Laser Tattoo Removal in Portland, OR

Start for $50: consult, first treatment, and your exact price

Tattoo removal pricing is usually a guessing game — quotes from photos, wide ranges, and pressure to prepay before you've felt a single laser pulse. We built your first visit to end the guessing. It costs $50 — a fraction of standard session pricing — and it isn't just a consultation:

After your first visit, small tattoo removals start at $150 per session — and prepaid packages and GloLUX Rewards bring the course total down from there.

How laser tattoo removal works

Laser removal doesn't burn ink away — it shatters it. Tattoo ink sits in the dermis in particles too large for your immune system to clear; that's the only reason tattoos are permanent. The PicoWay's picosecond pulses — trillionths of a second — hit those particles faster than they can shed heat, so the ink fractures mechanically (a photoacoustic effect) instead of heating the skin around it. The fragments are finally small enough for your body to carry away naturally, which is why a tattoo keeps fading for weeks after each session.

Finer fragments clear faster and more completely: fewer sessions, less risk of scarring, and better results on stubborn colors like green and blue that resist older lasers. And because the PicoWay carries multiple wavelengths, your provider matches the laser to the specific pigment being treated — instead of hammering every color with one setting and hoping.

How it works

True pico or Q-switched? The question to ask any provider

If you're comparing tattoo-removal clinics, ask each one a single question: is this a true picosecond laser, or a Q-switched laser? Q-switched machines are a much older, nanosecond-pulse technology that clears ink primarily by heating it — and at tattoo-removal energies, heat spilling into the surrounding skin is where burn and blister injuries come from. A true picosecond laser shatters ink mechanically, leaving far less heat behind.

Plenty of devices are marketed with pico-sounding names. The distinction isn't branding — it's pulse physics, and it shows up in your skin, your comfort, and your total session count.

How many sessions will your tattoo take?

As a rough guide: most tattoos take about 6–10 sessions to lighten substantially — enough for a great cover-up — and 10–20 sessions for complete removal. The range is wide because tattoos vary enormously, so we estimate yours the scientific way: with the Kirby-Desai Scale, the published clinical scoring system for tattoo-removal planning. It grades the six factors that actually drive clearance:

• Skin type — your Fitzpatrick type sets how aggressively ink can be targeted while protecting your natural pigment.
• Location — tattoos further from the heart (hands, ankles, feet) clear more slowly — lymphatic drainage does the hauling.
• Ink amount — dense, saturated professional work carries far more pigment per inch than a light amateur line.
• Layering — cover-ups and reworked pieces stack ink that has to clear layer by layer.
• Scarring — scar tissue traps ink and scatters laser light — pre-existing scarring slows everything down.
• Ink colors — black clears fastest; greens and blues take the right wavelength and more patience.

Sessions are spaced roughly 6–8 weeks apart — the laser shatters the ink in minutes, but your immune system does the clearing between visits, and rushing the spacing doesn't speed it up. You'll get your Kirby-Desai score and a session range for your specific tattoo at your $50 first visit — and if your goal is a fade for new artwork rather than a clean slate, your number drops.

Comfort & pain management

PicoWay sessions are fast, but the sensation is real — most people describe it as a rubber-band snap. Numbing isn't automatically included, but it's always available if you want it, and we have multiple prescription-grade options to accommodate your session:

• Lidocaine injection — a fast-acting local anesthetic for full numbing right at the treatment area.
• Prescription-strength numbing cream — applied before your session for topical comfort without a needle.
• Pro-Nox nitrous oxide — a self-administered "laughing gas" you breathe during treatment; you control the dose, and it wears off within minutes.

All three are available for an additional cost — and you can choose by session. Many patients, for instance, opt for numbing in more sensitive areas but go without when treating others.

Numbing cream does take a little planning: once it's applied to your skin, it needs at least 20 minutes to kick in, so we'll make sure your session allows for it. If you'd rather handle it beforehand, ask about a take-home prescription matched to your pain tolerance at your visit — applying the cream up to a full hour before your session gets you the maximum benefit.

Downtime: an hour to two days

Downtime depends on your tattoo's size and type. After treating a small piece, you'll see a temporary white "frosting" that fades within the hour — and you're back to your day. Larger or denser tattoos, like heavy blackwork or saturated color, can feel like a sunburn for a day or two, with redness, swelling, and occasionally blistering over the densest ink. That's an expected response, not a complication, and it's covered by the simple aftercare you take home: keep the area clean and covered, don't pick or pop anything, and keep it out of the sun between sessions.

Prepaid packages & GloLUX Rewards

Removal is a multi-session course, so the economics deserve the same honesty as the timeline. Two ways we bring your total down:

Eyebrow tattoos, microblading & cosmetic ink

Removing permanent makeup is a different procedure from removing a body tattoo. Cosmetic pigments often contain iron oxide and titanium dioxide — compounds that can paradoxically darken under the wrong settings — and brow or eyeliner work sits millimeters from your eyes, close enough that we place sterile titanium corneal shields for any treatment near the orbit. If your ink is microblading, powder brows, eyeliner, or lip blush, start on our dedicated page:

The ink was permanent. Your decision doesn't have to be. For $50 you'll feel the treatment, watch the first ink shatter, and leave knowing exactly what your removal will cost — no guesswork, no pressure.