More Indians opt for tattoo removal

Chennai: Tresa (name changed), at the end of her three-year-old relationship, was crestfallen, not just thinking about a marriage that awaited her in a short while, but also about the pain and the cost she would have to bear to have her tattoo removed.

Tattoo artists joke about how heart breaking a breakup has become these days. It is no longer about just the complicated relationships but the hasty decisions of getting inked with the partner’s name.

India had the largest number of tattoo removal cases – 24,209 cases - last year, out of 1,28,218 cases globally according to the International Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Procedures Performed in 2015, released by International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS).

Naveen Kumar, owner of Irezumi, a tattoo studio in Chennai tells Deccan Chronicle that he gets at least one case of tattoo removal per day and that he advises his clients against getting their partners’ names tattooed.

“It is a very bad idea, and very painful too. The price of getting a tattoo done costs Rs 2,000 but removal costs Rs 12,000 per session for removal. And it, definitely, cannot be removed in a single session – at least four or five,” he said.

According to the ISAPS report compiling data from 1,398 plastic surgeons from countries that provided data for a sufficient survey response, USA had the largest number of surgical and non-surgical procedures carried out globally last year.

In the case of non-surgical procedures like cellulite treatment, hair removal, sclerotherapy, tattoo removal, non-surgical fat reduction, India with 11.6 per cent of global cases, was after the USA with 16.3 per cent cases.

Dr Ratnavel GR, a cosmetologist at Stanley Medical Hospital, advises against tattoos and tattoo removal. “At the government hospital itself, from the weaker sections of the society, I get 25-30 cases for removal of tattoos weekly. At my clinic, I get a similar number too. People have to shell out at least Rs 50,000 for tattoo removal by laser, and it leads to a slight scarring.”

“If Stanley hospital sees 120 cases daily, imagine how many people get tattoos removed annually. It’s no surprise that such a large number of people
opt for the procedure,” he added.