Blink Tattoo Removal – Blog

Last week, one of our affiliates in Los Angeles received an anonymous letter from a fellow dermatologist claiming that Blink was violating certain standards of regulation in delivery of our service.  Why would someone send a letter anonymously to scare one of our affiliates about the work that we perform on their behalf?  Obviously Los Angeles is a competitive market for tattoo removal but it seems cowardly to send a threatening letter.  There are over 10 million people in Los Angeles alone.  Is our affiliate really that much of a threat simply because she purchased a tattoo removal laser?  On one hand I suppose this is a compliment to what we do if we instill this kind of concern.  On the other hand it is irritating and here is why…

First, I am a huge believer in transparency. In fact, I wrote a personal blog post on it in June of this year.  So when we receive a letter that targets what we do when the author has no idea what we do I take it personally.

Second, who is this person?  I mean really?  The letter was from a fellow dermatologist that was unwilling to sign the letter personally?  Who does that?  Step up to have a conversation if you’re concerned about our work.

Now, let me explain what we do. At Blink we do not practice medicine. We are an affiliate network that provides services to physician practices who are adopting laser tattoo removal into their practice.  We do not own lasers.  We do not employ physicians.  We do not dictate medical standards.  We do not operate at a clinical level.  We are not a franchise (although we considered doing that for awhile).  As an affiliate, we license our brand for their service line and then provide outreach (social media, search optimization, web education, word of mouth) to help them build a historically difficult service line in tattoo removal.  Additionally, we are not paid based on volume or value of referrals, another alleged complaint from Dr. Anonymous.

For a patient, we want Blink to be seen as a trusted network of physicians committed to delivering excellence in patient care for tattoo removal.  Our affiliate network of physicians provides a collegial/collaborative forum whereby providers can share information amongst one another to improve the level of service delivered.  Affiliates combining their resources to a central brand can have more impact on a given market rather than one physician acting alone to build their brand online.

In the interest of transparency, this is what we do.  We’re excited about this service and believe in our value to the community.  We definitely don’t always get it right and like anything we learn as we go as we make mistakes.  That said, it doesn’t feel good to be attacked by someone who has no insight into what we do or why we do it.  I hope I have the opportunity to meet Dr. Anonymous one day.  Maybe I already have.