At first, you loved those colorful lines swirling around your lower back. Now, you embrace the meaning of the phrase “tramp stamp.” No worries. You can erase that symbol of poor judgment thanks to laser tattoo removal.

The laser light is set to a specific wavelength that corresponds to the color of your tattoo. The light passes through the skin and breaks up the ink into tinier particles. Your body’s immune system then works to rid you of this foreign matter, and over 6 to 8 weeks the tattoo will begin to fade. Multiple sessions are usually needed to remove the tattoo.

Laser tattoo removal is painful and pricey. But the risks – skin discoloration and scarring, for example – are pretty rare, and well worth it if you really can’t live with that body art anymore.

When I was 14, my friend and I, in a moment of Black Sabbath inspired devotion, decided it would be sweet to tattoo, and I quote, “something metal” to each other, to show our devotion to the world of heavy music and satanic rock.

I will grant that this was a pretty metal thing to do, especially back then in the 1970′s when tattoos weren’t on every other person you meet, including grandparents and executives at large companies.

However, you can imagine that this led to giving one another some crap artwork as far as a tattoo goes! And you would be right to imagine such a thing, my friend, oh so entirely right…

How right? Well, we both got a freakin’ bat tattooed on our arms. A little indie ink, a pin, and some pain (and possibly some Jack Daniels, shhh!) was all it took to have a black blob that theoretically was a bat. Ah! What were we thinking.

Thank god for modern medicine. Because now, I ordered something called Tattoo Off after reading about it at this site called the Tattoo Removal Creams Guide. Sounds like it will work to remove my tattoo in about 2-3 months. Not bad, especially considering the (cheap!) price.