Skin conditions
A tattoo you no longer want can be faded and, in many cases, cleared with a series of laser sessions. Different ink colours and different skin tones need different laser wavelengths, and BioPlus runs three picosecond platforms so the laser is matched to your tattoo rather than the other way round.
Physician led. Burnaby and Richmond. Every skin tone since 1996.
Book a complimentary consultationA physician assesses your ink, your skin tone and what is realistic, then builds your plan before you decide anything.
Understanding the treatment
Laser tattoo removal is a treatment that breaks tattoo ink into fragments small enough for your body to carry away.
Tattoo ink sits in the dermis, the second layer of skin, too deep and too stable for the body to clear on its own. That is why a tattoo is permanent without treatment. A removal laser fires light in extremely short pulses that the ink absorbs. The energy arrives so fast that it acts as a pressure wave rather than heat, and that wave shatters each ink particle into much smaller pieces.
Breaking the ink up is only half the job. Scavenging white blood cells then carry the fragments away through the lymphatic system over the following weeks. That clearance is why sessions are spaced far apart, and why removal takes a series of treatments rather than one.
What affects removal
Several things shape how a tattoo removes, and two of them, colour and skin tone, decide which laser leads.
Every colour absorbs a different wavelength of light. Black and dark blue clear most reliably, while green, light blue, yellow and white are the most stubborn.
Deeper skin tones hold more surface pigment, so they need 1064 nm light and conservative settings to target ink without marking the skin.
Dense professional ink laid deep in the skin takes more sessions than lighter amateur or hand-poked work.
Older tattoos have often faded a little already and can respond well. Fresh, saturated professional work asks for patience.
Tattoos on the trunk clear faster than those on the hands, feet and ankles, where circulation carries ink away more slowly.
Cover-ups and reworked tattoos hold ink from more than one tattoo, so they need more sessions than a single design.
The BioPlus difference
A tattoo laser only clears ink that absorbs its particular wavelength of light, and no single wavelength removes every colour or suits every skin tone. A clinic with one laser runs out of options on a multi-coloured tattoo, or reaches for a wavelength that is wrong for a deeper skin tone. BioPlus runs three picosecond platforms so the laser is matched to your ink and your skin, rather than your tattoo being forced onto whatever one machine is in the room.
Black and dark blue are led by 1064 nm. Red and orange respond to 532 nm. Green and light blue need the 730 to 785 nm range. A multi-coloured tattoo is worked across more than one wavelength.
1064 nm light is absorbed the least by the skin's own surface pigment, so it is the wavelength of choice for black and dark ink on Fitzpatrick IV to VI skin.
Between the PicoSure family and PicoWay, the clinic covers the wavelengths that clear the common inks. A stubborn colour becomes a reason to change the laser, not a reason to stop.
Every tattoo laser sends its light through the surface of the skin to reach the ink. In deeper skin tones the surface holds more melanin, and the wrong wavelength or too much energy can leave a pale patch, a darker patch or, rarely, a scar. This is the harm that sends patients with Fitzpatrick IV to VI skin looking for a clinic that knows what it is doing, and some are turned away elsewhere. Leading with 1064 nm, lowering the energy, spacing sessions further apart and treating a test patch first is judgment built on volume. BioPlus has treated pigment across every skin tone since 1996.
That reading of how a given skin reacts to energy is thirty years in the making.
How your visit works
A good estimate of your tattoo starts with a proper look at it, not a price sheet. So the consultation does the assessment first.
A physician examines your tattoo and scores the factors that predict how it will respond, using an established framework called the Kirby-Desai scale.
We map your ink colours to wavelengths, set the energy and spacing for your skin tone, and give you a realistic session estimate. Coloured and cosmetic tattoos start with a test patch.
Staged sessions spaced weeks apart, with numbing, cooling and the laser matched to each colour, so the skin is never overloaded.
We photograph progress from a baseline, leave time between sessions for your body to clear the ink, and review the plan as the tattoo fades.
