I live and work near Byron Bay, and you would think by looking at many of the people here that skin was designed for the express purpose of being covered in tattoos. But it is not. In fact, the skin is our largest organ.
 
What is skin for?
 
If we did not have skin, we would die very quickly. It insulates us, keeping us warm in cold weather and cool in the heat; keeps us hydrated and also waterproofs us;  and protects our insides from the outside world. It holds us, surrounds us, binds us, envelops us.
 
We breathe through it, absorb things through it and excrete stuff from it.
 
We feel with our skin: touch, temperature, pressure and pain. We relate to the world and other people with our skin.

The skin has two layers:

• The outer epidermis, the protective layer which is constantly being made and shed and which gives our skin its colour;
  

and

• The deeper dermis, which contains blood vessels, nerves, hair follicles, and oil and sweat glands. This is the layer into which tattoo ink is injected.
  

 

Our skin is part of our identity. This is a two-edged sword, for as our physical skin separates and protects our insides from the world around us, so does the nature of our skin identify us by colour, race, nationality and culture. These differences have been used to divide us, perhaps since time began, even though beneath the skin, we are all the same.
 
Tattooing ourselves is also a two-edged sword. Many of us do it to stand out, to be different, rebellious, to look cool, but if enough of us are doing it, we all start looking the same! So then our tattoos have to be more and more extreme to make an impact on others, and to satisfy ourselves.
 
This process can actually become addictive and before you know it, you can find yourself covered with images you may later regret, not only aesthetically, but physically.
 
Increasingly it is being shown that having tattoo ink in the skin can act as a long-term irritant that can cause skin disease, autoimmune diseases which can also affect other organs such as the eyes, and even cancer.
 
So if you are considering a tattoo, please think before you ink…

• Why are you doing it?
• What purpose will it serve?
• How are you feeling?
• Are you in  a great place to make a permanent decision that may affect the rest of your life?
• Could you possibly regret it? If so, please think again…

 
Take a moment to appreciate your skin…how lovely it is…what purpose it serves…whether clogging it up with ink that your body will be trying to clear for the rest of your life, thus overworking your immune system and possibly activating autoimmune disease and even cancer…is really what you want to do right now.
 
And if you do it anyway, and then you change your mind… we are here.
 
Reference and picture credit:
 
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/picture-of-the-skin#1
 
 
 

Tattoo regret is when you get a tattoo, and sooner or later, you wish you hadn’t!

According to a study at Northwestern University in the United States (1), about 25% of people with tattoos have some form of regret. Over 20% of American adults have at least one tattoo, which means 5% of the population has tattoo regret.

A survey in England (2) has found that 40% people with tattoos end up regretting having at least one of them done. This on-line survey of 1,200 people was inspired by the fact that an online beauty retailer noted sales of make-up concealers for body art had risen 32% in the past year.

They also found that one in six people hate their tattoos so much they want them surgically removed.

The most common reason for the change of heart is to remove so-called 'tramp stamps' (the band like tattoos women get on their lower back area.)

• 50% of those surveyed worry they will be considered ‘common, uncultured or a bit of a chav' (like Little Britain’s Vicky Pollard).
• 50% said that a person with prominent tattoos was less likely to succeed in business.
• 34% express regret for fear of how they’ll look as they age (and spread and sag).
• 17% said people with tattoos are seen as more likely to have one-night stands.

​
But perhaps the most surprising finding of the survey is that a tattoo can be a turn-off even to people who have them. A third of those surveyed said they would be less likely to date someone with prominent tattoos.

A recent Harris Interactive poll asked 2,016 adults in the United States if they currently had a tattoo and, if so, why. The survey found that around one out of every five U.S. adults (21%) had at least one tattoo, with the majority (52%) aged between 18 and 29.
​
30% of those surveyed said their tattoo makes them feel more sexy, and 25% said their tattoo makes them feel rebellious. 21% said their tattoo made them feel more attractive and 21% that they felt more strong.
Of those surveyed, 86 percent said they had never regretted their decision to get a tattoo, which means 14%, or 1 in 7 people, have (3).

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), tattoo removal is on the rise. The number of tattoo removal procedures in the U.S. reached 45,224 in 2013 compared to 40,801 procedures in 2011.

