When the laser hits Garcia’s neck, there is an audible “snapping” sound as the tattoo’s pigment explodes. Over a period of six weeks, the tattoo progressively lightens as macrophages, Pac-man-like cells in the body’s immune system, gobble up the fragments and carry them away.
#Clean slate ink skin#
When the laser hits the ink, the pigment becomes superheated and bursts into fragments-leaving non-pigmented skin cells relatively untouched. Laser tattoo removal works by a process known as selective photothermolysis, where a specific light wavelength is absorbed by ink molecules embedded in the skin. Magid refers to as “the workhorse for tattoo removal” because it’s effective for getting rid of not only blue-black ink, but also the more vibrant red. The stork-like laser machine hulks beside him, a Nd:Yag laser that Dr. “Sure,” the doctor says as he dons dark orange-tinted glasses to protect his eyes from the laser. “I’m getting promoted to supervisor and that doesn’t come around too often.” “I want to see if I can come once a month for a while,” says Garcia, who works for a lettuce company in San Juan Bautista. But his expression is friendly and nonjudgemental as he peels the anesthetic dressing from inky letters that festoon the neck of his first client of the night, Alfredo Garcia. Tall and slender with grey hair, he wears glasses and a button-down shirt-not the type you’d connect with tattoos. “If I’m going to give my time, people need to have some buy-in,” says Dr. Once they finish their hours, they come in for an in-depth interview and, afterwards, the removal process can begin. Participants also must show their commitment by doing 20 hours of community service before they’re eligible for the program. “If they can only afford a dollar, we charge them a dollar. “We never turn anyone away, but we do want them to pay,” says Runciman.
Through the Tattoo Removal Program, each session costs only $20, and even that fee is negotiable. “The tattoos are holding them back.”īut with tattoo removal running $200 or more per session-and most tattoos requiring numerous sessions for complete removal, sometimes over several years-the cost is prohibitive for many. “Either their lives have changed or they are in the process of redirecting their lives,” says María Ascensión Runciman, a licensed clinical social worker and program director. Others got tattooed as misguided youth, and later find they can’t get a job because of visible markings on their bodies. Many others are walking away from a past of drugs, crime or prison. Magid’s first tattoo removal patient, seventy-five percent of participants are former gang members. Eight doctors donate their time to the program, most volunteering once or twice a month. In addition to tattoo removal, they offer immigration, counseling and family supportive services. Today, the program is run through a partnership between Dominican Hospital and Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey County. Since then, thousands of people have had their tattoos removed through the program. With the support of Dominican Hospital, they bought their first laser in 1997 and the Tattoo Removal Program began. Word got around, and Lynn Miller from Santa Cruz’ Youth Resource Bank and the (late) Judge Tom Black contacted him to start an official program. Magid started cutting tattoos out of people’s skin-often during his lunch break. When he began practicing in Santa Cruz 25 years ago, Dr. He’s come here directly after work at his day job as a local dermatologist. He’s sitting in the treatment room of the Tattoo Removal Clinic in Santa Cruz, where he volunteers his time as clinical director, using his skills to help people start a clean slate. Magid, who has been doing the right thing ever since.
His professor answered, “Because it’s the right thing to do.” Afterwards, he asked his professor, “What are we doing this for?” Magid says decades later, recalling the long, slow process of treating the patient with an old CO2 laser, which kills tissue and forms a scar. “He was in a gang and he wanted out,” Dr. Morgan Magid was a dermatology resident at Northwestern University in Chicago, his instructor asked him to remove a tattoo from an ex-gang member’s arm. Photo: Lily Dayton/California Health Report. Morgan Magid, MD, clinical director of the Tattoo Removal Program and client Alfredo Garcia.
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