Tattoo Removal Can Be Painful, Leave Scars

[Rat-tat-tat]

http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_129203239.html

It used to be that only bikers and gang members sported tattoos but not anymore.

Tattoos are incredibly popular especially among teenagers.

But getting rid of a tattoo may be as popular as getting one and a lot more painful.

In fact, KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin says it could leave you scarred for life.

Rhonda Smith got a tattoo when she got when she was 17 years old.

Now she’s 34 and the mother of an eight month old who decided to have the tattoo removed.

Now, all she has to show is a nasty scar that used to be a tattoo.

“It’s disgusting,” said Smith. “It’s horrible”

Smith had her tattoo removed using a series of laser treatment that promised no pain and no scarring.

“Unless I can find the plastic surgeon willing to do the skin graft for cosmetic reasons, I will have this the rest of my life,” said Smith.

Smith says the tattoo scar is painful and she cannot expose it to the sun.

Smith went to the Pennsylvania Institute of Electrology & Laser Clinic to have her tattoo removed.

She says in a lawsuit she's filed that the staff wasn't trained.

Smith’s lawyer John Perry states, “It’s just unfathomable that individuals can use lasers without medical training.”

Her lawyer says she walked right into a business that's unregulated.

Griffin says they use machines that real doctors are supposed to use but the business has no doctors -- not even a nurse on staff.

“They used the wrong laser,” said Perry. “(It) had too intense of a light beam. It severely burned her skin and now she's left with a keloid scar which is far worse than the tattoo she wanted to have removed.”

The clinic had no comment about Rhonda Smith’s case.

KDKA talked to a number of doctors regarding this issue.

They are convinced that if you must have a tattoo removed you must have it done by a doctor or plastic surgeon.

[Dileca]

That's pretty bad.