Tattoo Removal with Lasers

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following is a paid podcast. iHeartRadio's hosting of this
podcast constitutes neither an endorsement of the products offered or
the ideas expressed.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Well, Doctor Arthur Perry, he's one of the top plastic surgeons.
He's got offices in Manhattan, New Jersey. You know what,
He's been doing the show here on w R for
years and years and years. Very popular show and a
great plastic surgeon. Everybody has questioned on this subject. So
he's the guy to ask.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Doctor Arthur Perry, and the public wants to know that
public doesn't get a damn.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
And I went to his office and I said, I said,
look at my face. He goes, yeah, look at your face.
We're going to do with your fan. What can you
do with his face? I go like that, I said,
what I got? I go look at this, I'm getting old.
I said, I want to maybe you can fix it
up a little bit.

Speaker 5 (00:41):
Doctor Oz, are you there, I'm here, Ark, and I
want to get a plauged you. Having worked with you
on a book and numerous other activity, you want to talk.

Speaker 6 (00:46):
To Arthur Perry, the best in plastic.

Speaker 5 (00:49):
Surgery and workable knowledge, but also your grace at delivering content,
which is why it's been a blessing to have you
on my show so many times.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
When I was a resident at the University of Chicago,
we had a I mean.

Speaker 5 (00:58):
You're smart, as I really really gift his position. I
want to pay you the highest trut I can give
to a surgeon, which is when people come to you,
they don't come for an operation, they come for the opinion.
And that's why I trust you with my friends and relatives.
I didn't realize we were gonna get the Michael Jordan
of Plastic Surgeons nine O two and zero bows to
this guide.

Speaker 6 (01:17):
And welcome.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
This is Bard certified plastic surgeon, doctor Arthur Perry, and
this is what's your Wrinkle right here on wo R
and straight talk about cosmetic surgery in the podcast world
out there. If you're listening on a Wednesday morning, it's
not live. It was live on Saturday at six pm.
And I am sitting here in sag Harbor, New York,
in the in the Hampton's looking at the.

Speaker 6 (01:41):
Weather which finally cleared up.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
It was a UV index of I believe six today,
not too bad for the end of June, but it's
gonna get worse. Gonna get worse over the next few days,
and that means you need sunscreen. And UV index is
your indicator. If it's over three, you need sunscreen. All right, today,
we've got a great show planned for you. I'm going

(02:04):
to finish the topic I started last week but really
didn't get a chance to talk too much about eyelid surgery.
Cosmetic elid surgery. Blepharoplasty is what it's called. We're going
to talk about all aspects of that surgery. I'm going
to take your phone calls eight hundred three to two
one zero seven to ten. That's the phone number here
at WOR we're going to be giving out. I'm going
to give you a choice this week. You can either

(02:26):
have a bottle of Daytime that's the SPF twenty three
sunscreen and skin protector, or you can have soft Time,
which is my moisturizer. So you can choose between any
of those. And we're going to talk about something I
don't talk too much about, tattoo removal. And boy, that's

(02:48):
a big topic now, is it it. Tattoos. Everybody's got them.
I sound like Mark Simo, everybody's got them.

Speaker 6 (02:54):
But you know it's true.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
We're going to talk about how you get rid of
them and why you might want to get rid of those.
All right, So who am I? I'm a plastic surgeon.
I've been doing this for a long time, over thirty years,
operating on patients, doing eyelid lifts and facelifts and tummy.

Speaker 6 (03:10):
Tucks and breast augmentations and lifts. It's breastlifts and reductions.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
And liposuction and odoplast these ear setback procedures, and of
course lots and lots and lots of botox and fillers
and lasers and all those things that I love to
do all day long, but on weekends, I'm right here
with you. Eight hundred three two one zero seven ten
is the phone number, and give us a call. You've

(03:36):
got to have a real question though, of course, you know,
not not just you know, call up and get the
free product.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
No, you can't do that.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
You have to have a real question for me. And
you know one that's been keeping you up at night.
You know, if you're going to the plastic surgeon on Monday,
you're having a consultation, you have no idea what to
talk about. You just think maybe there's something wrong with
your skin. Yeah, give me a call, we'll talk about it.
Or if you're going, let's say you already had your
procedure and you're not sure whether things are healing appropriately.

