When I was 17, I sneaked into a tattoo shop and had some really badly done ink put onto the back of my left shoulder. Fortunately, I don't see it every day because of its location, but still I know it's there, serving as a constant reminder of how much of an idiot I actually was in my teens. Barring repeat laser surgeries (which may not even remove the tattoo in its entirety), I'm pretty much stuck with this manifestation of youthful impetuousness.

Fast forward to present day. Had I been someone getting a tattoo now, I may have at least given myself a fighting chance to have it later removed if I was so inclined. This is because there is currently an FDA-approved ink being developed (by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard, Brown, and Duke universities) which can be completely erased with a single laser treatment.

Known as Freedom-2 (www.freedom2ink.com), this brand of ink is a combination of dyes and polymer, which means that it can't be absorbed by the body, thereby making its removal by laser much easier than traditional tattoos.