Bäumler W, Breu C, Philipp B, et al. - In this prospective study, nanosecond (NSL) and picosecond laser (PSL) systems offer adequate clearing of most tattoos. When opposed to NSL, PSL causes less collateral skin injury.

• The study included 23 people with 30 black or coloured tattoos that were split in half and treated with either a novel PSL (532 nm, 1064 nm) or standard NSL (694 nm).

• Tattoo removal appeared to be more beneficial for PSL than NSL, but without statistical significance.

• Tattoos that had previously been treated responded better to laser treatments than tattoos that had not previously been treated.

• PSL caused much less discomfort in participants than NSL.PSL's transient adverse effects, particularly blistering, pruritus, and burning sensation, were statistically less acute and lasted less time than NSL's.

• Only NSL treatments resulted in hypopigmentation, whereas both lasers resulted in hyperpigmentation.

• With either laser, no scarring was observed.