The laser light penetrates the upper layers of the skin without damaging it, acting directly on the dye itself. The molecular structure of the dye is destroyed, it discolors and is gradually washed out of the skin by the lymph. It should be noted that the entire volume of the tattoo is effectively destroyed, not just the surface. This is achieved because each pulse in the series causes fragmentation of a particular layer of the dye to make way for the next pulse. Thus, a layer-by-layer fragmentation of all tattoo dye particles takes place.