Laser Tattoo Removal in Chicago: A Category Study
Prepared by Convexive | October 6, 2026
The finding in one line: Chicago clinics that sell tattoo removal on the side draw low ratings for it 1.7 times as often as for their other services, unlike the specialists.
Based on 29,587 Google reviews, 100 clinic websites and 657 ads. How we did it is at the end.
Most Chicago listings that come up for tattoo removal are not specialists. Of the 138 we found, 124 belong to generalists: med spas, laser clinics and skin practices that mainly sell botox, facials and hair removal.
Their tattoo reviews run low. Low ratings are 9.6% of generalists' tattoo reviews and 5.6% of their reviews for other services. At the specialist chain the figure is 3.9%, and at independent specialists 2.9%. Before 2023 there was almost no gap.
A low tattoo rating lands on the same Google listing that sells the botox and the facials. Meanwhile search interest in tattoo removal in Illinois is 1.27 times its 2023 level (Google Trends, Illinois, pulled October 6, 2026).
A low rating means three stars or fewer. Every number is counted from the sources at the end. Two labels mark the exceptions: Our read for our own interpretation, and Simulated for a panel of simulated buyers.
Generalists' tattoo reviews run low
On generalist listings, 35 of the 363 reviews that name tattoo work and no other service are low ratings (9.6%). For reviews that name botox, filler, a facial or laser hair removal, the figure is 5.6% of 5,173. For reviews that name no service, it is 3.9% of 15,120.
Tattoo removal is slow and it hurts, so it could draw bad reviews anywhere. The specialists say otherwise. Counted the same way, Removery is at 30 of 760 (3.9%), and the independent specialists are at 4 of 138 (2.9%).
Two cautions. One chain, LaserAway, accounts for a large part of the gap: 13 of the 67 tattoo reviews there are low ratings (19.4%), against 7.6% for its other services. At the other generalists the figures are 22 of 296 (7.4%) against 5.3%, and on 22 low ratings that could be chance.
We could not tell what causes the gap. These counts show where the low ratings fall.
What to check: Sort your own Google reviews into tattoo work and everything else, then compare the share of low ratings.
The gap opened after 2023
Before 2023, low ratings were 8.7% of generalists' tattoo reviews and 8.0% of their reviews for other services. Since 2023 the figures are 10.5% for tattoo work and 4.7% for other services.
Ratings for the other services improved. Ratings for tattoo work stayed where they were.
What to check: Read your low tattoo reviews from 2023 on, and note what they have in common.
Most clinics keep the price off the page
On October 6, 2026, we read the tattoo removal page on each clinic's own website. By price we mean a dollar figure or a stated way of charging.
On 35 generalist sites, that page offers removal. On 23 of the 35 it says nothing about price, and on 4 it says the price comes at a consultation. Of the other 8, 3 sell packages of sessions, 3 price by the session or by tattoo size, and 2 sell one price or unlimited sessions. A price on the page is the exception.
Independent specialists do much the same: 3 of the 5 whose page offers removal show no price.
Removery states how it charges. Its site says: "With Removery, you pay one price for unlimited sessions." Its cost guide puts that at $69 to $216 a month on a 24-month plan (Removery cost guide, read September 29, 2026).
Our read. Keeping the price off the page is the local habit, and the chain is the exception. We cannot say which way of selling works better, because there are too few low ratings to compare clinics by how they price.
What to check: Open your tattoo removal page as a buyer would, and see whether it says what the job costs or how you charge.
Also true
One chain has most of the tattoo reviews
Removery has 6 of the 138 listings and 71.2% of the 3,105 tattoo reviews we counted. That figure runs high and is no market share. A specialist listing counts every review with text, while a generalist listing counts only the reviews that name tattoo work: 83 of the 2,721 at LaserAway (3.1%), and 378 of 18,002 at the other generalists (2.1%). Clinics that ask for reviews also collect more of them.
Few generalists advertise tattoo removal
Google's ad library returned 816 ads for 25 of the clinic sites, and we could read 657 of the 816. Of the 92 generalist sites, 24 had ads there, and only 3 of the 24 had an ad that mentions tattoo removal. LaserAway's reads "Get 50% Off Laser Tattoo Removal | Single Treatment".
Removery's ads say less about price than its site. We read 87 of them, and 61 of the 87 carry the line "100% Guaranteed Approval for Monthly Payment Plans". In 60 of the 87, the exact price comes at a free consult. One flat price appears in 3.
Meta's ad library, checked the same day, agrees. We could match 65 of the 98 generalist names to an advertiser, and 27 of the 65 had active ads. Only 1 had ads that mention tattoo: LaserAway, whose tattoo ads sit behind an age check we could not pass.
Clinics already explain ink and skin
Of the 35 generalist pages, 26 explain that ink colour or skin tone changes the result, 24 say how many sessions to expect, and 19 name the laser.
Reviewers bring it up too, mostly about brows and lips: in 27 of the 144 cosmetic tattoo reviews (18.8%), against 30 of the 634 body tattoo reviews (4.7%). Those reviews are rated no lower than the rest: low ratings are 6.0% of them, against 8.4% of the other reviews we sorted.
Bad work is the top reason on Reddit
Reviews rarely say why the tattoo has to go. Only 90 of the 1,179 reviews we sorted give a reason (7.6%). So we also read 9 Reddit threads that ask the question, where 245 of the 425 comments give one (57.6%).
