-irreversible paradoxical darkening; many practitioners refuse to treat it.