Tattoo Removal
Carmen Brodie is the VP of Clinical Operations at Removery. With 25 years of experience in working with lasers, she has been involved with laser tattoo removal since the field emerged. She played a leading role in shaping the laser tattoo removal industry as a whole. Carmen has devoted the past 11 years to the advancement of tattoo removal technologies and guiding the development of best practices. Read on to learn what launched her journey and how she’s led our team to become the most trusted experts in the field.
About 12 years ago, Carmen noted that there was a need for laser tattoo removal. She focused on laser hair removal early in her career and was surprised that her clients often expressed dissatisfaction with their body art. “About 80 to 90% of them said, ‘Hey, do you have anybody who can remove it,” she recalls.
She started questioning, “where can I send them? What can I do” to help. She began doing research to find laser tattoo removal practitioners, “and there was nobody to send them to,” so she took a mental note that there’s a need for this service. At the time, no facilities or specialists existed to serve their needs.
That’s when Carmen had an epiphany. “Note to self: I could do this. And I could specialize. And we could be really amazing,” she thought to herself. “And look where we are today!”
“So that’s what I did…I bought a laser.” The best available equipment of the day used nanotechnology. Picosecond technology—today’s gold standard—hadn’t yet emerged. But about a year later, the pico technology came onto the market. She bought a pico laser right away. “We were the first—I think I bought number 12 of the original pico technology,” Carmen says. “So we’ve always been very pico-centric.”
“Wait—what’s the difference between pico and nanotechnology,” you ask. Here’s a quick rundown of what these terms mean. With picosecond technology, the laser’s pulse enters and leaves the skin in one trillionth of a second. This means it has less impact on the skin itself while also breaking the ink into even smaller pieces—meaning the body can flush them out more easily. Meanwhile, the pulse of a nanosecond laser remains in the skin for longer—which, as you might imagine, isn’t very comfortable!
Plus, picosecond lasers use a photoacoustic approach rather than a photothermal approach, in contrast to nanosecond technology. This means they don’t overheat the skin. It’s a much gentler approach that also gets more impressive results. For all these reasons, pico technology has been a game-changer for the tattoo removal field. That’s why when the first picosecond laser appeared, Carmen snapped it up.
“From there, the business went crazy. We expanded into New York; we then expanded into Philadelphia,” Carmen says. “We got to be on the very cutting edge, sort of the pioneers of pico technology.”
A Removery client undergoes a quick session with the PicoWay laser.
Today, we use the Candela PicoWay laser, which is the state-of-the-art technology in our field. It offers several different wavelengths that allow our technicians to effectively target even resistant types of ink.
Carmen highlights the advantages of “pure play”—focusing on one specific type of treatment rather than doing a little bit of everything. (Just think about it: You wouldn’t want a surgeon who is a jack of all trades, would you?) Specialization is especially essential in the laser tattoo removal industry because there aren’t many outside resources to learn from. We had to focus on developing that mastery of our own craft.
“We’ve been able to specialize, really dive deep, and discover how to best remove a tattoo,” Carmen says. We delved into the science behind how laser removal works. We tried all types of lasers to make sure we’d selected the right tools for the trade. We learned how to adeptly handle tattoo removal for every skin tone. And we learned from every client’s journey, having conversations with them every step of the way to make sure they feel satisfied with the results. We’ve gained a wealth of hands-on experience in every aspect of laser tattoo removal, from removing a tattoo for a coverup to removing body art completely.
“By specializing and really diving deep into the subject matter, we’ve become the best in the world at what we do,” Carmen says.
With our deep level of knowledge on how to skillfully remove unwanted ink, clients also trust us to ensure their safety. While technicians at other facilities may dabble in various treatments, our staff build expertise in tattoo removal. That’s why we’re more adept at safely and effectively using the world’s best technology to remove a tattoo.
Today’s advanced technology can handle just about any tattoo removal job—in the hands of a skilled specialist.
Removery’s specialization in laser tattoo removal has given us a level of expertise matched by none. Through intensive focus, Carmen and our team have modeled how tattoo removal should be done. And our commitment to using cutting-edge laser tattoo removal technologies has never wavered. We look forward to many more years of shaping the future of this field!
Interested in starting your own tattoo removal journey? One of our experienced technicians would love to answer all your questions! Book a free consultation with us to start.
We’re on a mission to give you the most straightforward, easy and efficient laser tattoo removal experience. Your estimate will be entirely bespoke to your tattoo; the size, the colors, the ink. It won’t take long and afterwards you’ll have a plan to finally get rid of your unwanted tattoo and get back to being you.
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