(04:07):
This is a show to call, all right. And I
see patients during the week, as you know, eighty fifth
in Park Avenue in New York, Somerset, New Jersey, and
at well by Messer. That is that wonderful practice that
I have joined on. It's one ten sixtieth Street, East
sixtieth Street in New York with doctor Caroline Messer and

(04:29):
a whole bunch of other ender chronologists and internists and
psychologists and guynecologists and sports medicine people and dieticians and
people like that, all here to make you happier and healthier,
and I'm here to make you look better. So give
me a call over at that office. Six four six
seven six zero. That's thirty two fifty six six four

(04:51):
six seven six zero thirty two fifty six.

Speaker 6 (04:54):
All right.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
How many of you have a tattoo? How many raise
your hand? Let's okay, I bet you a lot of
you have tattoos. Now do you know that a full
one third of the American population is tattooed at this
point a third. That's enormous. And if you look at
the age distribution, it's forty one percent of people under

(05:15):
the age of thirty, forty six percent between thirty and
forty nine, only almost half of you. And once you
hit about fifty fifty to sixty four, it's about twenty
five percent, and those of you over sixty five it's
about thirteen percent, which is still pretty high. Now a
lot of those are the old, you know, military tattoos

(05:38):
that people got in there.

Speaker 6 (05:40):
There were very very.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
Different Nowadays it's you know, let's go out drinking and
your friends dare you? And next thing you know, you've
got a tattoo that you might not want. And there's
a lot of buyer's remorse with tattoos, you know. I
always say the the decision to have a tattoo is

(06:02):
sort of between you and your mother as long as
it's as long if you're living at home. I just
got a look for my former host here, co host,
what do you mean your mother? But you know, if
you're living at home you come home with a tattoo,
there may be an issue. But certainly we want tattoos

(06:23):
to be safe, we want them to be clean. We
don't want to get infections, viral or bacterial infections. That's
up to it is up to government to keep you safe,
and they're not really doing their job with tattoos because
tattoo pigments are not FDA regulated at all. You know,
that not FDA regulated. It's the only thing that I
can think of that you put inside your body through

(06:45):
your skin using a needle that doesn't require FDA regulation.
And there's all sorts of problems with tattoo ink. There's
allergic reactions, there are infections, and yes, there are even
cases of HIV and hepatitis that have been trainedsmitted through
not so clean tattoo parlors. But let's put that aside

(07:06):
and talk about what happens when you've already had that tattoo.
I've actually had people call my office the day after
the tattoo and you know, I mean, there's something comical
about that. I suppose, right, not for the person, but
you know, buyer's remorse, you know, so they want that
tattoo off. Now, the problem with tattoos is, for the most.

Speaker 6 (07:26):
Part, they are permanent.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
The ink is embedded into your skin with a series
of needle sticks. You know, tattoo. Ink is coats the needle.
That's how it's done, and with a professional performing the tattoo.
It's a machine sort of like a sewing machine.

Speaker 6 (07:43):
It goes back and forth. It oscillates back and forth.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
And an ink is put on the skin and forced
into the skin and it colors the skin. So that's
what a tattoo is all about. And often people do
multiple treatments to deepen the color and extend the tattoo.
So what happens though, if you decide you don't want

(08:07):
the tattoo, what happens? And you know, think about this.
When you were in ninth grade, do you remember what
you wore? Do you remember those bell bottom pants? You know,
if you grew up and I went to school in
the sixties and seventies, you remember those plaids? Do you
remember those those things that you wouldn't be caught dead in?
Now you know twenty thirty, forty fifty years later, Well, yeah,

(08:30):
what about a tattoo? There's nothing you can do about it?
Well maybe there is. So when we come back from
our break, we're going to talk about how I, as
a plastic surgeon, get involved with this and help you
get rid of your tattoos on board certified plastic surgeon,
doctor Arthur Perry, host of What's Your rankle right here
on wo R eight hundred three.

