You may have gotten your tattoo while partying in Ibiza following your high school graduation and now 15 years later you cannot stand the sight of it, or have come up with a really cool design that you want done instead of that little cutesy heart. You might even want it undone because you have recently gotten convinced that tattoos are forbidden by religion.

Dermatologist Dr. Mostafa Abu El Ela from Cairo Laser Center explains that most of his patients are women who had their eyebrows thickly tattooed or their lips contoured when it was fashionable and want it undone. The second most common category of tattoo removal are among those applying to military colleges where tattoos are banned. There are also those who had it at a young age and regretted it when they got older or became convinced it was forbidden by religion and want to remove it.

Regardless of what your reason is, removing your tattoo is feasible via different laser beams. Nonetheless, it is a painful, costly and time-consuming process. Just as much as you should get absolutely certain you want to be inked, you need to be sure that you want it permanently removed.

Below is a quick rundown of what the entire process entails.

How easy is it?

In the past, tattoos were only removable by surgery, which used to scar and weren’t advisable with bigger tattoos. Thankfully, science introduced laser tattoo removal, which works through using high-intensity light beams that break up the pigments of colors on your tattoo and are most effective on black tattoos.

Don’t freak out though, your little red heart with your sweetheart’s name can also be removed using lasers that work on this specific color pigment.

Dr. Abu El Ela explains that due to the limited availability of certain machines in Egypt, yellow ink is the hardest to remove and might not be feasible. He adds that colors like green and red are removable, although much harder than black, blue and grey, which are the easiest to remove.

Does it scar?

Tattoo removal doesn’t scar, although sometimes, and with some colors, the success rate isn’t a 100 percent and a very faint trace of color might remain after the treatment.

Dr. Abu El Ela advises his patients before hand that their tattoo removal could fall anywhere between 70 to a 100 percent.

How long does it take?

Much like laser hair removal, the length and cost of treatment will depend on the color and size of your tattoo as well as the skin color. Dr. Abu El Ela adds that the treatment length also depends on the penetration of the ink into your skin layers, which mostly depends on your tattooist, professional tattoo artists make their designs to last.

Non-professional tattoos, like those women get done on their eyebrows and lips at hairdressers’, take one to two sessions to remove but professional ones take longer. “Some professional tattoos are almost impossible to remove that it is advisable not to try to remove them at all,” says Dr. Abu El Ela. But don’t panic just yet, he adds, “But I actually did remove some of those seemingly impossible ones.”

On average, tattoo removal will take anywhere between one to six sessions.

You should also allow four to eight weeks between each session, so if you have a small tattoo that might be removed in four sessions, expect the treatment to take about six months.

How much does it cost?

Because every tattoo differs in size, color, depth of the ink as well as the skin type itself, Dr. Abu El Ela explains that the prices vary widely and are normally determined after the dermatologist examines the patient and determines the length and frequency of sessions needed to remove it.

Does it hurt?

Dr. Abu El Ela explains that the removal is equally, or slightly more painful than getting tattooed, so it is tolerable to most. If you’re getting laser removal in a sensitive part of your body, ask your doctor for topical anesthetic creams, or if you have a low pain threshold, a local anesthesia.  They also can feel sun-burnt for a few days after the procedure.

Word of advice:

Make sure your dermatologist provides protective eye shields and tests your skin before the first session to make sure you don’t have unusual reactions to the beams. You will need to place an ice pack on the treated area and apply antibiotic creams or ointments until it heals — much like you have done when you got the tattoo done.

We Recommend:

El Hosny Dermatology Center • 13 Yousef El Guindy Street, Bab El Louk • +2(0122) 170-4000

Dr. Mostafa Abu El Ela • Cairo Laser Center • 45 El Batal Ahmad Abdel Aziz Street, Mohandiseen • +2(0128) 880-1555

El Fayek Dermatology Clinic • Flat 117, 19 El Khalifa El Maamoun, Roxy • +2(0100) 501-5811

Editor’s Note:

–  Check out our review of top tattoo parlors in Cairo (well, in case you decided to get another one and need to make a better informed decision, that is).

–  Before you go out and get that tattoo done or removed, check out our poll to find out which inked body parts guys find sexy.

– Think tattoos are a hip young thing? Read about the long history of tattoo traditions in Egypt.

– Between haram, halal and a society that frowns upon a cool design but gladly accepts permanent eyebrows reshaping: Perception of tattoos in Egypt.