A Woman Made A Shocking Discovery After Attempting To Use A DIY Tattoo Removal Kit

#1 Relationships come and go but tattoos are forever.

Three years ago, 23-year-old Jessica Hardy got the word "Charlie" - the name her boyfriend at the time - tattooed onto her forearm. Believing a laser treatment was too expensive, she sought out a DIY removal kit online, which cost her less than $20.00.

#2 She thought she and "Charlie" would be together forever, but she was wrong.

But the pair split up and when the mom-of-one met a new man, Ryan, so she wanted nothing more than to get rid of the physical reminder of the past. That's when Ryan insisted she remove the tattoo of her Ex's name from her arm.

#3 After a normal tattoo removal procedure, this is what a person's skin should look like.

Even with the chemical, performed by a doctor in a clinic, or with a laser removal, there is still a scar or tint to the removal area when done properly.

#4 The following photos of what happened to Jessica's arm are graphic in nature...

#5 This is what Jess's arm looked like after using the kit.

"It kind of felt like somebody had poured boiling hot water over me," she said when she appeared the show Tattoo Disasters earlier this year.

"It was as if my skin was just coming off every time I looked at it."

#6 It burned her skin completely off and left a hole in her arm.

The key ingredient in the kit was TCA, or Trichloroacetic acid - a compound used by professionals for cosmetic peels. She purchased the chemical 'kit' from a seller with a YouTube channel on tattoo removal.

"It did say use part water and part acid, but I just put it on," she explained.

Hardy hoped the un-diluted acid would speed up the tattoo removal process, but instead, she suffered burns within minutes.

Despite her painful first experience, Hardy repeated the treatment another six times in the hope that it would rid her of the tattoo.

#7 Laser removal is the best for taking off that unwanted tattoo, but it's timely and expensive.

Although TCA (trichloroacetic acid) does remove a tattoo, it should not be a method used by amateurs at home. There are other ways to remove or lessen the appearance of a tattoo. Laser removal is best, as are other types of treatments such as dermabrasion, salabrasion (scrubbing the skin with salt), cryosurgery, and excision.

#8 Cryosurgery

It's also known as cryotherapy which is also used for tattoo removal. This procedure freezes and burns the tattooed skin with liquid nitrogen, and is done is many steps to complete the total removal.

#9 Or, you can try THIS!

Think before you Ink!