Speaker 6 (08:48):
Two one zero seven ten as the phone number. We'll
be back after these words.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
Did you know that your skincare may be hurting you
more than helping you. I'm Board certified plastic surgeon, doctor
Arthur Perry. The foundation for looking good is clean, healthy skin.
So I've created a program that is so simple that
everyone can stay on it long enough to see real results.
It starts with an incredible skin cleaner called clean Time.

(09:21):
It's actually good for your skin. Protect your skin with
my Daytime SPF twenty cream in the evening, feed your
skin with my Powerhouse Nighttime Serum. Nighttime has Vitamin CNA,
antioxidants and skin brighteners. And if you like moisturizers, well,
I've created Soft Time with seramides and Vitamin D. Throw
away the bags of useless products and try doctor Perry's Skincare.

(09:44):
Join the thousands of people whose skin is healthier. That's
doctor Perry's Skincare on Amazon dot com. And don't forget
to listen to my radio show right here on wor
every Saturday evening at six pm.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
You are listening to What's Your Wrinkle? With Doctor Arthur Peery.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
What's Your Rinkle?

Speaker 6 (10:03):
And we are back.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
I'm board certified plastics certain doctor Arthur Berry, host of
this show for a very, very long time. If this
is the first time you've listened, it's been twenty years.
What are you doing on Saturday evenings? Hopefully listening to
this show, but maybe not, Maybe you're listening to something else.
There's nothing else on the radio, So stay right here.
This is a half hour show. We've been on for

(10:24):
twenty years. Must be doing something right. I suppose my
patients like it, and I think you do too. All right,
So tattoos, how do you get rid of these things
if you don't want them? Well, you know, one of
the ways that we've been doing this is if it's
a small tattoo, you can actually just cut it out.

Speaker 6 (10:42):
Just treat it like it's a little mole.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
If you put like a star on your cheek and
you wake up the next morning and say, oh my god,
what have I done? Yeah, we could cut those out,
treat it like it's a mole, and do that. But
that leaves a little bit of a scar, right, but
it's one way to do it. There have been all
sorts of methods like freezing these things off and sanding

(11:06):
them off over the years, but it was the laser
that came out, you know, twenty or so years ago,
tattoo removal laser, that really changed things with tattoos. And
the laser is reasonably effective at removing tattoos depending on
the color of your tattoo. So the laser I have

(11:27):
in my office is called a Q switched YAG laser.

Speaker 6 (11:31):
That's a big fancy name.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
You know, and it's one of those lasers that's pretty
effective at getting rid of black and dark blue pigment,
which is the predominant color.

Speaker 6 (11:41):
So if you go out and get a word.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
You know, a little Chinese letter or something like that,
then you know it's usually in that color ink and
it's usually fairly straightforward to remove that with something called
a ten sixty four laser. You don't have to know
these things. Hopefully your doctor will. The ten sixty four
is one that's used for dark blue and black pigment.

(12:06):
But there's a problem sometimes when we remove tattoos because
remember what I told you a few minutes ago, there's
no FDA regulation out there. That means any maker of
tattoo pigments can put anything they want really in the pigment.
There could be organic substances, there can be metal substances,

(12:27):
there can be all sorts of things in there, and
often a mixture of colors, so that when we remove
with a laser the pigment, let's say the dark pigment,
we often expose the other pigments that are in that
mixture of pigment. So you could have a blue tattoo removed,
and all of a sudden you see an orange tattoo,

(12:49):
and then then we have an issue. We have to
use a different color laser. So the laser, you know,
it's a light and laser, by the way, stands for
light amplificated by the stimulated emission of radiation.

