One could see this coming a mile away.

Market research by IBISworld shows the tattoo removal industry has grown 440 percent in the past decade, and now is a $75.5 million per year business.

Peter J. Katz, a dermatologist with Dermatology Associates of Wisconsin in Appleton, has seen a dramatic increase in tattoo removals in the past seven years. Most patients, he said, are between 35 and 45 years old.

“I think in general a lot of these people who are at this point (of having a tattoo removed) are probably in the young professional category,” Katz said. “Or even those in the 40-year-old range maybe got a tattoo between 18 and 25 that just doesn’t mesh with their current profession.”

I don’t have any problem at all with tattoos. But as they have become mainstream, I see very young people getting very ridiculous tattoos. It has become the thing to do for teens when they turn 18. But instead of getting a little flower or something trivial in an obscure place, they are getting huge tattoos that cover an entire limb. Or they get one of those silly tattoos with a poem or something that seems great when you are 19, but is really cheesy when you are 40 and the clean print has sagged to cursive.

I just wish I could figure out a good way to invest in the tattoo removal industry.