Size Matters - How Spot Size Affects Your Tattoo Removal

Many different factors affect the speed and extent of your tattoo removal, from lifestyle factors such as smoking to treatment protocols such as the length of time between treatments, the power used in sessions and the spot size of the laser used.

Many lasers used within smaller clinics and tattoo studios have only one size setting for the spot size of the laser, this is generally pretty small and can be as little as 1mm diameter. This limits the depth that the laser can penetrate and so limits the amount of ink that can be treated. Most medical grade laser equipment utilise larger and/or adjustable spot sizes to allow for varying depths of penetration and power concentrations.

As laser energy passes through the skin, energy is lost through a process of "scattering" which effectively reduces the size and intensity of the laser as it passes further into the skin. On laser equipment with small spot sizes this often means that as the treatments go on, the deeper ink becomes more difficult to reach, leading to less reaction and less results. Larger spot sizes can be utilised to allow more energy to reach the full depth of the tattoo, thus allowing for more effective removals, and better results.

At ClearLase we use medical standard laser equipment with large and adjustable spot sizes, allowing for superior removal compared with smaller, fixed spot size lasers.