Speaker 6 (13:04):
Laser.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
You know, it's just a big long acronym. And it
was first they first came up with lasers around nineteen
sixty or so, and the first tattoo attempt at removal
with a laser was somewhere like nineteen sixty five, so
it's not new. But the lasers keep getting better and better,
and there are these these faster and faster lasers, and

(13:26):
different color lasers, different colored light. When you look at light,
for you, you know, you look at it and just light, right.
But if you look at a chandelier, it splits the
light into its component colors or a rainbow, it does
exactly the same thing, and you see the red and
the yellow, and the blue and the purple and all

(13:47):
those different colors. Well, when we laser something, we're very
specific with the color that we're going after. So when
I go after hair with laser hair removal, we're going
after a fairly you know, brown or black hair. When
we go after tattoos, we use this laser, and it's
got to be different colored lasers, different light lasers. And

(14:10):
the ones I do in my office are the dark blue,
black colors, and the red colors. I don't have a
laser that will get out white. I don't have a
laser that will get out yellow or orange. Orange is
almost because that's sort of borders on the red. So
some of those lasers are effective. How many treatments does
it take? Doesn't hurt that much that much when we

(14:31):
say that, you know, I mean there's a little bit
of discomfort. We put some emlo cream on your skin beforehand,
about a half an hour beforehand, and that's light a
cane cream, and then everybody's eyes are protected. We close
the doors and then zap away. I did one this
week and we zap and it's uncomfortable, not terrible. It

(14:54):
feels like maybe a rubber band snapping against your skin,
but not too bad. And it takes anywhere from ten
minutes to an hour, depending on how.

Speaker 6 (15:05):
Big your laer your tattoo is.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Right, you can have a tattoo the size of a penny,
or you can have a tattoo that's your entire back,
like Pete Davidson has, right, So the time spent varies,
and if you have a lot to do, then it
might be in more than one session, even for the
same tattoo. Now, how many times does it take? What
happens is it doesn't erase the tattoo. What the laser

(15:29):
does is it explodes the cells that contain the pigment,
and then that pigment disperses and it gets a little.
After the first treatment, it's just a little blurred, and
after the second treatment it's more blurred, and the third, fourth, fifth,
all the way up to sometimes ten treatments. You know,
it's hard to tell exactly how many treatments it's going
to take. It depends on how the tattoo was placed,

(15:52):
whether it was done professionally or in an amateur way,
and how much pigment was used and placed, and also
your skin color what you can tolerate. So it might
be three treatments that's the minimum. It might be as
many as ten or even more. So each time the
tattoo becomes a little more indistinct, a little bit more blurred.

(16:13):
The pigment really doesn't leave your body. Some of it does,
but not a lot. It just disperses and it goes
to other cells in the area to the point where
it really can't be seen all that well as a tattoo.
But we get some ghosting left behind. That means there's
a heat generated by the process.

Speaker 6 (16:32):
The laser is.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
It's light, it's hot light, and it creates a little
bit of an injury, and sometimes it blisters, and sometimes
it ghosts, and that means you're.

Speaker 6 (16:43):
Brown or black or blue.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Tattoo might be gone, but then there's a ghosting where
it's a little bit whiter. But it's easier to put
makeup on and cover that in that situation and harder
to see. So that's the story with lasers. We do
them in the office. That laser lives on in my
Park Avenue office. We're not doing that when in New
Jersey anymore. The lasers don't travel too well. They have

(17:07):
to stay put. They don't like being in a cab.
I'm board certified plastic surgeon, doctor Arthur Perry, host of
What's Your Wrinkle? Right here on wo R. When we
come back from our break, we're going to talk about
eyelid surgery. Finally, finally, elid surgery blepharoplasty, one of the
more common procedures in cosmetic surgery, one of the procedures
I just love to do. Eight hundred three two one

(17:29):
zero seven ten as a phone number. We'll be back
after these words. They say that sixty is the new fifty.
But while you may feel and act fifty, the mirror
doesn't lie. But that's where plastic surgery comes in. I'm
board certified plastic surgeon, doctor Arthur Perry, and I love

