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"You can effectively remove tattoos with today’s lasers, but it’s a balancing act,” says Jafar Koupaie, MD, Boston Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Center in Canton, Massachussetts. “Until 1976, nobody knew why color disappeared when tattoos were treated. I was involved in a study at Boston University that discovered that the process of irritating the skin stimulated an immune response that brought macrophages to the wound site, which swallowed the bits of pigment and carried them away little by little.