I've never had a tattoo to regret but to have one and to take one off both equal to pain so I don't understand why people want to mess with these things. *shaking my head*
My aunt is an esthetician and today we went to her shop to try to remove a tattoo from my leg. I'm not sure what happened with the above link, but laser removal doesn't burn the skin. When you get a tattoo the ink is encapsulated in your skin as the body sees it as a foreign substance. The laser removal works by popping the capsules so the ink can come out. Yes, it does indeed pop. Only the first time over it will hurt, unlike tattoos which hurt with every passover of the tattoo needle.
Unfortunately I didn't go very long at all - I've had lots of motion sickness while being here in Arizona and I've been taking antihistamines, which lowered my pain tolerance incredibly (A side effect of antihistamines). I broke into a cold sweat and almost fainted. I will probably try again once I have the antihistamines out of my system.
I like my other tattoos, and I still like the design of this one, I just happen to have nerve damage in my thigh that caused it to shake and jerk uncontrollably when I was being tattooed, which caused a lot of sloppy lines. I did not know the nerve damage was that bad until it started.
Another thing I've noticed is that tattoos will hurt afterwards like a sunburn, but the part of my tattoo that was lasered does not hurt at all.
The source story was obviously not done by someone properly trained and licensed.
The unit I was in when I was in the Army greatly discouraged tattoos. So I don't have one. I've known people who had them removed, because of the unit I was in mostly, and they have told me it's painful at first.
I think it might be a bit too easy to get a tattoo these days. Having said that, I have three. I got one when I was at Uni and the other two I got, after I separated from my husband. I gave a lot of thought into all three of them and don't regret them at all. They are a part of who I am now. Although a lot of people do cover-ups of bad tattoos rather than removing them altogether *smile*.