Is it true that tricopigmentation can't be laser removed?

[bald-and-bearded]

These webpages say tricopigmentation is not suitable for laser removal. The sources are not exactly medical journals (in fact they are competitors to trico) but I couldn't find the opposite being stated anywhere else

https://scalpmicrousa.com/scalp-micropigmentation-and-tricopigmentation/

"Tricopigmentation does offer some significant disadvantages. While laser can be used to remove or fix a bad SMP job, the pigment used for tricopigmentation makes it impossible to remove until they allow the tricopigmentation treatment to naturally fade away."

https://yourhairdoc.com/scalp-micropigmentation-vs-tricopigmentation/

"Removal of STP pigments can be more problematic than removing SMP pigments. STP inks cannot usually be removed with a laser, as they can get very hot and can burn the skin."

Is this true?

Edited June 17, 2021 by bald-and-bearded

[hairthere]

It’s not true. A laser will remove it very easily, in most cases within one session. 

[Lillo85]

Hi there,

I've just registered here because today I had my first Q-switched laser session to remove tricopigmentation done 7/8 years ago.

I'd like to share my experience and confirm what hairthere said. First of all, i want to say that when i did it i was told it would have faded away naturally. It never happened. It faded, yes, but it remains kind of a shadow. Reason why I decided to get the laser session.

From the video recording you can see that the laser completely removed the trico in just one session, although i have to wait at least one month to see the final result.

I've shared the video here: Tricopigmentation removal session

I hope this helps. Have good luck and embrace yourself

By the way: yes it hurts, but it's bearable.

[bald-and-bearded]

On 7/28/2021 at 2:10 AM, Lillo85 said:

Hi there,

I've just registered here because today I had my first Q-switched laser session to remove tricopigmentation done 7/8 years ago.

I'd like to share my experience and confirm what hairthere said. First of all, i want to say that when i did it i was told it would have faded away naturally. It never happened. It faded, yes, but it remains kind of a shadow. Reason why I decided to get the laser session.

From the video recording you can see that the laser completely removed the trico in just one session, although i have to wait at least one month to see the final result.

I've shared the video here: Tricopigmentation removal session

I hope this helps. Have good luck and embrace yourself

By the way: yes it hurts, but it's bearable.

Thanks for posting here. Did you get Milena Lardi's ink? Where did you get your tricopigmentation done?

[Lillo85]

5 hours ago, bald-and-bearded said:

Thanks for posting here. Did you get Milena Lardi's ink? Where did you get your tricopigmentation done?

Hi! I'm quite surprised she is well known! Yes I got it from her, in Milan! Actually the treatment was done by one of their best girls, her name is Carlotta, I don't know if she still works with her though. Anyway, they are really good at this kind of treatment, so I would definetly advice to get it there!

If you may need additional questions, feel free to ask!

[bald-and-bearded]

22 minutes ago, Lillo85 said:

Hi! I'm quite surprised she is well known! Yes I got it from her, in Milan! Actually the treatment was done by one of their best girls, her name is Carlotta, I don't know if she still works with her though. Anyway, they are really good at this kind of treatment, so I would definetly advice to get it there!

If you may need additional questions, feel free to ask!

Yeah she's the one who invented temporary micropigmentation aka tricopigmentation I think. Surprising that it didn't fade away completely, but at least laser took care of it!

[Lillo85]

4 minutes ago, bald-and-bearded said:

Yeah she's the one who invented temporary micropigmentation aka tricopigmentation I think. Surprising that it didn't fade away completely, but at least laser took care of it!

I head of other people who got tricopigmentation and it didn't go away. I think it's subjective. The good news is that it can be removed with just one laser session

[bald-and-bearded]

42 minutes ago, Lillo85 said:

I head of other people who got tricopigmentation and it didn't go away. I think it's subjective. The good news is that it can be removed with just one laser session

In the video, they removed only the pigments on the front part. Why is that? Did you not want the whole thing removed?

[Lillo85]

5 minutes ago, bald-and-bearded said:

In the video, they removed only the pigments on the front part. Why is that? Did you not want the whole thing removed?

The rest is real hairs 😃 I had tricopigmentation only on the front part and temples!

[bald-and-bearded]

11 hours ago, Lillo85 said:

The rest is real hairs 😃 I had tricopigmentation only on the front part and temples!

interesting I wanted to know if laser destroys hair follicles but you didn't have any hair where they applied laser, so you wouldn't know.

[Lillo85]

1 hour ago, bald-and-bearded said:

interesting I wanted to know if laser destroys hair follicles but you didn't have any hair where they applied laser, so you wouldn't know.

I had hair in the surrounding areas, the laser causes a bleached effect but it is temporary. Consider that I had it done last Tuesday and now the hair is slowly growing back, as I was reassured by the doctor.

[yann_k]

On 7/27/2021 at 10:40 PM, Lillo85 said:

Hi there,

I've just registered here because today I had my first Q-switched laser session to remove tricopigmentation done 7/8 years ago.

