The adjuvant use of macrophage colony stimulating factor in tattoo removal using laser surgery

Tattoos are acquired pigmented lesions of the skin that may be removed with laser surgery. Following laser treatment, macrophages engulf the altered pigment. The activity of macrophages can be influenced by macrophage colony-stimulating factor. In order to evaluate the potential adjunctive use of macrophage colony-stimulating factor in tattoo removal using laser surgery, a prospective study, initially in an animal model, to serially evaluate the clinical and histopathologic clearing of tattoo pigment following laser surgery at variable macrophage colony-stimulating factor dose concentrations and injection schedules, could be performed. Since the clearing of tattoo pigment following laser surgery is influenced by the presence of macrophages at the site of treatment, and since macrophage colony-stimulating factor influences macrophage activity, it is logical to hypothesize that the adjuvant use of this cytokine to recruit additional macrophages could expedite the removal of tattoo pigment following laser surgery.