In this method, tattoo removal is achieved with the use of a properly manufactured saline solution and a coil or rotary tattoo machine. The technician will go over the tattoo in the same method the tattoo was applied however, this time, instead of ink, the manufactured saline solution is implanted into the skin. Because the solution is hypertonic, it pulls the pigment to the skin’s surface. As the body forms a scab post procedure, it expels the ink during the healing process. Just like laser treatments, fading and removal will be accomplished over several treatments.

This procedure has some similarities to both tattooing and microblading, since it involves puncturing the skin to deposit a liquid. The specialist is essentially tattooing the area with saline. Usually a tattoo machine is used for saline tattoo removal. Tattoo ink has remained in liquid form after being deposited into the skin, and saline tattoo removal uses an osmosis effect to draw it out.

Through osmosis, saline removal persuades the cells to release the ink or pigment. Osmosis relies on the principle of equalization. When there is a semipermeable membrane that has a more highly concentrated solution on one side, water tends to move across the membrane toward that concentrated solution in an attempt to create equal conditions on each side. When saline is injected into the skin, water is pulled up from the cells of the dermis, and some of the pigment comes along for the ride. A scab forms on the open wound created by the saline injection, and the pigment becomes part of the scab. New cell growth begins below, and the scab eventually falls off.

Other than creating a temporary wound, the process has no harmful effects on the body. It affects only the specific area treated, unless severe infection occurs. Proper aftercare is essential to prevent that from happening.

This process is often repeated multiple times to achieve the desired results, while allowing time for the skin to heal in between.

HOW MANY SESSIONS DOES SALINE REMOVAL TAKE?

What affects the number of sessions needed? For either procedure, it first depends on your removal goal. If you want to remove the tattoo completely, the number of sessions will probably be substantially higher. For example, complete removal might take 11 saline tattoo removal sessions as opposed to 5 or 6 for partial fading. The exact number will depend on how your body responds to the treatment. 

The number of sessions needed also depends on the color of the ink being removed. As mentioned, darker shades often take longer than lighter ones with saline removal, whereas with laser, it’s the reverse. 

Achieving desired results depends on many factors. How old is the tattoo? Was it microblading or a machine tattoo? How deeply has the pigment been implanted? Is the color dark and solid? Are you trying to remove the tattoo completely or just lighten it enough to tattoo something different?

In many cases only a percentage of the tattoo pigment needs to be lightened or removed, and then we can continue the correction process. Numbing cream / topical anesthetic is used during a saline removal procedure

SALINE TATTOO REMOVAL VS LASER TATTOO REMOVAL

While laser removal can be very effective for large tattoos on the body, it's not always ideal for removing color, especially light colors and pink and red colors. The basis for laser tattoo removal is heat. The laser removal works with a penetrating laser beam that heats up the ink particles, which get fragmented and the immune system flushes them out of the body. When this process is applied to cosmetic tattoos there's a risk of the pigments changing color and darkening

Saline tattoo removal can be used on any color and generally turns the pigments a lighter version of itself until it is completely removed

While laser sessions are certainly the best method for removal of smaller tattoos and very large tattoos, most cosmetic tattoo pigments are less sensitive to laser removal and don't respond as intended. Permanent makeup pigments contain substances which are very different from the ones used to make traditional inks. And don't forget, microbladed eyebrows are shades of brown, which contains varying amounts of black, red, yellow, green and white ink, not all lasers see these colors.