Laser treatment is the solution for getting rid of these unwanted body markings, but it can take up to a dozen treatments to bleach away conventional tattoo pigments.
The process is expensive, often painful and sometimes fails to remove the entire tattoo, leaving a ghost picture on the skin.
But -- for those prepared to wait a little longer before going under the needle -- help is on the way.
US chemists have developed a range of smart pigments that can disappear with a single laser treatment, the British weekly New Scientist says.
The inks have already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in drugs, cosmetics, food and medical devices.
They are readily absorbed by the body and for that reason have until now never been used in tattoos.
A team led by Rox Anderson at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have found a way around this problem by encapsulating the ink in microscopic polymer beads that measure just one to three micrometres across.
T