Bad work leads on Reddit, at 51.0% of the reasons given. In reviews it is second at 25.6%, behind "no longer wanted" at 28.9%. A 2024 review names "the horribly done flowers behind my ear". A Reddit comment says "Artist did something completely different from what I wanted".
Some reasons barely show in reviews. Recovery, an ex, a job or a body change are 19.6% of the reasons on Reddit, and 4 of the 90 in reviews (4.4%). One Reddit comment: "I started removing my tattoos 4 years into my sobriety".
Brows and lips gone wrong are 20 of the 90 reasons in reviews (22.2%). Reddit cannot check that figure, because its threads are about body tattoos.
Our read. Reviews hide private reasons, and Reddit leans to people who want a tattoo fully gone. The real mix likely sits between the two, and only asking real buyers would settle it.
Search interest is up, less so in Illinois
Across the US, the yearly search index for tattoo removal was 42.3 in 2023, 43.1 in 2024 and 52.7 in 2025 (Google Trends, US, pulled September 29, 2026). The first 39 weeks of 2026 average 59.4, which is 1.40 times the 2023 level.
Illinois rose with the country through 2025, at 1.24 times its own 2023 level, and stands at 1.27 times in 2026 so far. Trends shows interest, not volume, and its smallest area here is the state.
What a simulated panel made of five real offers
Simulated. We showed five real offers to a panel of 10 simulated buyers on SimPanel and scored each from 0 to 100, in two runs. Each offer is real ad or page text from a clinic in this study, with the clinic's name taken out. For one of them we added the chain's own price, which comes to $1,656 to $5,184 over 24 months.
The specialist chain's ad came first in both simulated runs: 64.3 and 62.9 with the full price stated, and 61.5 both times as it runs. The three generalist offers scored between 49.5 and 57.4 in simulation.
In simulation, gaps under about 10 points are ties, and the chain's lead over the next offer was a tie both times. Stating the full price did not lower its simulated score.
Simulated buyers are not people, and these scores predict no real booking rate.
What to watch
- Do generalists still get more low ratings for tattoo work? Count the next 100 tattoo reviews on generalist listings. About 61 arrived in 2025, so that takes until late 2028. If the rate is 1.3 times the rate for their other services or less, the gap has closed.
- Do more clinics put the price on the page? Re-read the same 40 pages in late 2027. In this read, 30 of the 40 show none. If fewer than half do, the habit has changed.
- Does search interest keep rising? Compare January to June 2027 with January to June 2023. In 2026 the US first half averaged 61.5, against 44.0 in 2023. Under 1.15 times the 2023 figure, the rise is over.
- Is bad work still the top reason on Reddit? Read 200 new comments from threads that ask why. In this read it is 51.0% of the reasons given. Under 40%, it no longer leads the way it does here.
Next step
We can run this study on one clinic: its own reviews, every place its buyers talk, and real buyers in place of the simulated panel. To start, book a conversation with Convexive.
How we did this
We ran 35 Google Maps searches for tattoo removal across the Chicago area and kept the top 20 results of each. They found 201 listings, and we dropped 63: tattoo studios filed under removal, and brow shops that only came up on brow or fading searches. That left 138 listings: 6 Removery listings, 8 independent specialists and 124 generalists.
We pulled 29,587 Google reviews from 135 of those listings on August 30, 2026, written from 2012 on, and 23,367 have text. A language model sorted 1,179 tattoo reviews by reason, job, tattoo type and complaint, and a script checked every label and quote. No person read all 29,587 reviews.
We read 9 Reddit threads from r/TattooRemoval, with 425 usable comments, on August 30, 2026.
On October 6, 2026, we read the 100 clinic websites behind the listings and pulled 816 ads from the Google Ads Transparency Center for the US, up to 100 a site. We also looked up 107 clinic names in the Meta Ad Library, one at a time. Ad text was read off preview pictures by machine.
Search data is from Google Trends. The simulated panel was run on October 6, 2026.
Limitations of our approach
- Counts, not buyers. These are counts of reviews, pages and ads, not of buyers or sales. Clinics that ask for reviews get more of them.
- Small clinics are missed. The searches kept the top results only. This is not every clinic in Illinois.
- Some listings came back short. The review tool returns at most 750 reviews per listing, and 8 listings came back short, one Removery listing and one LaserAway listing among them. Another 3 could not be pulled.
- Two counting rules. A specialist listing counts every review with text as a tattoo review. A generalist listing counts only reviews that name tattoo work. Another 67 generalist reviews name tattoo work and another service, and are left out of the comparison.
- Most reviews say little. Only 1,179 of the 3,105 tattoo reviews say enough to sort, and 708 of the 1,179 are from Removery listings.
- Reddit is not Chicago. It is national, about body tattoos, and leans to full removal.
- One read per site. Each clinic site was read once. We found a tattoo removal page on 45 of the 100 sites. No price means none on that page. A price may sit elsewhere on the site.
- Machine sorting. A language model sorted the clinic pages. A script checked its quotes, and a second script found no dollar figure near the tattoo text on any of the 27 no-price pages.
- Ads are national. Google's ad library sorts by website and country, so a chain's ads are national. 4 sites hit the 100-ad limit, and 159 of the 816 ads could not be read.
- Unmatched names. In Meta's library, 35 of the 107 names had no clear match. It shows active ads only.
- Simulated, not real. The simulated panel has 10 simulated buyers, and it scored real offers with the clinic names removed.