It appears many people are using their tattoo laser wrongly! They are holding it off the skin, up to 10 to 20cm away.
This is just wrong!! By doing this they will invariably apply a very small spot diameter at the skin surface which generates a huge fluence (energy density). Such fluences can easily damage the skin.
Apparently, they’re told to listen out for the ‘crack’ or ‘snap’ sound. They’re told that this ensures a proper treatment.
It doesn’t!! It means they’re much more likely to damage the skin.
The crack noise can be generated on skin with no tattoo ink – see photo above. It can be generated on a white piece of paper. It has nothing to do with the treatment!
Most lasers are designed so that the end of the tip should be in contact, or just slightly above, the skin surface. No further than a few millimetres.
That way the correct spot size is applied and, hence, the correct fluence.
If you’re going to do it, do it correctly (according to some singer bloke…)
Hope this helps,
Mike.
Mike Murphy's Blog 
you just clear my miss understnadings thankyou
The distance between the laser and the skin surface actually depends on the manufacturers specifications & application.
Example (Based on the MANUAL of the Laser Tattoo Machine I own)
Eyebrow Washing: (Distance from Gun Head to Skin) = 3-5 cm
Spot Removal (Distance from Gun Head to Skin) = 3-5 cm
Tattoo Removal (Distance from Gun Head to Skin) = 7-8 cm
Birthmark Removal (Distance from Gun Head to Skin) = 7-8 cm
This is why you should always read the manual 🙂
These distances are the optimal for the intended purpose.
According the the manual it also states that getting the bleed effect, as you described, is what you want to see, as it shows the settings and distance are correct.
If you got bleeding from a non tattooed area, this could indicate that the probe attached to the gun may NOT have been a 1064nm. It may have had a 532nm probe attached. This is used to remove red, orange, and yellow inks, which are closer to skin colour!
Hope this clears things up.
I can’t stress this enough – It is up to the operator to ensure they read the manual of such devices before using, to ensure safe, correct use… please dont go by what someone is doing on YouTube lol
Peace!
This is mostly wrong! In my experience, most User Manuals are wrong too!!
You DO NOT pull the handpiece tip from the skin surface – if you do, you will have no idea what the actual spot diameter is, and hence, no idea what the applied fluence is. If you see any significant bleeding, then you are inducing too much damage in the skin, whcih can lead to scarring in the future.
Your manual is simply wrong!
So the manufacturers user manual is wrong… ok… sure!
In many cases, yes! They are simply wrong!
You can find out more of the proper way to do this technqiue in my book – https://online.flipbuilder.com/rbhw/hcmt/
That’s exactly right!
There are some doctors who say that they sometimes place the laser 10 centimeters away, or even more purposely place it away. They call it a technique, but it’s completely wrong! If you want to get more power, increase the energy of the machine, don’t make the diameter smaller by increasing the distance from the skin.
A difference of 0.1 J/cm2 is all it takes to make your skin blister badly or not at all. You also need to keep the handpiece close to the skin for the next treatment to get the correct amount of energy.
Laser-savvy professionals are well aware of this. This is a professional post!
When a company that makes a laser device tells you to keep the handpiece 10 cm away from your skin, they are talking about using a specialized piece of equipment that is collimated. This is true for fixed diameter handpieces that are dedicated to laser toning. but, This is completely wrong when using the ZOOM handpiece!
Excellent reply. Thank you.