But what happens when you break up with your girlfriend whose name you have emblazoned on your chest?

Retired biology teacher George Walpole has seized the chance to open LaserOff Tattoo Removal at the Ballarat Business Centre.

“Ballarat is great, not too small and not too big. There’s a lot going on and I enjoy playing music, singing with the choir and I’ve joined the SES,” he said.

Mr Walpole said people sought tattoo removal for a number of reasonable, and some obscure, reasons.

“Some people have a change of their lifestyle, get a new job, they might have children, they might have the wrong name,” he said. “Some get them removed so they can put a new one on.”

He confessed he did not have any ink spots on his own skin. 

“I think we are still seeing tattoos being put on at a rate faster than they are being taken off,” he said. “It’s an industry (tattoo removal) that is going very well in the capital cities and I thought I’d give it a go in the regional centre.”

He said the laser treatment left no scars on customers.

For more info, visit www.laseroff.com.au