For the past 3½ years he’s been bothered by a tattoo on his arm that he describes as a “botched backyard mistake”.

“It was meant to be a rosebush but it came out looking like something else,” he says.

“In fact it doesn’t really look like anything that’s recognisable.”

Danial, 22, of Wodonga, finally decided to do something about it and is in the process of having it removed. Once that is completed he plans to get a professional tattoo in its place.

Marie McCloud, 60, of Albury, is a sprightly grandmother, who regrets the day she had a tattoo.

“I was in my thirties when I had it done and didn’t think about getting older but as your skin starts to age and sag a tattoo looks terrible,” she says.

“I have heard lots of horror stories about tattoos — the worst about a young man who wanted to get tattoos on both arms and took copies of what he wanted on a trip to Bali where he got more than expected.

“Unfortunately the tattooist, who couldn’t speak English, copied the words Right Arm and Left Arm below the tattoos, so he is walking around with tattoos and the words right arm and left arm on his arms.”

Tattoo removal is increasingly in demand on the Border according to Dr Chris Johnson and business partner and former theatre intensive care nurse, Trish Clifford, who have opened Seventh Layer Aesthetic Clinic in Albury’s Gardens Medical Centre.

The business partners say they saw a need for a premium medical skin service in Albury-Wodonga and surrounding areas and say they have the most advanced equipment in Australia.

Ms Clifford says their equipment includes the PicoSure, the world’s first picosecond aesthetic laser that provides safe, fast and effective treatment for the removal of tattoos, pigmentation and skin revitalisation for all skin types.

“PicoSure takes advantage of pressure wave technology and removes the tattoo ink by delivering an ultra-short pulse duration pressure wave which is 100 times shorter in width than the normal nanosecond technology,” she says.

Dr Johnson says the pressure wave avoids unmarked tissue but targets and shatters the ink into tiny dust-like particles which are easily eliminated by the body’s lymphatic system.

“With this short pulse width only half the fluence energy is required compared to nanosecond lasers which results in clearer skin with fewer treatments without injury to surrounding tissue,” he says.

Dr Johnson says it is a much safer and better way of removing tattoos.

“Tattoo ink is often very difficult to remove especially when the tattoos have been done in Asia and Bali – the ink is often contaminated with heavy metals and makes it harder to remove,” he says.

It is also used for the removal of acne scarring and sun damage.

Dr Johnson says the treatments bring many benefits to patients.