Wondering whether your tattoo will take as long as Pete Davidson’s? Here is what really governs removal speed, and why PicoSure in Oxford clears ink in months rather than years.
You have read about the comedian who has spent years and a small fortune having his tattoos lasered. You are wondering whether the design on your own forearm will take that long. It will not, and PicoSure at Cannelle Skin Clinic in Oxford is the reason. It breaks ink apart by pressure rather than by heat, and a course here is counted in a handful of appointments rather than in years.
The timing is the pleasure of it. Each pulse runs for about a trillionth of a second, too briefly for the ink to warm. The ink shatters instead, into fragments fine enough for your lymphatic system to carry away. The surface of your skin is never removed. Most people leave pink and warm, and get on with the rest of their day.
Every plan on that laser is set by Dr Mattia Parducci (GMC 7635663), the doctor who leads the clinic. His experience runs to more than 100 of these laser treatments at our sister clinic in London, Dr Joney De Souza Skin & Laser. Keep him in mind as you read the celebrity stories, because who chooses the settings matters as much as the machine does.
Pete Davidson told interviewers in late 2025 that he had spent around $200,000 on tattoo removal and was, in his own words, “not even halfway”. Zlatan Ibrahimović posted his own removal session in July 2025 and winced through it for the camera. Between them they made tattoo ink one of the most talked about skin stories of the year.
Neither man has said which laser he sat under, so the machine is not the lesson. The lesson is what governs removal speed on every arm, famous or not. Four things decide it: the length of each pulse, the wavelength matched to the ink colour, the gap between sessions, and the judgement of the person choosing the settings. Get those four right and an old design comes away in months.
You are in good company if you want yours gone, and a 2024 YouGov survey found that 26% of Britons have a tattoo. About one in seven of them regrets at least one, and a partner’s name is the design most often wished away. The encouraging part of these stories is not the cost. It is that ink which felt permanent is leaving, and that yours can leave faster.
Older tattoo lasers, the Q-switched machines, fire in nanoseconds. That sounds fast until you set a nanosecond beside a picosecond. The PicoSure pulse is roughly seven to eighteen times shorter, and that changes what happens inside your skin. A nanosecond pulse lingers long enough to heat the ink and the tissue around it, while a picosecond pulse is gone before heat can build.
Pressure is what breaks ink into fragments your body can clear. Heat is what leaves skin needing time to recover. A pulse that arrives as a sharp mechanical shock fractures the ink and spares the skin beside it. That is why a treated tattoo keeps fading in the weeks after each appointment, as your lymphatic system carries the fragments off.
You feel the difference as well. With very little warmth spreading outwards, the treated area calms within hours. The settings can be matched across a wide range of skin tones, from the fairest to the deepest. The surface is never broken, so most people go straight back to their day with nothing more than a flush to show for it.
[ASSET PLACEHOLDER 1: Session by session clearance, one black tattoo photographed after each PicoSure appointment. Credit: Images courtesy of Cynosure]
Ink colour is the second reason two people with the same size tattoo finish at different times. Every pigment absorbs some wavelengths of light and reflects others. A laser only breaks the colours its wavelength is absorbed by. PicoSure runs at 755 nm, a wavelength that black and dark blue drink in, which is why those two colours respond most predictably of all.
Green and blue-green respond strongly at 755 nm too, which is welcome news if you were told years ago that a green design was there for good. Red, orange and yellow answer to other wavelengths and come away more slowly. White and the palest inks are the least predictable of the lot. Bring colourful work to your consultation and Dr Mattia will tell you plainly what to expect.
This is where a celebrity sleeve becomes a useful lesson. A large multi-coloured piece is really several tattoos sharing one stretch of skin, and each colour runs on its own timeline. The black outline fades first, the green shading follows, and any red takes longest to go. Your plan is written colour by colour, so the number of sessions you are quoted already reflects the design.
[ASSET PLACEHOLDER 2: Ink colour chart, how black, dark blue, green, blue-green, red, orange, yellow and white respond at 755 nm. Credit: Cynosure]
The third factor is patience of a particular kind. Your body does the clearing between appointments, and it needs six to eight weeks to carry away what one session has broken up. Book sooner and you are lasering ink that was already leaving. Leave the right gap and every session starts on skin that has already lightened. Each visit then does more for you than the last.
The fourth factor is the one the headlines never mention, and it is the person setting the machine. Settings are chosen for your skin tone, for the colour, age and density of the ink, and for how the design responded last time. At Cannelle that decision belongs to Dr Mattia Parducci, who reads the tattoo at every visit. He will also say plainly if another treatment would serve your skin better than this one.
That judgement separates a course that finishes within the year from one that drifts on. Settings matched to your skin and your ink do the work in the fewest sessions. The match is a medical decision rather than a default. Dr Mattia treats at both Cannelle in Oxford and Dr Joney De Souza Skin & Laser in London. He has made that call many times before he makes it for you.
