Brand Xed

Van Antwerp pauses. His lips curl into an impish grin. "But still, every time I saw him, I'd say, ' I can't wait to see what's coming here next!' ''

And he bursts out laughing again.

The Colors of Money

Tattoo removal is a great growth industry! A fabulous business opportunity!

Look around, my friends. Look at those fresh-faced young people with their backward ball caps and their droopy jeans. Notice the tattoos adorning their slender, tender flesh -- the string of barbed wire around that buff guy's biceps, the little heart on that pretty gal's belly with her boyfriend's name -- Dwayne -- inscribed inside it. Lovely, isn't it?

But some day, my friends, these young people will grow older and fatter and their bodies will sag and they'll look in the mirror and think, Boy, that tattoo looks dumb, and besides, I haven't seen Dwayne since I caught him in bed with . . .

When that day comes, my friends, you will wish you were in the tattoo removal business.

Consider the history: Fifty years ago, tattoos were signs of adventure -- exotic markings found on the arms of sailors and bikers and guys who got them on Cellblock D in exchange for 10 packs of smokes and a homemade shiv.

But in the last 20 years, tattoos have gone mainstream. Now, according to a 2004 Harris Interactive poll, 16 percent of American adults have at least one tattoo, and among 18-to-29-year-olds, the figure is 49 percent.

The same poll revealed that 17 percent of Americans who have tattoos regret getting them.

Those folks are in luck because the science of tattoo removal has climbed out of the Stone Age. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to remove Dwayne's name before you married Harry, you had three choices, none good. You could have Dwayne surgically removed, sliced off with a scalpel. Or you could have him burned off with acid. Or you could sandpaper him off with a process called dermabrasion.

"All these techniques," Van Antwerp says, "traded a scar for a tattoo."

But in the early '90s, dermatologists began using the new short-pulse "Nd:YAG" laser, which can remove tattoos with little or no scarring. But these lasers aren't cheap: They cost about $100,000. And the doctors, nurses and physician's assistants who perform the procedure must be trained and certified.