Month: November 2018

Why Do We Use Three Wavelengths?

When we remove tattoos here at Evanesce, we use three wavelengths of light: 1064, 694, and 532.  Each wavelength carries a different amount of energy, and is used for different colors of ink.  The 1064 wavelength of light is outside the visible light spectrum, so unlike the other two wavelengths it does not have an associated color.  This makes the 1064 wavelength a multi-purpose laser that can be used to remove most of the colors of tattoo ink.

On the other hand, our lasers that use the 694 and 532 wavelengths are within the visible spectrum of light. These higher energy wavelengths come in two colors – the 694 wavelength is red and the 532 wavelength is blue-green.  These wavelengths are used to treat stubborn tattoo colors that are not easily removed by the 1064 laser.  A good example is a tattoo with light blue and light green ink.  Because ink absorbs light that is different from the color that it reflects, this means that energy from our 694 ruby red laser is heavily absorbed by these types of tattoo inks.  Between all three of our lasers, we can remove every color of ink in the spectrum.

The takeaway here is that laser tattoo removal requires the right tools for the right ink.  If you are considering getting your tattoo removed, here are a few questions you might like to ask at your consultation:

  • How many wavelengths of laser light do you use?
  • Which laser do you use for stubborn ink?
  • Can you remove all of the colors in my tattoo?
  • Which laser do you start with and why?

We hope that these questions will help you to better understand the process, and will also illustrate why we chose to purchase the full Astanza laser suite here at Evanesce Laser Tattoo Removal.  Thanks for reading!

Posted by evanescelaser