Women accounted for 73% of procedures.

Out of all ages, 35 to 50-year-olds accounted for 58% of tattoo removals preformed in 2013.

“A number of reasons can influence a person’s decision to seek tattoo removal,” director of the Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York, Dr. Roy G. Geronemus, told Medical Daily. “Young woman become mothers, people experience changes in work status, and sometimes it’s just a matter of maturity. We call it 'Tattoo Remorse.'” (3)

Have we reached the ink peak? Is it all downhill from here? Is getting a tattoo enough now to prove your individuality (if it ever was) or is it now too mainstream to be cool?

And what happens as we age and change and grow? Will the tattoos of our youth still fit us as well as our favourite old jeans? And what will our children think?

As one man who is currently going through the process of tattoo removal says:
"I'd been thinking of having them removed for ages," he says, "but the icing on the cake was when I went to take my five-year-old daughter off for her first day at school and she said to me, ‘Dad, can you please wear long sleeves.’" It almost broke his heart.
​
It's a moment most of Generation Inked is yet to face (4).

Links in this article

(1) http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/st-pete-tattoo-removal-brings-medically-performed-trinity-laser-tattoo-removal-to-the-st-petersburg-tampa-area-266037051.html
(2) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2594272/One-six-people-hate-tattoos-50-believe-ink-makes-look-common.html
(3) http://www.medicaldaily.com/tattoo-regret-why-majority-middle-aged-americans-are-deciding-blast-away-their-ink-274428
 (4) http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/no-regrets/story-e6frg8h6-1226671276004?nk=e5d0d8e3c0af930f328f261cfa9c39fc

There is a new trend out there – eyeball tattoos.

Striking – sure...different – for now...but please think carefully before choosing to look like this for the rest of your life – THEY CANNOT BE REMOVED.

When tattoo pigment is injected into the skin, the body recognises it as foreign (not itself) and then tries to remove it, to protect the rest of the body. Because the ink particles are larger than the white cells of the body, this is a slow and laborious process

Laser tattoo removal works because the pigment in the tattoo absorbs the laser light, shattering the ink particles into smaller ones which can then be removed by the white cells and excreted by the body.

On the skin, the laser works great, gradually fading the tattoo without causing scarring.

On the eyeball, it would cause an explosion of pigment which, because the eyeball is lined with pigment, would cause an explosion of the eyeball.

So, at present, there is no way of clearing, removing or fading these tattoos.

They will be there forever, for everyone to see, whether you want them to, or not.

Our eyes are so precious. They are the first thing most people look at when they want to learn more about us.

When we tattoo our eyes, we attempt to mask our true beauty.

Is it possible that eyeball tattoos are the most visible form of hiding – that while they have a shock value and are impossible not to notice, their real effect is to obscure our true nature – our deep beauty and sensitivity – from those around us?

There is an old saying: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

Never does this apply more so than in the case of tattoos.

We all have different standards of what we consider beautiful, and this has changed to some degree throughout the ages, but these days, standards of beauty are different to the point of being extreme.

What most of us consider as being beautiful when we are young, changes as we grow older, and it is important to know this before we do anything permanent, that cannot be erased.

We think that the first person we fall in love will be with us forever. We think we will always love a hairstyle when we first have it. We think we cannot live without a certain pair of jeans or pair of shoes, and we must have it, even if we cannot really afford it.

But we know this is not true. The lust fades. The hair grows. And the jeans and shoes wear out, or we grow, so that they no longer fit!

So, why do we think it will be different with tattoos?

What is it about tattoos that blinds us to the reality of changing fashion, tastes and styles?

Why do we get tattoos, which constantly remind us of a past that we have grown beyond?

Do tattoos make us feel safe, certain, knowing that something at least will never change, fade, leave us?

Do they make us feel different, individual, special?

Do we feel that we mean more, matter more, are more, if we have tattoos?

Everyone’s reasons for getting tattoos are there own, but studies have shown some common features (see article on EXTREME TATTOOS).

It is great to ponder on why we would want to get a tattoo, before making the commitment to do so.

They can be removed, but this is a painful, prolonged and expensive process, and it would be far better just to not get one in the first place, if there is any doubt at all in your mind that this is right for you.