Which Tattoo Removal Creams Really Work? A Comparison

After finishing medical school, I began my residency in a hospital one year ago. Some of the residents and I have tattoos. The hospital has a policy against visible tattoos. This is a very common policy in Hospitals, so my fellow residents and I decided it was best to try and remove the tattoos. In looking into removing them there were so many choices. The female residents preferred not to use laser, mostly because they were worried about the chance of scarring. All of us however, were not keen on the pain. Another downside to laser is that laser is not effective with certain colors, thereby leaving parts of the tattoo visible.

After deciding against last we were left with a few options: Nuviderm, InkBusters, Wrecking Balm, Tat B Gone, and Tattoo-OFF. We decided to use our scientific background and decided to test a few products. We went through with the test for our personal benefit, but we also figured that if we were to advise our patients in the future on this subject, we should know about the tattoo removal methods available. We purchased 5 products and tested them for two things: (1) Do any of the products work? (2) Which one of the products works best?

The two acids Nuviderm and InkBusters are cheap, however, we deemed them not worth buying. As medical doctors the thought of burning the skin off did not seem like a good idea. Even after putting up with the pain, discomfort, and chance of infection, those acids did not remove the tattoo. Both Nuviderm and InkBusters claim that they will lighten the tattoo. These products did lighten our tattoos a tiny bit. However, it seemed to us that there were too many disclaimers, and too many ways to go wrong for little to no gain.

We were really excited about trying Wrecking Balm. With all that advertising they do they are certainly right in your face. The students specializing in Dermatology and Surgery were skeptical of the sanding machine. They thought long term use may cause scarring, calluses or infections. One Psychology student thought some people, who are very anxious to get rid of their tattoo, may try and sand their way down to the ink. What a painful mess that could be. Still we were excited. Upon testing Wrecking Balm we seemed to run into approximately the same results as the acids, Nuviderm and InkBusters, just slower. We did experience some initial fading at first, and then the fading leveled off with hardly any more results. Some say Wrecking Balm is an acid mixed in a cream and our results tend to verify this. We do not think this product is worth purchasing.

Well, the good news is we did find two products that worked well and we liked. We found both Tat B Gone and Tattoo-OFF to be effective and pain free. They were gentle to the skin and no one in the test group had a problem with the ingredients nor was there any skin irritation. Both Tat B Gone and Tattoo-OFF are gentle creams and are easy to apply. Some of my fellow residents noticed results quite fast; however some residents with darker tattoos required a longer period of time to achieve the same level of fading as the others. All, but one resident felt the fading process proceeded at an acceptable pace.

Which was better, Tat B Gone or Tattoo-OFF? It is hard to say. It will certainly require much more testing. An unscientific "gut feeling" from some of us who used both was that Tat B Gone might work a fraction faster and Tattoo-OFF is a bit gentler to the skin.

We were happy to find two out of five products which produced painless results. Not only are we now tattoo-free, but we are able to recommend both Tat B Gone and Tattoo-OFF to our colleagues at different medical facilities. And we are able to give our patients an honest answer when they ask us about tattoo removal.