Salabrasion of tattoos. A correlation of the clinical and histological results

Abstract

Twenty-six tattoos were treated by salabrasion. The salt was left on the abraded surface from zero to 24 hours. The percentage of residual pigment varied from 50%, when the salt was removed immediately after salabrasion, to 5%, when the salt was left in place for over 12 hours. When the salt was left on for variable periods, some degree of scarring and hypopigmentation occurred in 79% and in 59% of the tattoos, respectively. When the salt was removed immediately after salabrasion, 29% of the tattoos showed scarring and 29% showed hypopigmentation. Our results show that the best method is to remove the salt immediately after salabrasion, but that this form of therapy should only be done on those lesions where the eventual cosmetic result is not important.

Hypertrophic Scar After Chemical Tattoo Removal

“…These treatments have been associated with hypertrophic scar formation, hypopigmentation, and even full-thickness burns. [15][16][17] The Rejuvi Tattoo Removal system is a new chemical extraction method designed for facial cosmetic tattoos and body tattoos. 10 It consists of a tattoo remover paste containing zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, isopropanol, triethanolamine, and benzoic acid that is delivered into the skin via a puncture technique using needles, similar to regular tattooing.…”

The surgical removal of amateur tattoos

“…Furthermore, an inexperienced user can produce excessive scarring of a treated area. Salabrasion (Strong & Jackson, 1979;Catterall, 1980) can be used to remove tattoos but again is time-consuming and furthermore, the degree of scarring which results from the treatment does not appear to correlate with the depth of pigment (Koeber & Price, 1978) which may indicate that the technique is diflScuh to control. Cryotherapy (Dvir & Hirshowitz, 1980;Colver & Dawber, 1984) has been recommended and may prove to be a useful alternative to surgery being less time-consuming for the patient and operator.…”

“…All patients had a pre-treatment 4 mm punch biopsy, to assess pigment depth (Koeber & Price, 1978), before tattoo removal and the biopsies were processed in a standard manner.…”

Rising Concern over Cosmetic Tattoos

“…Historically, removal of undesired tattoos included tissue-destructive techniques such as dermabrasion and salabrasion, [34][35][36][37] cryosurgery, 38 electrosurgery, 39,40 and surgical excision. 41,42 Although effective at removing the tattoo ink, these treatments often led to scarring and unwanted skin pigmentation changes.…”