(HealthDayNews) -- Do you want your ex's tattooed name removed from your shoulder?
According to the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, you can rid yourself of unwanted tattoos in one of three ways: laser surgery, dermabrasion or surgical excision.
With laser surgery, the surgeon will zap your tattoo with a high-intensity laser beam. Lasers lighten tattoos -- some more effectively than others. Depending on the tattoo's size and color complexity, you'll probably need multiple treatments.
Dermabrasion involves "sanding" your skin to remove the tattoo's surface and middle layers. You may be left with a scar.
With the third method -- surgical excision -- the surgeon will use a scalpel to cut out the tattoo and then sew up the wound.
Because all three techniques entail some degree of pain, a local anesthetic is administered for each procedure.
