Tattoo removal: what to expect in terms of cost

"Hey Dorian, can you give me a breakdown of the cost to expect with tattoo removal methods?"

When you're looking at laser-based methods, you're paying for an initial consultation followed by a per session charge. 

Clinics that are hungry for business might offer the initial consult for free, but usually you're paying about $100 for the privilege. Basically the doctor or his assistant will look at your tattoo, tell you how easy or hard of a job it'll be for the lasers depending on the size, complexity, and amount of ink pigments used. And based on that plan he will recommend a series of laser removal sessions.

In essence you're being charged $100 or so for a sales presentation. But hey, when you get to call your clients "patients," you have that luxury :-)

So how about the cost per session? Depends on part of the country you're from, but expect to pay about $150-$400 per session. If you have a really easy removal job you may have as little as three treatments, but more likely you can expect to be going for five or more. It's not uncommon for someone to continue treatments for two years for larger tattoos that cover the whole of the back or thigh area.

Home-based removal: the cost of a grocery bill

Or not even that. Home-based methods can be surprisingly affordable because they use natural exfoliation to bring the ink up to the surface layers where it is then expelled through natural processes.

Take the aloe vera or lemon juice methods mentioned in my laserless tattoo removal guide . How much do these ingredients cost at your grocery store? $10 max nowadays? Unlike laser methods you'll probably pay a lot less for the removal than the actual tattoo!


Of course at home methods do require more effort on your part, since you'll need to keep to a schedule and exfoliate multiple times a day before you see a decent level of fade. Based on the money you're saving though, it's well worth it. I mean, when you look at a series of laser treatments, you're talking $500 at the very minimum for a small heart tattoo. $1,000 plus for a tattoo of any size, and well into the thousands for larger designs. And you're not even really saving time because you have to keep driving to the clinic and going through multiple sessions.

Just my opinion anyways, as someone who teaches and preaches home-based removal methods. You're free to make your own decisions my friend.