went to her neighborhood salon in Illinois to have the rose tattoo on her back removed , a decision she said that left her not only with physical scars but emotional ones as well . Pak said a laser was used to peel back layers of the tattooed skin . She said she knew the procedure would hurt , but was not prepared for what she experienced -- pain that was excruciating `` beyond words . '' Watch more on the dangers of illegal laser surgery `` I was in tears for I believe a week , but certainly while she was doing it I did n't have any anesthesia or anything . She literally had a laser pen and was zapping across my skin , '' she said . And she said the tattoo was only partially removed . The proliferation of medical spas and other clinics offering laser treatments worries the ASDS , which said botched laser skin procedures increased 41 percent from 2005 to 2006 . `` We see a definite increase in the number of people being damaged by untrained individuals using these lasers and we think that this is just going to be more of
NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The laser surgery business is booming for treatments like hair , tattoo and wrinkle removal . Julie Pak gets laser treatment from a doctor , eight years after she says she was scarred by earlier treatment . In 2005 , the last year recorded , the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery said its members performed nearly 1 million such procedures , about 300,000 more than in 2003 . Board certified dermatologists , however , are not the only ones operating lasers on skin . Laser treatments are offered at local beauty salons , and are also a big part of the medical spa industry , which has grown by 160 percent in the last three years , according to the International Medical Spa Association . The association says a medical spa operates under the full-time , on-site supervision of a licensed health care professional . It offers traditional , complementary and alternative health practices and treatments in a spa-like setting . Some doctors are concerned that while these high-tech devices can produce amazing results , in the wrong hands , the outcome can be horrifying . Eight years ago , computer programmer Julie Pak