(17:51):
helping patients look younger and better. If you've got sagging cheeks, jowls,
and that dreaded turkey gobbler. It might be time for
a little nip and a tuck. You look more rested
and yes, younger with my short scar facelift and the
artistic injection of wrinkle filler or a laser peel, Well,
that might be just what it takes to get you
looking as good as you feel. Let's sit down for

(18:12):
an hour consultation in my new Park Avenue office. Together,
we'll come up with a plan to help you look
your best. Give me a call at eight three three
Perry MD. That's a three three p e r R
Y M D. Check me out on the web at
Perry Plastic Surgery dot com. And don't forget to listen
to me doctor Arthur Perry, every Saturday evening at six
pm right here on WOR. You're listening to What's Your

(18:36):
Wrinkle with doctor Arthur Perry.

Speaker 6 (18:38):
What's Your Wrinkle? And We're back.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
I'm board certified plastic surch doctor Arthur Berry, host of
What's Your Wrinkle right here on WOR. And my goodness,
one of my favorite people, my ex co host, just
entered the studio.

Speaker 6 (18:54):
Hey, doctor Perry, how Susan Warner is back? Oh?

Speaker 3 (18:58):
I am very happy to see you. His you're looking
very nice tonight, very good, and just in time for
our eyelid discussion.

Speaker 6 (19:06):
Blaproplasty.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
You know how many people have blephroplastis in the United
States each year?

Speaker 6 (19:11):
Susan and fifteen? How did you know you're talking to
AI again? Lucky? Guess that's about it.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
It's the fifth most common procedure in cosmetic surgery. What's
the first, Well, yep, you got it. She's been around
a long time. She loves co hosting on Saturday evening.
All right, So, but the audience is clamoring. They want
you back, send in your email and maybe she'll come back.

Speaker 6 (19:41):
All right.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
Liposuctions the most common, then breast augmentation, followed by tummy
tuck's breastlips. And then that word blepheroplasty bluff. That means
island in Greek, I believe, right, So that's where the
word comes from.

Speaker 6 (19:57):
Is it Latin or Greek? Oh?

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Oh, we're gonna have to find out. But well it's
not English, that one.

Speaker 6 (20:05):
We know it is.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Now, that's right. Bleatproplast the eyelid lift. So there are
four eyelids. A lot of people think you just have
upper eyelids, but you've got upper and lower eyelids, and
they're different there, of course, they're different. We have different
fat pads around the eyes. The eye floats in fat,
you know that. It actually it actually floats because when
you get kind of pushed in your eye. You know,

(20:28):
I had a patient this week who fell on his eye.
He got pushed down. I had to sew him up.
And boy, his if he didn't have that fat around
his eye, is eye might have bursts. But the fat
squishes first. That's a very technical term. But as you
get older, it begins to kind of protrude forward like
a hernia. So with your upper eyelids, it comes forward

(20:50):
and you get this fat towards your nose and in
the middle and your lower eyelids.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
There's three fat pads.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
There's the the inner one towards your nose, the middle one,
and then the Mario Cuomo fat.

Speaker 6 (21:01):
Pad or the Bassett. Yeah, that's what men seem to
have more.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Well, yeah, men men have that, but women have that also.
So but anyway, those fat pads make your eyelids look old.
And then of course you get extra skin of your
upper lids and your lower lids, and you come in
to see me for an eyelid lift. But the first
thing I do when I look at your eyes is
I look at the position of your eyebrows, because if

(21:27):
your eyebrows are low, she doesn't want me looking at
her eyebrows. If your eyebrows are low, then if I
remove some skin from your upper eyelids and I haven't
done anything to your eyebrows, it may not look like
I've done the operation. So we have to look at
you now. The eyebrows you a woman should be at
or just above the bony rim. So go and feel
your bony rim. Susan, Yep, that's it. And your eyebrows

