Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Semin Plast Surg. 2007 Aug;21(3):175-92. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-991186.
Tattooing has been a part of human culture since the earliest beginnings of modern civilization. What has changed over the millennia are the myriad of colors with which we can now express our thoughts, feelings, and desires through body art. What has not changed is human nature, and our propensity to change our minds about what it is we think, feel, and wish to express on the canvas of our skin. Our fickle nature results in the desire to change what has been placed as a permanent reminder of a friend, spouse, or as a work of art. The technology used to remove tattoos began with destructive methods of removal, which wreaked havoc not only on the tattoo but more prominently on the skin containing that tattoo. The discovery of selective photothermolysis, the ability to selectively remove target structures without disrupting the surrounding skin, made it at least possible to remove tattoos without destroying the surrounding skin and leaving a scar. Theory predicted that pulse durations in the nanosecond domain would be optimal for tattoo removal, and the Q-switched neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet, alexandrite, and ruby lasers operate in this range and are the key tools for modern tattoo removal. Too often, the wrong devices operating in the millisecond range, such as intense pulsed light sources, or lasers that are nonselective, such as the carbon dioxide laser, are used to treat tattoos, resulting in significant scarring without complete removal of the tattoo. Although the Q-switched lasers are capable of removing tattoos without harming the skin, removal often takes numerous treatments and still can be incomplete, especially when attempting to remove multicolored tattoos. Developments leading to removable tattoo inks, feedback systems to detect the absorbance characteristics of tattoo inks, dermal clearing agents, and perhaps even shorter pulse-duration lasers should result in improvements in tattoo removal in the near future.
纹身作为人类文化的一部分，自现代文明的早期就已经存在。在过去的几千年里，我们现在可以用无数的颜色来表达我们的思想、感情和愿望，这一点发生了变化。而没有改变的是人类的本性，以及我们改变自己对在皮肤上创作的想法、感受和愿望的倾向。我们善变的本性导致我们想要改变那些作为朋友、配偶或艺术作品的永久纪念的纹身。用于去除纹身的技术始于破坏性的去除方法，这些方法不仅对纹身本身造成了严重破坏，而且对含有纹身的皮肤造成了更大的破坏。选择性光热分解的发现，即能够选择性地去除目标结构而不破坏周围皮肤的能力，使得至少有可能在不破坏周围皮肤并留下疤痕的情况下去除纹身。理论预测，纳秒域的脉冲持续时间将是去除纹身的最佳选择，而调 Q 钕:钇铝石榴石、紫翠玉和红宝石激光器在这个范围内运行，是现代去除纹身的关键工具。但通常情况下，毫秒范围内的错误设备，如强脉冲光源，或非选择性的激光，如二氧化碳激光，被用来治疗纹身，导致严重的疤痕而无法完全去除纹身。虽然调 Q 激光器能够在不伤害皮肤的情况下去除纹身，但去除纹身通常需要多次治疗，而且仍然可能不完整，尤其是在试图去除多色纹身时。可移除纹身墨水的发展、用于检测纹身墨水吸收特性的反馈系统、真皮清除剂，甚至更短脉冲持续时间的激光，应该会在不久的将来导致纹身去除的改进。
