It all started with an excruciatingly embarrassing tattoo. So embarrassing in fact, that James Morel, founder of this Southern California hotspot tattoo treatment center, wouldn’t even disclose what the tattoo was. When asked, he merely stated that there came a time where he “just had to have that thing removed.” After walking the streets of New York City for three days and searching high and low to get rid of the previously mentioned mysterious ink printing, Morel was fed up. He couldn’t understand why it was so hard to find a place to take on his case.
After finally finding a laser center to do the unspecified removal, Morel was so pleased with the results that he thought, “There should really be one of these on every corner in America! It shouldn’t take someone three days to find out where to remove a tattoo.”
That realization was the genesis behind Dr. TATTOFF. “I wanted to provide the same service to other people that I needed for myself,” says Morel.
Being able to relate to his patients is what makes Morel so compassionate about his work. He knows that “Everyone’s got their own story—every level of embarrassment is different. Some people have just changed and don’t like that sort of style on them anymore. Mine is just one of many stories.”
Since one has to be a licensed doctor or nurse to perform the actual procedure, Morel had his work cut out for him. He worked hard, and he worked fast. He made a few phone calls, probably flashed some nice toothy grins, and soon, Morel found a group of people in the medical field that were interested in the art of reverse-tattooing.
Around 150 people stumble into one of the three Dr. TATTOFF offices, that are located all across the greater Los Angeles area, every day sporting bad decisions made when they were drunk, in lust, or just too damn young. Morel notes that the top tattoo his clients usually want erased from their bodies, as well as their memories, are people’s names.
To satisfy the judgmental curiosity inside of me, that only gets off on the misery of the once hotcheer leader-but-now-fat-and pregnant girl from my small hometown, I asked Morel if there were a lot of young women wanting to get their lower back tattoos removed. Much to my inner-hater’s delight, he told us, “Yup. Tramp stamps are very popular to have removed these days.” Thank God I never got that dolphin making out with a butterfly that I always wanted…
With one of their offices in Beverly Hills, it’s only natural that Morel would have his share of celebrities stumbling through the doors of his company -- though he was very hush-hush about these specifics. Goddamn that doctor/patient confidentiality. The result of gratitude remains the same, however, whether the client is a celebrity, or a Joe Shmo coming out of prison with his cell daddy’s nam on his forehead. “People are definitely, definitely grateful,” says Morel, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, ‘this is so amazing! I’m so happy!’ It’s really nice. It makes me feel good about what I’m doing.”
By Thia Bonadies
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