[xoxoxoBruce]

Of course everybody knows once you done it you've got it for good.
Smithsonian says;

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed that about one quarter of adults age 18 to 50 in the United States currently have a tattoo. Of those, almost 30 percent had considered removing or covering the tattoo with a new one, or had already covered it.

I've got one and hadn't thought about any more, but I don't have one where it wold show in my normal clothes. At my age it doesn't much matter, but somebody starting out in the cold cruel world might think twice about a visible tat.

Having them removed is tricky, there's "dermabrasion", which is all that was available for thousands of years. Basically its scraping or sanding the thing off, you know that's going to hurt and probably leave a scar. Not good for tender areas.

Then came the laser;

Modern laser tattoo removal is credited to University of Cincinnati dermatologist Leon Goldman, who unveiled his method in the late 1960s. Goldman's laser assaulted the tattooed skin with "hot vapor bursts" that left it charred, Time magazine described on Oct. 20, 1967. Even at its best, the process left behind "cosmetically acceptable scars."

In the late 1980s, Anderson improved Goldman's procedure, creating a laser system that removed a tattoo, scar and all. But even Anderson's method worked only three-quarters of the time, he says. The process is also unpredictable, takes as many as 20 monthly treatments that can cost thousands of dollars a pop.

So I wouldn't count on getting rid of it, better think twice about committing to it. But what if it was a quasi-commitment like marriage.... where you could dump it in a heartbeat? Would that change your mind? Later on this year you could have that option.

Instead of focusing on laser improvement, they have created an ink that dissolves naturally in the body when treated just once with a typical removal laser.

"I realized it's better to work on the ink than on the laser," Anderson says. "This is the first time a tattoo ink has actually been designed from a biological and material science point of view."

Typical tattoo inks are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. While some are made safely from carbon or iron oxide, others, particularly yellow compounds, contain carcinogens. The ink rests in tiny beads that remain lodged in the skin after a tattoo is applied. During removal, a laser blasts these nano-sized beads with enough heat to make them rupture, releasing the ink into the body. Some of the potentially harmful ink ends up in the body's lymph nodes, part of the immune system.

Freedom-2 inks are made from safe pigments—the orange ink, for example, contains beta-carotene, commonly found in carrots—and trapped in harmless polymer shells. When a Freedom-2 tattoo is removed by laser, the ink dissolves biologically, leaving only the innocuous, invisible shells.

That sounds like a good idea, to have a safer ink in your body even, or maybe especially, if you plan on keeping it forever. It would still cost a good amount to be rid of it but it can be done...safely. Now would you go for it?

But there is one more wrinkle on the horizon.

The scientists are also designing polymer shells that biodegrade on their own, without a laser's nudge, over a matter of months, says Edith Mathiowitz of Brown University, who engineered Freedom-2's beads.
"This could be a new type of jewelry," Mathiowitz says.

I can't see the point of going through the tattooing and healing, which let's face it, isn't pleasant, to have it go away in a few months. I suppose you could do it and if you like it, have it redone when it departs, but daaammmn.

The only reason to use that ink is when you get drunk and have "Fuck You Boss" tattooed on your forehead. You'll be out of work and couldn't afford a laser treatment, but just wait a few months and you'll be saved.