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| - Tattoo debacle, not removal. The nurse began the procedure by injecting numbing medicine into my foot through a syringe the size of two, fat Crayola markers. "You will feel a series of pain for some time as I inject this into your foot," she said. Is all that liquid necessary for a laser treatment on a tattoo that is no bigger than a nickel?, I asked. Turns out, no. But I endured the pain nonetheless. True to her warning, it was the longest, most painful numbing process I had ever experienced. And come to find out now, completely unnecessary.
During the laser procedure, the doctor said to the nurse, Turn it up a little. Okay, no, down. I knew nothing about lasers and it sounded like they didn't either. But what could I do once the laser was already in use on my foot?
Post procedure, the tattoo turned into a blister and then a nice fat ring of scar tissue developed underneath, turning what was a one-dimensional tat into something that really pops off my foot and is actually much scarier looking than before.
I didn't go back for more treatments. For a year and a half I waited and last week I went to a different doctor. He used absolutely no numbing medicine, took half the time, and didn't have any banter about laser intensity during the procedure.
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