Dear Trudy,
Laser tattoo removals are pretty well established by now, offered by cosmetic skin treatment centres or tattoo/piercing studios. They work by breaking down the molecules of the dye into pieces small enough to be cleaned up by your immune system. RT tattoos can often be removed within 1-3 treatments, but obviously your body needs some time to do the cleaning up part, so they should fade gradually over weeks and months. Immediately after the treatment you will probably have a small blood blister or wound (max size of the treated area), but normally they heal without scars. As always with medical treatments,there is the disclaimer that every person reacts differently... I don't see a reason not to try it.
As far as skin-coloured tattoos go. You might want to consider that tattoos do not tan, if that is factor in your case.
I'd like to ask you a favour (for lack of a better word). Please let your cancer treatment centre, oncologists, radiologists etc know how you feel about these tattoos. Technically it is absolutely possible to do RT without tattooed marks, but radiologist like them and often do not offer alternatives, therefore essentially forcing patients to have them (if they want RT). They seem to be able to convince themselves that this acceptable, because of the benefits, because the dots are small, because cancer patients have bigger problems and don't protest enough. I did protest, and found myself being talked down like a six-year-old who doesn't want to go to the dentist, kind of aggressively, too.
This practice is unlikely to change unless we patients make some noise. Please, let's change it! Thank you, and good luck.
xxx
