This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
To the Editor.—
The volume of our literature today is quite overwhelming such that it is difficult to cover it all. I have read with interest the articles concerning removal of tattoos relative to the use of superficial dermabrasion.1,2 On May 5, 1959, I presented this method of approach (ie, superficial dermabrasion without complete removal of the tattoo pigment with subsequent sloughing of this pigment on the eschar which had been let to dry completely) in a paper before the 79th annual meeting of the Louisiana State Medical Society in New Orleans. This was subsequently published in the Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society.3My approach was to permit complete drying of the abraded area. Thereafter, the eschar that peeled off in its entirety displayed a mirror image of the tattoo pigment that had been left following the dermabrasion.When the area had healed completely, it was