A+ for Carol O'Brien, the owner, herself. D for her staff, who are disinterested & noncommittal to the point of being rude. The office is clean and well-appointed, if a bit small, and you definitely won't have the impression that you've gone to some weird back-alley kind of set-up. Easily accessible from the 59th-Lex 4/5/6/N/R stop.
I found it easy to book an appointment quickly, and in a time that worked for me. I was also assured (truthfully) that if I wanted to go through my first treatment at the same appointment as my consultation, I could do so. This might not always be true, given how booked they are, but it was clearly a quiet day and the tattoo I am having lightened/removed is only an inch square.
Carol was friendly and calming, and explained the process in helpful detail. The only thing I didn't appreciate was that, upon learning that this was my only tattoo (I am lightening it for a preferred coverup), she made unsolicited comments about how I could be tattoo-free, and that tattoos don't age well. I'm sure that after removing hundreds of ill-conceived tattoos, you'd start to believe that tattoos in general are a terrible idea, but it felt a bit intrusive and interfering to me.
I felt her instructions on aftercare were a little vague -- this may have been because I was calm and already familiar with many details of how laser lightening works, but I did feel the need to research aftercare when I got home, just to make sure that I wasn't setting myself up for a scar. In the aftermath, my skin was a tiny bit more sensitive for the first few hours, and there's a little bit of redness at the outside edges of the tattoo -- I've had no discomfort, and no scabbing or bleeding.
The process was very quick and only very mildly painful, and Carol was clearly prepared to take breaks as I needed. She uses a cold air blaster to assist the process, which helps with the discomfort, and (at the medium setting, which is the first session) it feels quite a bit like someone repeatedly snapping a thick rubber band on your skin, with a lingering "afterburn" sensation. I *really* appreciated that she updated me as she went on how far along we were: "50% done, 80% done, only about 10% left" and so on -- it made it really easy to bear the sensation for just a little bit longer, knowing how close we were to being done.
I also appreciated that she broke down the process for me, and explained that the first session uses the medium setting on the laser, while the next sessions require a deeper (and more uncomfortable setting), etc. and how I could prepare myself for that discomfort. It's comforting to know what I'm in for, and to have a basis of comparison for what the upcoming experience will be like.
For my 1-inch black tattoo, I was in and out of the office in under 20 minutes, including paperwork and consultation time. Couldn't have been easier, and my tattoo is already obviously fading after the first session. As a price reference: my tattoo was priced at $125 per session (there's a $25 off first appt coupon on her website), and she estimated that it takes an average of 7 sessions to fully erase a tattoo -- though she was very clear that sometimes it takes more, sometimes it takes fewer sessions. I suspect it will be more like 3-4 sessions to get to the point where I'm satisfied, but we'll see. They do take credit cards.
For tattoo removal, this is very reasonably priced, and I found the whole experience almost absurdly convenient. Definitely recommend. read more