Adatto Maurice A, Halachmi Shlomit, Lapidoth Moshe
Curr Probl Dermatol. 2011;42:97-110. doi: 10.1159/000328269. Epub 2011 Aug 16.
Over 50,000 new tattoos are placed each year in the United States. Studies estimate that 24% of American college students have tattoos and 10% of male American adults have a tattoo. The rising popularity of tattoos has spurred a corresponding increase in tattoo removal. Not all tattoos are placed intentionally or for aesthetic reasons though. Traumatic tattoos due to unintentional penetration of exogenous pigments can also occur, as well as the placement of medical tattoos to mark treatment boundaries, for example in radiation therapy. Protocols for tattoo removal have evolved over history. The first evidence of tattoo removal attempts was found in Egyptian mummies, dated to have lived 4,000 years BC. Ancient Greek writings describe tattoo removal with salt abrasion or with a paste containing cloves of white garlic mixed with Alexandrian cantharidin. With the advent of Q-switched lasers in the late 1960s, the outcomes of tattoo removal changed radically. In addition to their selective absorption by the pigment, the extremely short pulse duration of Q-switched lasers has made them the gold standard for tattoo removal.
在美国，每年有超过5万例新纹身。研究估计，24%的美国大学生有纹身，10%的美国成年男性有纹身。纹身越来越受欢迎，相应地，纹身去除的需求也在增加。然而，并非所有纹身都是出于故意或审美原因。由于外源性色素意外刺入而导致的外伤性纹身也可能出现，还有比如在放射治疗中用于标记治疗边界的医疗纹身。纹身去除的方法在历史上不断演变。最早有纹身去除尝试的证据发现于公元前4000年的埃及木乃伊身上。古希腊文献描述了用盐摩擦或用含有白蒜瓣与亚历山大斑蝥素混合的糊剂来去除纹身。随着20世纪60年代末调Q激光的出现，纹身去除的效果发生了根本性的变化。除了能被色素选择性吸收外，调Q激光极短的脉冲持续时间使其成为纹身去除的金标准。