(21:51):
are high, you'll never need an eyebrow lift. But if
your eyebrows are below the bony rim for a man,
they should be at the rim. A woman at or
just above the bony room, but not in the area
of the Nancy Pelosi eyebrow, which I think is abnormal
halfway up her eye, her forehead. We don't want that,

(22:12):
so we need to do an operation if they're low,
to stabilize the position or raise the position of the eyebrow.
So we look at that first, and then I take
you to the operating room. Some people do it in
their office. But in the operating room we give you
a little bit of sedation. It's not under general anesesia.
It doesn't have to be, if you want it could be.
But we remove that extra skin of your upper eyelids

(22:34):
and give you an eyelid that looks absolutely beautiful that
you can put makeup on and not have its smear. Now,
that looks okay in a woman. In a man, if
I do that, you know what happens feminizes the eyelid.
So in a man we leave skin purposely, and I
don't want to clean up all that extra skin because

(22:54):
it will feminize a male eyelid. So it's a different
operation in men and women. And I always say it's
the amount of fat I take. This is where surgical
judgment and experience comes in. It's hard to teach this
one to residence because it just takes time to understand
that I have to take some fat. But if I

(23:16):
take too much fat, it will look sunken in. If
I leave fat, you'll come back and tell me I
got to remove more. So it's the Goldilocks principle. Just enough, right, Yeah,
it is. And then the lower lid a little bit
more dangerous because if I remove skin from the lower lid,
I could get a pull down that Bassett hound you
were talking about.

Speaker 6 (23:36):
You know, I have a couple of basket hounds. There's
although they're in exile in Los Angeles. She's looking at me.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yeah, I sent them to live with my son. Okay,
I'm guilty. But the bassot hounds, you know, they're lower lids.
You know, they don't look good. They need blevroplasties. So
sometimes we have to do acanthopexy, which is a belt
tightening procedure. The way you look at your lower lids,
Susan is in vision them as a pair of pants,

(24:02):
and if you had creases in your pants, you would
pull the pants down right, Yeah you could, But if
your belt was loose, the pants would just fall down
when you tried to straighten out those creases. So you
have to tighten the belt. That's a canthopexy, and then
you can remove you know, you can get rid of
those wrinkles in your pants, get rid of the wrinkles.

Speaker 6 (24:21):
In your eyelids.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
We remove just a little bit of skin from your
eyelid and remove just enough fat and voila. You look
so much better. It's an operation that takes the upper
and lower lid. It's not about three hours or so.

Speaker 6 (24:34):
You're out of the covers. Pretty easy, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
It doesn't hurt me much. No, it doesn't hurt bad joke,
It doesn't really hurt tile and all is all you'll need.
You look terrible, though you're quite bruised. You don't look
good for at least a week. Most people don't go
back to work. You'll feel okay in a day or
two and you'll be able to do computer work and
square sunglasses, wear sunglasses. And I always tell people if

(25:00):
you let's say you live on the Upper east Side
of Manhattan and you have a bleffroplasty, well you'll want
to go to the grocery store in the lower east
side of Manhattan for the next week, and then are
there any there? And then you know, certainly by two weeks.
Decisions are out at a week, and full makeup on
at two weeks, and there you go. Bleforoplastis are a

(25:22):
rejuvenating procedure. The effects last about ten years or so,
maybe longer. And I've been around long enough to do
people two times, haven't done anyone three times yet two
times means they come back ten eleven, twelve years later
and we tighten things up again through the same incisions.
Incisions are usually very hard to see. It's the best

(25:45):
healing area of the body if you realize, Susan, the
show is so you know when you were coosed it
was an hour, it's a half hour, and now is
pulling us out. Check me out on the web Periplastic
Surgery dot com and if you want to order the
products we talk about on the show, it's on Amazon
dot com and give me a call during the week
two on two, seven, five, three, eighteen twenty Noah, thanks

(26:07):
so much for great engineering. We'll see everybody next week.
Have a safe one. Bye bye.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
The proceeding was a paid podcast. iHeartRadio's hosting of this
podcast constitutes neither an endorsement of the products offered or
the ideas expressed.