Sourced reference · reviewed 2026-08-01
Tattoo removal statistics
Every figure below is quoted from a named public source - Pew Research Center, peer-reviewed literature on NCBI, the FDA and the American Academy of Dermatology - and linked so you can read it in context. Directory numbers are computed live from the Removal Compass database. This page reports statistics; it is not medical advice.
Live directory snapshot
Laser tattoo removal coverage in this directory
Counts are generated from the live database on every page load. Profiles are ordered by public Google review data across the directory; inclusion is not an endorsement.
How common are tattoos in the United States
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32% of U.S. adults have a tattoo, including 22% who have more than one.
Source: Pew Research Center (2023)
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38% of U.S. women have at least one tattoo, compared with 27% of men.
Source: Pew Research Center (2023)
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41% of adults under 30 and 46% of those ages 30 to 49 have at least one tattoo, versus 25% of those 50 to 64.
Source: Pew Research Center (2023)
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56% of women ages 18 to 29 and 53% of women ages 30 to 49 have a tattoo.
Source: Pew Research Center (2023)
Tattoo regret
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About 24% of tattooed Americans say they regret getting one or more of their tattoos.
Source: Pew Research Center (2023)
What laser removal involves
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Laser tattoo removal typically takes 4 to 15 treatments, with sessions repeated every 6 to 8 weeks.
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Overall complete clearance rates are around 50%; carbon-based black tattoos in fair-skinned patients respond best.
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The Kirby-Desai scale predicts the number of sessions from six factors: skin type, location, color, amount of ink, scarring and layering.
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In a double-center Q-switched 1064/532 nm laser study of 52 patients, a mean of 4.6 sessions was required to obtain a result.
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In a systematic review of picosecond lasers (6 human trials, 160 participants), 69-100% of tattoos showed at least 70% clearance.
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Green, red and yellow are the hardest ink colors to remove with lasers; dark blue and black respond best.
Safety and regulation
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The FDA has cleared several types of lasers for tattoo lightening or removal, for use by or under the supervision of a health care professional.
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The FDA has not approved any tattoo removal creams, ointments or do-it-yourself removal kits.
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Temporary light or dark spots on the skin after laser tattoo removal tend to disappear within 6 to 12 months.
Source: American Academy of Dermatology
Data and press
Reuse this data
The directory dataset behind Removal Compass - clinic names, cities, states and public review metadata - is published as a machine-readable snapshot at /llms-full.txt under a CC BY 4.0 license. Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite it as "Removal Compass directory data" with a link to this site.
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Facts on this page were last checked against their sources on 2026-08-01. If a source has since changed, the source's current version prevails.