I'd like to share my experience and confirm what hairthere said. First of all, i want to say that when i did it i was told it would have faded away naturally. It never happened. It faded, yes, but it remains kind of a shadow. Reason why I decided to get the laser session.

 

Hi, could you please share where you had your laser treatment done and which laser they used ?

I am in the same situation as yours, trico from 2014 who never faded away and even got worse with every passing years. I tried to get rid of it with a picoway but it didn't t work and the result is very bad, so I am looking for someone who knows jow to get rid of that kind of ink.

Thanks

[Lillo85]

22 minutes ago, yann_k said:

Hi, could you please share where you had your laser treatment done and which laser they used ?

I am in the same situation as yours, trico from 2014 who never faded away and even got worse with every passing years. I tried to get rid of it with a picoway but it didn't t work and the result is very bad, so I am looking for someone who knows jow to get rid of that kind of ink.

Thanks

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that, but don't worry you can get rid of it easily with a Q-switched laser. The intensity it depends on the technician, if he/she is good enough they know how to calibrate the tool for the best result. I went in Rome, the name of the technician is Leticia Molinaro but based on where you live i'm sure you can easily find someone to get the same results. Good luck and let us know!

[yann_k]

21 hours ago, Lillo85 said:

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that, but don't worry you can get rid of it easily with a Q-switched laser. The intensity it depends on the technician, if he/she is good enough they know how to calibrate the tool for the best result. I went in Rome, the name of the technician is Leticia Molinaro but based on where you live i'm sure you can easily find someone to get the same results. Good luck and let us know!

Thanks for your answer but I do worry...and I have good reasons for that. I don't want to hijack this thread by posting my photos but I've been trying to get rid of it for years without success. For the first 4-5 years I was told to just wait and that it would eventually fade away, it never did, in fact it got worse with every passing year. After 5 years I was finally told that it can (rarely...) happen and that the only solution is the laser. So I went to see someone specialised in tattoo removal and we tried with the Picoway, the results are really bad, that's why I'm looking for someone who has some experience with that kind of ink. Anyway thanks.

[Lillo85]

1 minute ago, yann_k said:

Thanks for your answer but I do worry...and I have good reasons for that. I don't want to hijack this thread by posting my photos but I've been trying to get rid of it for years without success. For the first 4-5 years I was told to just wait and that it would eventually fade away, it never did, in fact it got worse with every passing year. After 5 years I was finally told that it can (rarely...) happen and that the only solution is the laser. So I went to see someone specialised in tattoo removal and we tried with the Picoway, the results are really bad, that's why I'm looking for someone who has some experience with that kind of ink. Anyway thanks.

I understand your frustation and I respect it. There are other videos on YouTube you can watch, they went under a Q-switched session with same results of mine. Me too I've researched a lot before choosing the right technician. Don't lose hope! 💪

[bald-and-bearded]

23 hours ago, yann_k said:

Thanks for your answer but I do worry...and I have good reasons for that. I don't want to hijack this thread by posting my photos but I've been trying to get rid of it for years without success. For the first 4-5 years I was told to just wait and that it would eventually fade away, it never did, in fact it got worse with every passing year. After 5 years I was finally told that it can (rarely...) happen and that the only solution is the laser. So I went to see someone specialised in tattoo removal and we tried with the Picoway, the results are really bad, that's why I'm looking for someone who has some experience with that kind of ink. Anyway thanks.

Hey @yann_k, feel free to post your pics. I am the OP and I don't mind you posting the pics here. May I ask where you got your trico done? 

[Gatsby]

Trichopigmentation can easily be removed with laser. So too can SMP however Trichopigmentation breaks down much more quickly by the liver.

[ciaus]

Here's something from a big upcoming smp expo next month with top artists and trends

https://thesmpexpo.com/undo-removal-training/

 

 

 

[yann_k]

On 8/29/2021 at 8:50 PM, bald-and-bearded said:

Hey @yann_k, feel free to post your pics. I am the OP and I don't mind you posting the pics here. May I ask where you got your trico done? 

Photos 1-2 are from 2019, so more or less 4-5 years after the last session (sept 2014) As you can see my case is pretty extreme, a very bad work, totally uneven, too much ink, and much more...but since this post is about the ink I won't talk about anything else.
At that time the ink was starting to change, in some places it was slowly turning into some kind of dark brown and seemed to "merge" more and more

Photos 3 is from the start of 2020, two months pre laser treatment, my head is freshly shaved and you can clearly see the difference between my natural skin and the areas where the ink was applied.

Post laser results = very bad. Big inflammation after the laser treatment which lasted for almost nine months and finally almost no changes, some ink is gone yes, but in some areas, especially the darker ones, no improvement.

