The dangers of eyebrow tattoo and dodgy laser removal: ‘I literally have no eyebrows now’
KYM never had thick brows, so she jumped on board the eyebrow tattooing trend. The whole thing ended in disaster, leaving her with burns and blisters.
A SYDNEY woman left with no eyebrows after a dodgy tattoo job has issued a warning about the dangers of unqualified beauty practitioners.
Kym Lee, 42, jumped on board the popular eyebrow tattooing trend two years ago. Unhappy with the result, she went to get them laser removed.
“I just didn’t like the eyebrow shape, because she was tattooing me sort of free hand,” Ms Lee told news.com.au.
“I went back for a touch-up, but it’s a tattoo ... you can’t just rub it out and fix it again,” Ms Lee said.
“The more you fix it, the more it becomes a big blob. So I just thought I need to erase all this and start again.”
But the laser used to remove her eyebrows was so hot that it burnt her skin, creating a blister.
“It felt like my skin was being fried,” she said.
Ms Lee went elsewhere for a second opinion, and after eight sessions costing her $1200, all the tattoo has been properly removed.
“I didn’t have a lot of brows to start off with, but now I literally have no eyebrows,” Ms Lee said.
“It takes me 10 minutes to draw them on in the morning. I have a pen that I use to draw my own eyebrows on everyday.”
The laser tattoo removal industry is booming in Australia, but it’s unregulated and the up-to-date technology costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Many unqualified beauty therapists buy cheap laser removal machines online and offer the service to clients without proper training.
There are two ways to remove tattoo ink — Q-Switch and Picoway machines, which use different types of laser technology to scatter the ink particles. News.com.au has heard numerous cases of clients being burned by the Q-Switch machines and suffering irreversible skin damage.
“There is a massive backyard cosmetic tattoo industry, because any therapist can dye a tattoo gun and do eyebrow tattoos for new revenue,” said Andrew Chim from Sydney’s Detail Tattoo Removals, which uses Picoway laser machines to remove tattoos.
“In the past few years we’ve seen a massive increase in people coming in with bad eyebrow tattoos and wanting to get them removed,” he said.
“Many places are still using the Q-Switch machines, because they can’t afford to buy the new Picoway machines. We bought the Picoway about two years ago, it cost us $300,000 and that is the only technology that can get rid of tattoo ink properly.
“The laser literally shatters the ink into tiny pieces so your immune system can get rid of it more quickly. There is very little heat involved and after three to six treatments, the ink can go away.”
Regulation of the laser treatment industry varies around the country — only Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia have some rules in place.
In NSW and Victoria anyone can buy a cheap laser machine online, do a weekend crash course and call themselves an “accredited” laser technician.
Ms Lee says is wary about getting her eyebrows tattooed on again and that she will do her research before committing to any more treatments.
“I think I need to give myself some time until I’m sick of drawing my eyebrows on myself,” she said.
“To be honest, I prefer the no eyebrows, because now I can draw on whatever I want.
“Even without eyebrows, I’m happy.”
