Tattoo, Birthmark, and Brown Spot Removal

Just about everyone has a few obvious brown spots on their skin—freckles, age spots, liver spots or birthmarks. These occur when melanin - which gives your skin its color—is abnormally concentrated in one area of your skin. Some pigmented lesions are present at birth, but most occur with age or as a result of overexposure to the sun.

Plastic Surgery Associates can treat these brown spots using the Medlite Q-Switched YAG laser, one of the most advanced lasers available today for the removal of:

• Brown-pigmented birthmarks and lesions
• Tattoos

However, Medlite cannot be used for the removal of lesions that are cancerous or suspected of being cancerous.

How does the Medlite work?
A laser is designed to produce one or more specific light wavelengths, which pass through your skin but are absorbed by the tattoo ink or the high concentrations of melanin.

The rapid absorption of light energy destroys the melanin or tattoo ink. The ink is removed by your body’s natural filtering system, and the melanin concentration is reduced to the same shade as the rest of your skin.

Unlike other tattoo or lesion removal methods, there is little risk that your skin will be whitened or scarred. The Medlite delivers the light in very short, high-intensity pulses for maximum melanin or ink destruction, with minimal damage to your skin. As for pain, patients say the pulses of light feel similar to the snap of a thin rubberband.

More about pigmented lesion removal
At least 80 percent of all common pigmented lesions are removed with one treatment. If a lesion covers a large area, though, your doctor may want to treat it in several stages, to avoid unnecessary discomfort.

After the treatment, the area will feel similar to a slight sunburn, but the discomfort typically disappears within a day or two. You can take a shower the next day, but the area may remain reddened for two to four weeks.

Common pigment lesions do not return. Some birthmarks may return after several months to a year, but the procedure can be repeated with similar results.

More about tattoo removal

The number of treatments depends upon several factors including size, location, the individual's healing process, how the tattoo is applied and the length of time it has been on the skin.