Areolar cosmetic tattoo ink darkening: a complication of Q-switched alexandrite laser treatment.
OBJECTIVE
Medical tattooing of the areola is widely performed in Korea. However, cosmetic tattoos containing flesh-tone, purple-red, and yellow dyes are sometimes resistant to Q-switched laser and may even become darker.


METHODS
Two Korean women in their 30s who had a mastectomy got light brown to red areolar medical tattoos but they were not satisfied with the shape and size of the tattoos. They underwent Q-switched alexandrite laser treatment with a 3 mm collimated beam at fluences of 7.5-8 J/cm2 in order to trim the irregular contour and reduce the diameter of the tattoos.


RESULTS
Within 5 minutes a dark gray to black discoloration of the treated area was evident and remained dark for 6 weeks. Improvement was not noted after two further Q-switched Nd:YAG laser treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
Medical areolar tattoos should be approached with extra caution when attempting their removal with high-energy pulsed lasers such as Q-switched alexandrite laser and a small test site should be performed prior to treatment.
Chang
Sung-Eun
SE
Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Kyoung-Jin
KJ
Choi
Jee-Ho
JH
Sung
Kyung-Jeh
KJ
Moon
Kee-Chan
KC
Koh
Jai-Kyoung
JK
D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D007834:Lasers / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008408:Mastectomy; D009558:Nipples / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013653:Tattooing