Tattoo blues

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Sacremento Bee June 3, 2001

Aging rebels make laser tattoo removal a booming business

By BLAIR ANTHONY ROBERTSON,

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - This is the kind of article parents everywhere are going to print out to show their know-it-all, I'm-gonna-get-me-a-tattoo-too teenager.

It's a story of skin and ink and indelible memories, like it or not. It's about a fleeting moment of inspiration and a bungled effort to express it, about regret, shame, even depression over tattoos. And it's the story of an east Sacramento doctor who is trying to make them all go away.

"It's OK. You can laugh," said Rachael Rivas, sitting in the back room of the doctor's office, referring to the unmistakable message imprinted on her chest: "Property of Beto" next to a portrait of Beto in all his scruffy splendor.

Regrets? She's had a few. But then again, nothing quite like this.

"It's really difficult," said Rivas, 25, "because now I'm married - and not to that guy." Rivas dated Beto when she was 17, but she married Edwin. And for Edwin, the sight of Beto on his wife's chest is understandably a mood killer.

More and more people are showing up at their doctor's office sporting tattoos they want to get rid of - barbed wire around the biceps, suns where the sun don't shine, hearts, flowers, porpoises, bats, snakes, gang signs, you name it. And names. Oh, the names.

"When I saw this for the first time, I thought, 'Oh, you poor thing,'" said Dr. Emil Tanghetti, sitting next to Rivas and taking the laser in his left hand as if it were a large pencil.

The tattoo removal facet of Tanghetti's dermatology practice is part of a growth industry, a natural response to the recent boom in tattoo parlors throughout the country. Since the mid-1990s, tattoo removal has become more common and more effective with advances in laser technology, according to Tanghetti. Before that, the inked-in handiwork had to be removed by dermabrasion, chemical peels or by cutting away the skin and stitching together what was left.

This was the eighth visit for Rivas, who comes every three months or so to give the skin time to recover. Beto is fading, but it could be more than two years before the tattoo is gone completely.

In addition to his regular tattoo-removal patients, Tanghetti has been volunteering with the California Youth Authority to remove tattoos, many of them gang-related. Those patients arrive at Tanghetti's office escorted by a probation officer.

A 1997 state Senate bill established the program, allocating money to buy several pieces of laser equipment at about $60,000 apiece. The idea is that at-risk youth have a better chance of moving on and landing jobs if they get rid of their visible tattoos.

Walter Martinez, 25, desperately wants to shed his past, but the tattoos plastered over his arms and torso are a reminder of the gang life he led in East Los Angeles, where he grew up.

"It's hard for me to find a job," said Martinez, who wears turtlenecks and other long-sleeve shirts throughout the summer to cover the tattoos. "I don't like people staring at me, but people stare at me, and I know they're saying, 'Oh, lock the doors.'"

Martinez received a 10-year sentence for three counts of attempted murder. He served five in a CYA secured facility and recently completed five years on parole. Now, he is enrolled at American River College and works as an intake counselor at a drug treatment facility.

He's got a new car, a new attitude and new friends. He has had several sessions at Tanghetti's office to remove gang tattoos such as "Southside," "Outlaw" and "LA 213." But he's not completely through with Sabrina. Sabrina, an old flame, is but a memory. S-A-B-R-I-N-A, in 2-inch block letters across the front of his neck, is his albatross.

"She's my ex," he said, almost apologetically. "It didn't work out."

Tattoos last longer than passing fancies, than first loves or gang affiliations, longer than fashions and fads. Many people, of course, are happy with their tattoos and never regret getting them. Some see them as part of their identity or style. But many others see them as a link to a time and place they left long ago.

"I'm not against tattoos," Tanghetti said. "My concern is that people will change and their tattoo will still be there. Would you want to wear the same kind of jeans for 75 years?"

The black India ink tattoos are the easiest to remove, all gone in three to six 30-minute visits. Each treatment costs $150 to $300. The multi-colored tattoos can take far longer to treat.

Tanghetti estimates he has removed hundreds of gang-style tattoos, sometimes taking on eight to 10 CYA patients in a day. He does not charge for the service, figuring it is his way to give something back. "Some of the people were at a bad point in their lives, and they're here to change that," he said.

The pain is about the same as snapping a rubber band against the skin. One patient said the laser treatment feels like bacon grease splattering on her.

Nicole Hamlin never got in trouble, and her visits to Tanghetti's office are her own doing. Still, she looks back on the days she got her tattoos as dark moments. Back in her teen years, she wanted to rebel. She got daisies tattooed on her ankle, then a very masculine multi-hued band around her forearm.

"I hated it. I would wear long-sleeve shirts so it wouldn't show. I hated people asking me about it," said Hamlin, now 26, married and the mother of two. "I did it because I wanted to make my father angry. I maimed my own body to make some kind of statement."

Over the years, Hamlin changed, but her tattoo never did. "I would go to put on this dress, and I would have this big, ugly tattoo," she said.

The daisies on her ankle have been removed. The large band on her forearm could take up to 20 treatments - or five years - to get rid of.



-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), June 04, 2001

Answers

I thought about getting a tatoo, the last time I thought about it I realised I had thought about it for twenty years and couldn't think of any reason not to, so I got it. Been 9 years and I still don't regret it. It isn't one I would ever worry about having to get removed. Teenagers as a rule are not mature enough to realise their mindset will change as they get older.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), June 04, 2001.

Cherri you tease. Where is it? What is it?

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), June 04, 2001.

Lars, it's a red rose. Don't believe them when they say do not drink before getting one, it helps. I sat reading a book as it was done and a little burbon induced numbness made it tolerable.

Where is it? HHmmm, maybe I should take a picture of it and put it up and let you guess *grin*

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), June 05, 2001.


I have a friend who was going to get one tattoo, that was before he knew they were addictive. Now he is covered with them.

-- jammy (jammin@with.jammy), June 05, 2001.

One hung-over Sunday, a week before we got our bachelor's degrees, I went with four buddies to get tattooes of our soon-to-be alma mater's symbol. The guy who did the tattooes was in his late forties and had no fewer than three women's names on his bicep, the first two had big black x's through them as though the guy were too cheap to get them removed.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), June 05, 2001.


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