Northeast Tattoo & Laser Tattoo Removal

I had a less than loved old Capricorn symbol on my stomach that I wanted covered, adorned, fancied up or something.  John was sooooo awesome in sketching out different ideas until I found one that fit my personality. He kept saying he wanted to make sure I didn't end up with something I just "didn't hate as much as the original tattoo".  He did a great job!  I love the design and the colors....as soon as it heals I'll add a photo.

I'm in the process of getting 2 teenage poor decision tattoos removed at Northeast Tattoo and its going great. It's clean, the staff are polite and funny, I get in and out of there pretty quick, and most importantly- all my stupid tattoos are disappearing. My questions are always answered and I have never had a complication following a session.

I don't plan on needing to go here for much longer but I would recommend it to any 33 year old with a bug on their foot or a weird tribal arm band.

In response to Thomas Barrows reply (8/6/2013) to my previous review (7/13/2013).
Thank you for clarifying and defining what reaction occurred during my procedure.  It was unfortunate that neither Joseph nor Aleks could explain that paradoxical darkening had resulted, and I was instead given a long winded 'talking down' to by the co-owner on a separate visit.  I understand that hydroquinone is *not* a treatment for paradoxical darkening, but rather it was only suggested to me as a possible agent to help lighten the area if I wanted to go that route.  One certainty is that I will definitely need to have additional laser sessions to also treat the paradoxical darkening which resulted from my last treatment at Northeast Laser Tattoo Removal.

I was not implying that Nick was brilliant beyond having to complete patient charting.  I agree that patient charting is a very important practice in any type of patient care.  However, I do find fault in following through with a procedure even after observing suboptimal or unwanted results, which is the meat of my 1 star review that I still stand by.  Say I was getting a tattoo instead of having one removed--should I expect the tattoo artist continue inking an obvious wrong color, wrong letter, crooked line, different size, backward stencil, etc.?  With that, what excuse is there to go over my entire tattoo with a laser when it is immediately reacting with paradoxical darkening?  What is the point of test spots if adjustments are not made?  After all, the darkening is dependent on laser wavelength, pulse duration and fluence.  These setting could have potentially been adjusted and paradoxical darkening avoided.

Speaking as a patient, I cannot be convinced that the level of professionalism in this practice is anything other than subpar, laser treatment results aside.  Cordial, friendly--yes.  Professional in the business sense?  Not so much.  Both laser technician and business co-owner speak negatively towards a previous employee at the mere mention of his name and also make up stories about where he went.  I'm sure it was very well known he opened his own laser removal practice.  If termination from failure to comply with patient charting was indeed a high priority for Northeast Laser, termination should have occurred much sooner than later.  Yet there are reviews on Yelp dating back to 2011 that mention Nick as the laser technician.  It must have been professional enough at least for a few years... or at least until he decided to go into business for himself.  I doubt he was terminated from his position and happened to sprout a laser removal business within a few months.  Might I add that it is quite difficult to find a negative user review about him, regardless of lacking in highly regarded robot compliance of mighty governing regulations.

Personally, I'd rather continue to see a laser technician (or any other service provider) who thinks through complex situations instead of recklessly continuing on a bad procedure regardless of whether all bases are covered with signed patient consent forms.  I believe laser procedures that can produce damaging results should be treated more with a prudent attitude rather than full-steam-ahead.  At the end of the day, I don't care as much about the forms, paperwork, credentials, or regulatory rules-- I care more about the procedure and the result from a competent provider.