Photos 5 = 11 months after the laser treatment, as you can see...no improvement. New test on a small area with different settings, nothing, no result, it's like the ink is stuck in there

If someone sees that and can help...I'm right here.

bald-and-bearded, be careful out there.

 

 

[bald-and-bearded]

9 hours ago, yann_k said:

Photos 1-2 are from 2019, so more or less 4-5 years after the last session (sept 2014) As you can see my case is pretty extreme, a very bad work, totally uneven, too much ink, and much more...but since this post is about the ink I won't talk about anything else.
At that time the ink was starting to change, in some places it was slowly turning into some kind of dark brown and seemed to "merge" more and more

Photos 3 is from the start of 2020, two months pre laser treatment, my head is freshly shaved and you can clearly see the difference between my natural skin and the areas where the ink was applied.

Post laser results = very bad. Big inflammation after the laser treatment which lasted for almost nine months and finally almost no changes, some ink is gone yes, but in some areas, especially the darker ones, no improvement.

Photos 5 = 11 months after the laser treatment, as you can see...no improvement. New test on a small area with different settings, nothing, no result, it's like the ink is stuck in there

If someone sees that and can help...I'm right here.

bald-and-bearded, be careful out there.

 

 

Sorry to hear this @yann_k I hope you are able to get it removed. Was this Milena Lardi's ink?

[ciaus]

20 hours ago, yann_k said:

Photos 1-2 are from 2019, so more or less 4-5 years after the last session (sept 2014) As you can see my case is pretty extreme, a very bad work, totally uneven, too much ink, and much more...but since this post is about the ink I won't talk about anything else.
At that time the ink was starting to change, in some places it was slowly turning into some kind of dark brown and seemed to "merge" more and more

Photos 3 is from the start of 2020, two months pre laser treatment, my head is freshly shaved and you can clearly see the difference between my natural skin and the areas where the ink was applied.

Post laser results = very bad. Big inflammation after the laser treatment which lasted for almost nine months and finally almost no changes, some ink is gone yes, but in some areas, especially the darker ones, no improvement.

Photos 5 = 11 months after the laser treatment, as you can see...no improvement. New test on a small area with different settings, nothing, no result, it's like the ink is stuck in there

If someone sees that and can help...I'm right here.

bald-and-bearded, be careful out there.

 

 

Thanks for sharing. Who did your work, are they still in business? Like name, address, weblink so other people know where not to go. There's alot of shady people out there trying to do SMP without proper training and equipment. You got to research this just like you would a hair transplant.

[yann_k]

16 hours ago, bald-and-bearded said:

Sorry to hear this @yann_k I hope you are able to get it removed. Was this Milena Lardi's ink?

Thanks. Yes, in fact my tricopigmentation was done at Beauty Medical in 2014

 

5 hours ago, ciaus said:

There's alot of shady people out there trying to do SMP without proper training and equipment. You got to research this just like you would a hair transplant.

This is what I did, I spent a whole year researching and hesitating between SMP and Trico. Finally I chose Trico over SMP because I was too afraid of the permanent ink, so I told myself that if ever something went wrong at least it would disappear over time... I even made a 500 km trip to Milan (x3) instead of doing that where I live, I wanted to make sure that the job would be done by the best professionals available.

As I said above my tricopigmentation was done at Beauty Medical in 2014.

There is more more to the story, especially the fact that they never tried to help. For years they kept telling me to wait, to be patient, that the ink would go away etc..When you see the photos above does it look like the ink wll fade out anytime soon ? Finally after five years they admitted that the only solution is the laser, and that's it, sort it out yourself.

As you can see bad things can happen anywhere.

 

 

[bald-and-bearded]

Beauty Medical is where trico originated. If this happens there then it can very well happen anywhere else. I asked in another thread about whether there is any published data on whether this ink fades away and it doesn't seem like there is. I find this to be a bit questionable because it's quite easy to publish a study on something that is so easy to visually monitor. You just offer free trico to volunteers and ask them to show up every year for a quick assessment and even compensate them for their time. Then publish a study on the fading patterns. It seems like they claim that trico fades away because they have anecdotally observed it on some of their patients. The theory that fading happens because the immune system attacks it (when it doesn't attack regular SMP) sounds like broscience unless it is proven. This is the most "scientific" discussion I have encountered on the topic of trico: https://www.hairsite.com/hair-loss/board_entry-id-128112.html

This is a quote from Milena on that thread

Quote

It is not possible that your immune system doesn't absorb the pigment because otherwise it would mean that it doesn't work properly.

🤷‍♂️

Thanks a lot for posting this @yann_k It must have been difficult to endure this. I hope you find a resolution soon. Please keep us updated on how laser removal goes.

[bald-and-bearded]

@yann_kin that pic 11 months after laser removal, there are some white spots. What are they? And it seems like there is no hair in that region, is it because of the laser?

[Homeerestre]

I've seen good and bad experiences with laser removal. Smp is harder to remove than tricopigmentation. anyways.