Your first visit is a consultation with Dr Mattia in good light, and it shapes the whole course. He measures the design and reads its colours, its age and its density, and he looks at your skin tone and at how it reacts to sun. VISIA skin imaging records where you are starting from, and the tattoo is photographed so you see the fade properly.
Then comes the patch test. A small area of the tattoo is treated at the settings chosen for you. Your first full session follows at least twenty four hours later, never the same day. It is a short pause that lets your skin be understood before the course begins. That is how we treat confidently across every skin tone.
Most tattoos clear over four to eight sessions, six to eight weeks apart, and keep fading between visits. A partial fade to make way for a cover-up needs fewer sessions than full clearance. Those figures are averages drawn from many arms, and your own count comes out of the consultation, along with the spacing and the cost of the whole course.
Pricing follows the measured size of the design, so a micro tattoo up to 2 cm is £90 a session, or £305 for a course of four. A small piece is £130 or £440, and a medium one £195 or £665. Every band sits on the PicoSure pricing table alongside the rest of our prices.
Whether you were inked on Cowley Road, home to Oxford’s oldest tattoo studio, or somewhere you would rather not mention, clear skin is a short trip to Summertown. Patients reach us from Headington, Jericho and Kidlington, and from the rest of Oxfordshire besides. The PicoSure tattoo removal page covers what a course involves, and you can get in touch whenever you want us to find you a time.
Book a consultation with Dr Mattia Parducci at Cannelle Skin Clinic in Summertown and get a real number for your tattoo, colour by colour. Call 01865 511960, message us on WhatsApp, or use the contact form, and we will book the appointment.
Anyone weighing up PicoSure tattoo removal at Cannelle in Oxford arrives with much the same list. The consultation gives the answers for your skin and your design, and this is a good place to start.
Most tattoos clear over four to eight sessions, spaced six to eight weeks apart, and the design keeps fading between visits as your lymphatic system carries the shattered ink away. Black and dark blue inks sit at the quicker end, layered or warm-coloured pieces at the longer end. Those are averages, and Dr Mattia counts the sessions your own design needs at the consultation.
Each pulse is over in about a trillionth of a second, and the surface of your skin is never removed. The sensation is brief, and the area is pink and warm for a few hours rather than sore for days. Most people go straight back to their day. At your consultation Dr Mattia talks you through what a session feels like and how long yours will take.
He has not said which laser he has used, so nobody outside his clinic can answer that with certainty. What we can say is what governs speed on any arm: the length of each pulse, the match between wavelength and ink colour, the gap left between sessions, and the judgement of the person choosing the settings. Get those right and a course finishes in months.
A Q-switched laser fires in nanoseconds, long enough to heat the ink and the skin around it. A picosecond laser such as PicoSure fires roughly seven to eighteen times faster, so the ink shatters by pressure before heat can build. The surrounding skin is spared, the area calms within hours, and the settings can be matched across a wider range of skin tones.
At 755 nm, black and dark blue respond most predictably, and green and blue-green respond strongly too, which is good news if you were once told a green design was permanent. Red, orange and yellow depend on other wavelengths and come away more slowly, and white and pale inks are the least predictable. Bring colourful work to the consultation and Dr Mattia will tell you plainly what to expect.
Pricing is by the measured size of the design. A micro tattoo up to 2 cm is £90 a session or £305 for a course of four. A small piece from 2.1 to 5 cm is £130 or £440, and a medium one is £195 or £665. A large tattoo is £280 or £950, and an extra large piece £390 or £1,325. Oversized designs are priced on assessment, and every band is on the PicoSure page.
Because the fading happens between appointments rather than on the day. Each session shatters ink into fragments, and your lymphatic system then needs several weeks to carry them away. Leave the right gap and every visit starts on skin that has already lightened, so each session does more for you. Book too soon and you are lasering ink that was already on its way out.
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people come in. Partial fading for a cover-up needs fewer sessions than full clearance, because the aim is to soften the old design enough for a new one to sit cleanly over it. Tell Dr Mattia what the new piece will be and he will plan the course around it.
Dr Mattia Parducci (GMC 7635663), the Lead Aesthetic Doctor, sets every PicoSure plan and its settings. More than 100 of these laser treatments stand behind him, all performed at our sister clinic in London, Dr Joney De Souza Skin & Laser. He reads your tattoo at every visit, so the settings follow the fade. That judgement is what keeps a course short.
Yes. Because the pulse works by pressure rather than heat, very little warmth reaches the surrounding skin, and PicoSure is suitable across Fitzpatrick types I to VI when the settings are matched to you. Deeper skin tones are treated at Cannelle regularly. A patch test on a small area comes first, with at least twenty four hours before your first full session.
Our clinic is located in Summertown, Oxford, just north of the city centre in one of Oxford’s most sought-after neighbourhoods. Discreet and easy to reach, we offer a premium setting for bespoke skin, aesthetic and wellness care.
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