A new titanium sapphire laser handpiece can clear green, blue, and purple tattoo pigments in fewer treatments, according to a new study in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine (LSM).

Researchers led by American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery President Eric F. Bernstein, MD, MSE, Director of the Main Line Center for Laser Surgery, in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, investigated the safety and efficacy of the new 785 nm Ti-Sapphire laser for treating blue, green and purple tattoo inks as an addition to a picosecond-domain 1,064 nm and 532 nm laser platform.

This first study of a new, 785 nm, picosecond-domain, laser-pumped-laser demonstrates safe and effective removal of multicolor tattoos. Although clearance was shown for a multitude of colors including black, the 785 nm laser wavelength has special affinity to purple, blue and green tattoo pigments, the study found.

“The laser-pumped-laser concept enables delivery of multiple discrete wavelengths from a single laser platform. A commercial 785 nm Ti-Sapphire laser has been a long time coming,” says Dr. Bernstein in a news release. “Having a picosecond-domain version for treating blue, green and purple tattoos is a big advantage.”

A prototype handpiece housing a 785 nm Ti‐sapphire laser was used for this study. The Ti‐sapphire laser was pumped with picosecond‐domain 532 nm pulses delivered from a commercially available Nd:YAG picosecond‐domain laser system incorporating a potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) frequency doubling crystal (PicoWay®, Syneron‐Candela Corporation).

The study was selected as Editor’s Choice in the September 2018 issue of LSM.