For 19 years, Seth Leibowitz, owner of Artform Gallery and Tattoo, has lived with a regret: a botched tattoo covering his entire back that he got just before he started working as a tattoo artist.
As he lay in the chair at his first laser session at Disappearing Ink, a tattoo removal shop in Lawrenceville, Mr. Leibowitz, 40, felt a drop of sweat roll down his side. He tried to concentrate on yoga breathing as Wes South, head laser technician and owner of Disappearing Ink, iced his back in preparation for the treatment.
After the session was over, Mr. Leibowitz looked in the mirror at his tattoo with tears in his eyes. What he used to jokingly describe to friends as a “cross-eyed chicken lost in the woods with purple misting mountaintops” was already drastically faded and difficult to identify.
“I made this decision to go get my back tattoo removed to feel something,” he said. “I had this excitement to start making changes to my life, and this one is a big one ... it’s going to give me a new chance to live life in a new body.”
The demand for tattoo removal has increased in recent years as better technology has made the process more effective, quicker and less painful, Mr. South said. Standalone businesses like Disappearing Ink that specialize in tattoo removal have appeared in the Pittsburgh area, attracting clients from both this region and beyond — some travel from Ohio, New York and West Virginia — for full removals, as well as lightening treatments for cover-ups.
Although dermatologists and medical spas perform tattoo removal, standalone tattoo removal places are more likely to have equipment specifically designed for the procedure and more practiced technicians. Invisible Ink, the nation’s largest tattoo removal chain, has locations in about 20 cities, including one in Robinson. It opened here almost five years ago.
Clients seek out tattoo removal for many reasons: to erase a bad memory, a misspelled name or a wild night on the South Side, to name a few. One client came to Disappearing Ink to remove a giant Bud Light bottle on his back that he got in exchange for two packs of cigarettes in jail. About half of clients want full removal and the other half only need a few sessions to lighten an old piece of body art for a cover-up, Mr. South said.
“People are embarrassed to show us a tattoo and I’m like, believe me, I've seen everything. There’s no way you’ll even be in the top 10 worst,” he said. “We’ve all been in that boat, everyone makes mistakes and we’re here to help.”
For Mr. South, the decision to open a tattoo removal business was personal. After a subpar experience with a traveling laser technician he realized the high demand for quality tattoo removal in Pittsburgh.
“Having tattoos that I hated ruined my life for a long time,” he said. “It’s the first thing I would think about when I woke up. ... I would look down at my leg and be like, ‘I’m stuck with this.’ I felt embarrassed and like I was trapped.”
Mr. South, 33, who has $20,000 worth of ink on his body, became certified as a laser technician at New Look Laser College in Dallas — although no license is required to operate a laser in Pennsylvania — and worked for two years in local medical spas performing a variety of laser treatments to practice his technique.
“I can hear how the lasers popping on the skin and I can tell by looking at it how it’s responding,” he said. “Just by looking at the tattoo I’ve gotten pretty good at being able to tell the density of the ink and what shades of different colors are going to go quicker than others.”
In 2013 he opened Disappearing Ink in the back room of Bodyworks Tattoo studio, owned by Don McDonald, in Penn Hills. After ample success — he’s almost fully booked with 20 removals a day — he was joined by his younger brother Ian South, 22, and opened up a second location in Lawrenceville last year.
The Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing several types of lasers for tattoo lightening or removal. Most work in a similar way. Disappearing Ink uses a Lutronic Spectra laser, specifically designed to target pigment in the skin. The technician aims at the ink, breaking it down into small particles, which are absorbed by the body’s immune system over time. Total cost of treatment and number of sessions necessary are determined by the size and color of the tattoo, as well as the type of ink used.
Invisible Ink uses PicoWay laser technology, which aims to shatter the tattoo ink, but leaves the surrounding skin intact.
At Disappearing Ink, costs range between $100 and $400 per session, averaging around $200 per session, Wes South said. Differences in individual immune systems can also affect number of treatments necessary. Like Invisible Ink and other places, it offers payment plans.
Mr. McDonald, who has worked as a tattoo artist for more than 26 years, credits the large tattoo community of Pittsburgh with the success of tattoo removal businesses, which he predicts will only grow with technological advances.
“Pittsburgh is silently a tattoo mecca,” said Mr. McDonald, who has undergone laser removal on old tattoos to make way for updated pieces. He regularly sends clients to Disappearing Ink to get tattoos lightened before completing cover-ups.
Angela Lutheran of Lawrenceville decided to have a 10-year-old fading star between her thumb and index finger removed at Disappearing Ink.
She said she was pleasantly surprised by the professional environment and felt a sense of trust with the art from local tattoo artists displayed on the wall.
“We try and inspire people with all the art everywhere, and Wes loves and is able to show off proudly the tattoos that he has,” Ian South said. “It gives people hope that there is still the possibility of having something that you love.”
The American Society of Dermatologic Surgery offers a list of do’s and don’ts on tattoo removal. You can check it out here. (www.asds.net)
Marie Fazio: mfazio@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1458.
First Published: June 7, 2018, 4:57 p.m.