How your plan is built
No two tattoo plans here are the same, because the plan follows the ink and the skin.
Matched to your ink colours across three picosecond platforms, so a multi-coloured tattoo is treated with more than one wavelength rather than forced onto one.
Energy and spacing set by your skin tone. Deeper tones lean on 1064 nm at lower energy with wider gaps, and coloured or cosmetic tattoos begin with a test patch.
A realistic number of sessions from the Kirby-Desai assessment, spaced 6 to 8 weeks apart. Complete clearance cannot be promised, and your physician tells you what is realistic before you start.
Treatments we may use
Which appear in your plan depends on your ink colours and your skin tone. Together they cover the wavelengths that clear the common inks, which is the point of holding all three.
1064 nm picosecond laser
A picosecond laser built on a 1064 nm engine, with a 532 nm mode and handpieces that reach into the 730 to 785 nm range. Native 1064 nm is absorbed the least by surface pigment of any tattoo wavelength, so it clears black and dark blue on any skin tone with the widest safety margin.
Why this oneThe backbone laser for dark ink and for Fitzpatrick IV to VI skin.
Learn more →755 nm picosecond alexandrite
The first picosecond laser of its kind brought to market, at 755 nm, a wavelength gripped well by black, blue and green ink. A strong partner to PicoWay on the green and blue-black inks that resist other wavelengths.
Why this oneFor stubborn black, blue and green ink on lighter to medium skin tones.
Learn more →Picosecond, current generation
The current generation of the PicoSure platform, with the same 755 nm picosecond physics, more deliverable energy and updated optics. The extra energy gives more to work with on saturated tattoos that have plateaued.
Why this oneThe higher-energy PicoSure, useful on resistant, saturated ink.
Learn more →BioPlus by the numbers
What to expect
Removal takes a series, not one visit. Across published studies most tattoos reached substantial fading, over 70 percent clearance, somewhere between 1 and 10 treatments, and dense or multi-coloured work can need more.
Sessions sit 6 to 8 weeks apart, sometimes longer, so your immune system can carry away the ink the last session shattered. Rushing the gap does not speed removal and raises the risk of side effects.
The tattoo frosts white for a few minutes, then redness, swelling and sometimes small blisters, with scabbing and flaking over 1 to 2 weeks.
Keep the area clean and moisturised, do not pick scabs or burst blisters, avoid heat and soaking, and protect it from the sun between sessions.
Here is the part some clinics soften, and we will not. A tattoo fades gradually across the series, a little more after each session. Many fade to the point where they are hard to see, some clear completely, and some settle at a faint shadow or a trace of a resistant colour. Black and dark blue clear most reliably, while green, light blue, yellow and white are the most likely to resist. Complete clearance cannot be promised for any tattoo, and results vary from person to person.
Your skin tone is not a complication. It is the starting point of the plan.
The BioPlus approach to tattoo removal
Questions patients ask
A laser fires very short pulses of light that the tattoo ink absorbs and shatters into tiny fragments, which your immune system then clears away over the following weeks. The ink sits too deep for the body to remove on its own, so the laser does the breaking up and your body does the clearing. Because clearance happens gradually between sessions, removal takes a series of treatments rather than one.
Most tattoos need a series of sessions, and across published studies the majority reached substantial fading somewhere between 1 and 10 treatments, with dense professional or multi-coloured tattoos often needing more. Amateur tattoos frequently clear in fewer sessions than professional ones. At your consultation we use the Kirby-Desai scale, which scores your skin type, the tattoo's location, its colours, the amount of ink, any scarring and any layering, to give you a realistic estimate for your tattoo. Complete clearance is not guaranteed.
It is uncomfortable, and most people describe it as a hot elastic band snapping against the skin. It is quick, and it is stronger than most other laser treatments because the energy is higher. We use numbing cream, cooling air and, for larger tattoos, a local anaesthetic to keep it tolerable. The sensation stops when the laser stops, and the area feels like a mild sunburn afterward.
