Ozone and Ultrasound in Tattoo Removal: Preliminary in Vivo Study

Tattoos have always been in the human culture, and besides tattoo removal is still a painful procedure carried out over several sessions. The development of techniques for painless, minimally invasive, and minimal side effects of tattoo removal was the proposal of this preliminary study. Piglets (n = 3) were tattooed on the lateral pelvic thighs (right and left) using blue ink. After 30 days, the tattoos (n = 21) were divided into four groups: Control (n = 3), Ozone (n = 6), Ultrasound (n = 6), and Hybrid (n = 6). The protocol consisted of 10 sessions, spaced 7 days, totaling 70 days. Macroscopic and microscopic (biopsies) evaluations of the skin were performed. The results suggested a reduction in pigmentation of the dermis with the use of ozone and ultrasound separately, the hybrid group did not have better results, however, the study showed the potential of ozone and ultrasound for tattoo removal.