Ink Running - Stretch Marks and Tattoos

In a day and age where body art is once again heavily in vogue, ageing punks and former non-conformists now find that the dragon tattooed on a once youthful chest filled with vim and vigor is beginning to sag a little and no longer seems to be as fierce as it once looked. Ladies in particular are noticing that after a couple of pregnancies the intricate lace tattoos placed on their abdomens and inspired by the Sisters of Mercy’s debut album cover for First and Last and Always are suddenly more akin a broken doily than the beauteous lace.

Here are some fast facts about stretch marks and tattoos:

If you have a tattoo in an area that lends itself to stretch marks – usually the breasts, abdomen, thighs, buttocks, and upper arms – the tearing dermis will indeed affect the integrity of the tattoo. Specifically, some of the ink that is injected into the skin will be absorbed by the body during a tear.

In the more moderate cases, you will notice a bit of fading that seems to run like a line through your tattoo, while in the more severe cases the integrity of the design may be entirely destroyed.

Repairing an affected tattoo may be accomplished by a skilled tattoo artist once the stretch marks have faded.

Covering up a stretch mark with a cleverly placed tattoo is possible, but it is imperative that the mark will have faded to its maximum capacity. In addition to the foregoing, the texture of the stretch mark cannot be hidden with the tattoo, only the coloring. Yet keep in mind that any manipulation of scar tissue is much more painful than receiving a tattoo on other portions of the skin; thus you will want to have a dry needle run over a stretch mark to ensure that you will be able to see this process through to the end.

Some colors appear to be more apt to fading than others, and depending on when you received your body art or if it is a home job or done at a professional tattoo parlor, your tattoo may react differently than you might expect. In case of a doubt, visit a reputable tattoo artist to get some tips on what could be done with your tattoo.

While it is a tempting idea to have a tattoo retouched to once again sharpen the outline and bring out the vibrancy of the colors, the fact that a stretch mark now runs through the tattoo may in fact make retouching of the more elaborate works hard to accomplish. This is specifically true for the tribal tattoos that are becoming popular now. Some tattoo artists suggest that a tattoo that has turned into an unsightly and misshapen piece of ink accumulation could be reworked into a different tattoo altogether. Older tattoo wearers who may not be as attached to their body art as others also frequently opt for laser surgery to lessen the visibility of the stretch mark while at the same time serving to remove the tattoo in question.

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All articles on this site are for information only and should not be treated as medical advice.
If you experience any symptoms, consult a medical professional.