Yes. When the wavelength and settings are chosen for your skin tone, tattoo removal is done routinely on dark skin, and BioPlus has treated every skin tone since 1996. The key is 1064 nm light, which passes through deeper skin with the least absorption by the skin's own pigment, so it targets the ink while doing the least to the surface. The evidence shows less pigment change with 1064 nm than with shorter wavelengths in darker skin. On Fitzpatrick IV to VI we lead with 1064 nm, lower the energy, space sessions further apart and start with a test patch. This is where experience matters most, because the wrong laser on dark skin can leave a pale mark or a scar.
No, some colours resist removal, and this is one of the honest limits of the treatment. Black and dark blue clear most reliably. Red and orange respond to 532 nm light. Green and light blue are stubborn and need red to near-infrared wavelengths in the 730 to 785 nm range. Yellow and white respond poorly to every wavelength, and white and pale inks can darken instead of fade. BioPlus runs three picosecond platforms specifically so more than one wavelength is available for a multi-coloured tattoo, which keeps a stubborn colour from ending the plan. Your physician will tell you at consultation which of your colours will clear well and which may only fade.
Scarring is uncommon with modern picosecond lasers used correctly, and in a controlled study of picosecond removal in Asian patients no tattoo developed a scar. The greater risks are changes in skin pigment, a pale patch or a darker patch, which are usually temporary but can last, and more likely on deeper skin tones or if aftercare is poor. Any existing scarring under the tattoo, from the tattooing itself, is there before we start and does not disappear with the ink. Not picking scabs, protecting the area from the sun and keeping to the session spacing all lower the risk.
Cosmetic and permanent-makeup tattoos can be treated, but they need extra caution because the flesh, white and rust-coloured pigments used in them can turn darker when hit with a laser, through a chemical change in the pigment. This paradoxical darkening is usually treatable with further sessions, but it is the reason we always treat a small test patch first on any cosmetic tattoo and review it before going further. We will talk through the specific risk for your pigment colour at consultation before treating.
Yes, and the type of tattoo changes what to expect. Amateur and hand-poked tattoos often clear in fewer sessions because they use less ink at a shallower depth, though uneven depth can leave patchy fading. Older tattoos have often faded a little already and can respond well. Cover-ups and reworked tattoos hold layers of ink from more than one tattoo, so they need more sessions than a single tattoo of the same size. The Kirby-Desai assessment at your consultation accounts for layering and ink amount in the estimate.
Cost depends on the size of the tattoo, its colours and the number of sessions it needs, so honest pricing starts after we have assessed it. Your consultation at BioPlus is complimentary, and you leave it with a written plan and pricing so you can decide at home. Tattoo removal is a private esthetic service and is not covered by MSP.
Picosecond lasers fire pulses about a thousand times shorter than the older nanosecond lasers, which breaks the ink into smaller fragments that the body clears more easily. A systematic review found picosecond lasers cleared tattoos effectively and, in most comparisons, in fewer sessions than nanosecond lasers, and a study in Asian patients found faster clearance with less pigment change. BioPlus runs three picosecond platforms so the wavelength can be matched to your ink and your skin tone. Older lasers still work, and the right laser for you is decided by your tattoo, not by the machine's age alone.
Related concerns
Pigment and sun spots
The same picosecond lasers that clear ink also treat sun spots, freckles and deeper pigment, and skin-tone safety runs through both.
Texture
Some tattoos sit over textured or scarred skin, and the picosecond and resurfacing tools here improve texture as a separate concern.
Complimentary consultation
A tattoo you regret deserves a plan built on what your ink and your skin will actually do. Bring it to a physician led team that has treated every skin tone since 1996, with three picosecond lasers to match the wavelength to your tattoo. A physician assesses your tattoo, explains what is realistic and builds your plan before you decide anything.
Book a complimentary consultationExplore treatmentsOur services are private esthetic services and are not covered by MSP.