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Whether your "I do's" turned into "I don't", or your best friend went astray, there could be tons of reasons you got a finger tattoo and now want to have it removed. Before you go spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on finger tattoo removal after your finger tattoo regret, read this post. My sister was kind enough to give me the low down on her quest to remove a Celtic Knot from her ring finger. She's sharing the information so you can (hopefully) share less of your money in a bid to eradicate your own ill-loved ink. (read more)

As always, if I can make a video about it, I will. If you'd like to hear me talk about this while seeing pictures of my sister's finger, just click below.

If that title sums up your current mood in one succinct sentence, you've come to the right place. Whatever the reason for the inky blob resting atop your digit, you hate it now, you wish you'd never done it, and dang if that little bit of black isn't just about the hardest thing to remove in the history of ever. 

Here's a little back story:

10 years ago (almost to the day) my sister got a Celtic Knot beneath her wedding ring. She says she knew, even as she was sitting in the chair getting inked, that it probably wasn't a great decision, but she did it anyway, and that's that. 

Eight years later (roughly) she no longer wanted the tattoo and set out on her own big journey to get rid of it in the fastest and least expensive manner. 

She tried four methods, and I'll talk about all of them, but what you need to know (if you don't want to read all of this) is that the fastest and cheapest method turned out to be a plastic surgeon. So, if you're dead set on getting rid of that dark stain on your soul (I mean your tattoo) go find a plastic surgeon in your area that does this, save yourself time, money, and frustration.

If you're not sure you really want to talk to a plastic surgeon, that's okay, too. That's why I wrote the post! 

So, let's talk about everything she tried that DID NOT work.

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Cost: $10.00 - $20.00
Timeframe: Unknown, but likely months. She applied three times, about four days apart each time.
Pain level - high
​
If you're short on cash and long on time and pain tolerance, you might want to try removing that finger tattoo at home. There are a few products on the market, and my sister tried two of them, though not one after the other. 

First she tried a skin peel kit that you can get on Amazon. The idea behind it is that you apply the acid to the tattoo, and then, when you decide it's been on long enough (read the instructions), you apply a neutralizer. 

This isn't a one stop shop, though. You're going to need to apply it more than a few times (think 10+) and you could be left with some pretty good scars on your finger. 

My sister used this solution three times, and while she did notice some lightning of the tattoo, what she really noticed was that part of her finger scabbed over, and when that scab fell off, the part of the tattoo the scab covered was gone. 

Here's a picture, you can see the tattoo free area of her finger, that was where the scab was. I don't want you to think that the entire tattoo was lightened this much just by using the TCA solution, though. The picture below is about halfway through her laser treatments, so that does account for some of the lightness you're seeing.

I'm going to talk more about the effect of the at home kit on the laser treatment she tried later on, so read all the way through before you make a decision.

You can see where the scab and subsequent scar happened, it's the top/middle of the tattoo.

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There are quite a few types of at home tattoo removal on Amazon, but, as far as I can tell, none of them get particularly good reviews. Not even the Wrecking Balm, which is unfortunate, because I love the name.

Important things to note about this particular method is that it was EXTREMELY painful (I asked), and VERY ugly while it was going on. Still, the price is right.

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Cost: $975.00 ($75.00 per visit, so it would be more with more visits)
Timeframe: 18 months, and without full removal of the tattoo
Pain level: Not bad, like being popped repeatedly with a rubber band

As I said, my sister tried two different at home methods to remove the tattoo, but she didn't try them back to back, so we're going to move on to the next thing she did try, laser tattoo removal. 

Basically she went to a laser tattoo removal place in Houston every six weeks for 18 months. The picture you see above is about halfway through her treatment, so about six treatments. She went for seven more, but the tattoo did not fade completely.

Important things to note:

The laser technician told my sister that she thought three things might be going on with her tattoo. 

• 1 - The tattoo was done by an inexperienced artist who deposited the ink too deeply beneath the skin.
• 2 - The laser technician did not believe the ink was a "true black". Some tattoo artists will mix their leftover colors to achieve "black".
• 3 - The scarring caused by the at home solution made it difficult for the laser to see the ink.

Let's talk about 1 - The way the laser tattoo removal machine works is that the laser breaks up the ink, allowing your body to push the ink to the surface of the skin, where it'll slough off during the normal shedding of skin cells. 

If the ink is deposited too far beneath the skin, the laser has a harder time reaching it, and your body has a harder time pushing the particles to the surface. 

