Tattoo Removal Leaves Bride-to-Be’s Skin Resembling “Flesh-Eating Bugs”

While most brides are excited for the tradition of something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, Stephanie Lynn did not account for that something to be a horrific infection. After removing the old tattoo, Stephanie Lynn fears she has to postpone her wedding due to the scarring, as well as the severity of her laser-removal infection.

The mother-of-two claims she was left looking “like a victim of flesh-eating bugs” after her laser treatment had gone wrong.

Seven years ago, Lynn had a skull and roses tattooed on her left arm.

“When I got the tattoo I was just young and stupid,” she said.

She wanted them removed before her wedding, and booked a tattoo removal appointment with the cosmetics company, Fresh Faced.

After two visits to their clinic in the city’s Royston Dental Practice, her arm was severely infected, and she described it as looking “fried.”

Lynn claims her permanent scars have ruined her confidence and that she may have to postpone her wedding, with fiancé, Iain Mitchell.

“I went to get it removed and had a patch test which went fine. I put numbing cream on a couple of hours before it and when I got my first lasering I really didn’t notice much,” Lynn said. “But the second time, it was just horrific. I knew something wasn’t right.”

Lynn claims that when she reported the infection to Fresh Faced, she was told to go to their pharmacy.

“The girl who was doing it left me in so much pain. It felt like she was burning my arm. She put soothing gel over the top but after two days, my arm got swollen. It was like four times its size,” Lynn said. “I know it’s normal to have swelling but not like this. It’s like an electric shock went through my arm. It looked like flesh-eating bugs had attacked it… it looked horrible.”

At the pharmacy she was given Epaderm cream to keep her skin moisturized and Dermol wash. Lynn said she followed all of the correct aftercare instructions.

“I’m always wearing long sleeve tops now,” Lynn said. “This has been so horrible. Even driving my kids to school has been so difficult, something as simple as changing gear.”

Lynn describes her youngest daughter as being “terrified” and says she didn’t want to come near her, due to the scarring.

Lynn says, “I just don’t want anyone else to experience what I’ve gone through.”

She reported that she had been emailing Fresh Faced, and has asked for the certificates for the tattoo removalist, as well as the their insurance details. However, Lynn has not heard back.