ATLANTA , Georgia ( CNN ) -- Laura Hathaway initially had no regrets after getting a tattoo on her lower back when she was 21 . But now , 10 years later , she wants it gone . Tattoo removal is more painful than the original tattoo , patient Laura Hathaway says . The pharmaceutical sales representative from Atlanta , Georgia , says it does n't fit in with her current lifestyle as the mother of a 2-year-old boy who just started to talk . `` The other day I bent over and he said , 'What 's that ? ' and it just confirms why I 'm having it removed . '' Dr. Scott Karempelis of Atlanta Dermatology Associates is performing a multitreatment laser procedure that will gradually erase Hathaway 's tattoo with little or no scarring . The process is painful , expensive and time-consuming . Karempelis says that in spite of the drawbacks , `` business is booming . '' He and three other dermatologists in his office see more than 30 patients a day who want tattoos removed by laser . Watch Hathaway 's tattoo beginning to disappear » . The American Academy of Dermatology reports tattoo regret is common in the United States . Among a group of 18- to 50-year-olds surveyed in 2004 , 24 percent reported having a tattoo and 17 percent of those considered getting their tattoo removed . Karempelis uses a state-of-the-art laser that targets the pigment in the tattoo . `` It goes through the skin without damaging it and hits the pigment depending on which wavelength and which color you have , and it blows it into small pieces . '' The tattoo ink is then reabsorbed into the body through the lymphatic system . The process must be completed over several sessions in order to protect the skin from damage . Hathaway expects to go through 10 sessions several weeks apart , each lasting less than a minute . She admits it 's a lot more painful than getting the original tattoo . `` It 's prickly , '' describes Hathaway . `` It feels like a bee is sitting on your back stinging time and time again . Afterwards , the pain does go away and you 're a little sore for a few hours . '' Patients with bigger tattoos are sometimes given the option to use a topical anesthetic , but Karempelis points out that it adds to the cost . Like other dermatologists , he charges by the square inch for the laser treatment . By the time Hathaway 's done , she expects to pay more than $ 2,200 . There 's no guarantee that she wo n't have a scar . `` Scarring is your major risk , '' says Karempelis . `` Almost everyone gets a little bit of discoloration , a little lighter , a little darker for a while . But in most cases if you wait a year , you can not see where it was done initially . '' Certain tattoo colors , such as green , yellow and purple , are harder to remove , Karempelis says , especially for people with darker skin . Some parts of the body also pose a challenge . `` The farthest away from the heart are hardest to treat , so the ankles are the toughest , '' Karempelis says . He predicts his business will increase in the future , after a new type of tattoo ink hits the market . Freedom-2 is a microencapsulated dye . It 's designed to be easily removed by a single laser treatment . `` The laser would hit that pigment and it would completely dissolve immediately . ... You would n't need repetitive treatments , '' the doctor says . But until the ink becomes available , Karempelis expects to see a variety of patients going through long sessions to remove reminders of their past . He says the most popular tattoos to be removed in his office are the names of old boyfriends and former spouses . In Hathaway 's case , her tattoo of a flower did n't fit the image she wants to portray . She says she got the tattoo long before low-rise pants became popular . `` It 's just something I wanted to be private and now it 's not . '' E-mail to a friend . Judy Fortin is a correspondent with CNN Medical News .
American Academy of Dermatology : The study was conducted by a team led by Dr. David A. Karp at the University of California, San Francisco, and published in the journal JAMA Dermatology. New , more easily removed tattoo ink scheduled to be available this fall .