Can You Get Black Light Tattoos Removed?

Here's the low down on black light tattoos: They glow, and without the presence of a black light, they're pretty much incognito — which basically makes them the Cheshire Cat of tattoos, in the best way possible. One fairly pertinent question remains, though: Can you get black light tattoos removed?

Since the tattoos are generally invisible except under auspices of a black light, it might sound like a somewhat trivial concern — who cares if you can't remove it if you can't even see it without ultraviolet light? It's not as if your place of work is a rave (unless it is, of course — in which case, you probably won't have any reason to get rid of your ink).

Still, though, removal is definitely something worth thinking about if you're on the market for a UV tattoo, especially when there are other concerns at play, such as the ink slowly breaking down over time, or (god forbid) mistakes at the hand of your tattoo artist (along these lines, it's also worth pointing out that mistakes are more common with UV tattoos, since the ink has a thinner consistency than traditional tattoo ink). So, is it possible to remove them, or not?

The short answer is yes — but the truth is, it's slightly more complicated: Tattoos created with lighter shades ink are known to be less responsive to laser treatments — FYI, black is easiest to remove, and age/size of the tattoo, and other factors weigh in as well. In part because they're created with light ink, UV tattoos can't be removed with lasers. Unfortunately, that means that your only option for removal would be to physically cut the tattoo out of your skin (yes, that's a thing).

It was a practice largely unpopularized (for obvious reasons) when laser removal came along, but it's one of the only methods currently available for tattoos that don't respond to lasers, like UV tattoos. It doesn't offer 10 percent efficacy, and can often leave behind some pretty gnarly scars.

So, armed with that (frankly terrifying) new information, are black light tattoos still something you'd consider? All things told, their cool factor is hard to deny — and besides, they're Clark Kent 99 percent of the time, right?

Images: jayvoscott/Instagram; Giphy (3)