Now, let's talk about 2 - If your tattoo artist mixes leftover colors to achieve "black" ink, it'll probably look black when it gets applied beneath the skin, but the laser will not see it that way. A tattoo laser can remove pure colors, and black. A muddle of colors makes the laser much less effective, meaning you spend more and have more visits in order to get the desired result, if that's even possible. 

Finally, 3, which is pretty self explanatory - If you use an at home solution that causes scarring, yet some ink remains beneath the scar, the laser will not only have a hard time breaking up the ink, but it'll be nearly impossible for your body to shed the particles through the scar tissue. 

The person who did my sister's laser removal had pictures of the process, so you get to see them, yay! She only took five pictures during the 13 sessions, but my sister explained that it was because, after the first half dozen or so appointments, nothing was changing.

At the 13th session the technician explained that she really didn't think it was doing anything further. She (the technician) offered to continue to treat the area for free, but since my sister was driving an hour there, and an hour back, she (my sister) decided against it, looking instead for another way to permanent removal.

Check out the pictures below, you can really see the scar left from the TCA peel.

Now let's talk about the next thing she did, Compound W.

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Cost: $10.00
Timeframe: Used for about a month, definitely lightened the tattoo
Pain level: Intense pain, the same as the TCA peel

At this point, my sister tried plain old Compound W. She had some on hand and figured it had to be similar to the TCA peel she'd tried when she first attempted to remove the tattoo herself. 

She used it for about a month and said that it did lighten the tattoo quite a bit, but it was as painful as the TCA peel and still wasn't getting her the result she wanted.

Finally, after calling her general practitioner and asking if they removed tattoos, they directed her to call a plastic surgeon, which she did.

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Cost: $375.00
Timeframe: Immediate
Pain level: Hardly any

Since my sister is a teacher, she was able to schedule her tattoo removal over a school holiday. She was able to drive herself to the appointment and home again, and the tattoo is well and gone, forever.

The surgeon numbed her finger by injecting lidocaine, basically filling the skin with it before drawing around the tattoo with a black marker.

He then took a scalpel and traced the marker outline. 

Once the outline was traced, the surgeon grabbed an edge of the tattoo with a pair of tweezers and gently filleted the tattoo'd skin away from her finger. 

The edges of skin were sutured together, and my sister was sent home, easy peasy.

Now, you need to know that she called several plastic surgeons before finding one she liked. A few wanted to put her under general anesthesia, which isn't something she wanted to do. They will tell you over the phone whether or not they'll do the procedure while you're awake, so if you don't want to be put under, be sure and ask. 

Not to mention that being put under does add a whole lot of money to the bill.

Once she decided on a plastic surgeon, she had to go in and meet with him to discuss the procedure. When she was comfortable with her choice, she set up an appointment for the surgery itself.

The total time spent in surgery was about a half an hour, and (as I said) she was able to drive herself there and home. 

She has no restrictions on bathing, but does need to keep the sutures covered in ointment and bandaged for three days. Her skin feels a bit tight on the finger, but that will stretch with time. 

If you are in an environment that requires you to use force with your hands, you will have restrictions. You can't wrangle cows, enforce the law with your fingers, get into bar fights, etc. 

The stitches are not dissolvable, so she does have to go back in three weeks to have them removed. 

Here are pictures of her hand right after the excision, and I'll bug her in the coming weeks to send me updated pictures so you can see the healing process.

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If you've had any type of surgery done that leaves a scar on an area of your body that sees the sun, you know the importance of covering the scar for a few months so it doesn't turn purple. 

For your ring finger, I would suggest wearing something like a wide silicone ring to cover the scar for the duration, or you could use a scar strip that you cut to size. Barring that, a hand cream with sunblock, though I'd really recommend a ring so you can easily remove it when you wash your hands/shower/etc.

Since I didn't have this experience personally, I'm sure my post is a little more limited than you might like. My sister has graciously agreed to field any questions you might have, so ask away! 

She did have the tattoo for almost 10 years before deciding to remove it, so the duration under your skin might make a difference, I'm not sure. She also started using scar strips right after surgery (I would wait until your doctor says it's okay, which is normally after the stitches come out), and she says she thinks that's why it looks so good now. 

I hope this helps, and we both hope it saves you time and money, no matter which route you decide to take, at least you can take it knowing you've done your research.

​Ty