My past always haunts me.

August 2, 2006 10:43 AM

Tattoos for the scarred.

I am thinking about getting a tattoo on my left bicep. My concern is that I have a history of self-injury, due to manic-depression. As a result, said bicep is fairly heavily scarred.

My question is two-fold:

a) How will a tattoo take on a generally scarred area?
b) Will future cutting incidents cause severe damage to the tattoo?

Please keep any off-topic comments on self-injury elsewhere. It's a chronic illness, I'm being treated for it, and it's not currently a problem for me. But I also must rationally admit that it may be, again, in the future, and I would hate for the self-loathing such incidents cause to be enhanced by ruining a tattoo I like.

Should I just skip it and go for the other arm?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

The good news is that you can tattoo over pre-existing scarring just fine. The bad news is that future cuts to the tattooed area will screw up the tattoo. But then again, perhaps having a tattoo you like will dissuade you from cutting?
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:57 AM on August 2, 2006

I would put the tatoo on the other (right) arm. Putting it on your left bicep will just draw attention to the scarring and may induce people to ask about the scars when they ask about the tatoo.

Also, as Mr. Butt pointed out, future scars will mar the tatoo.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:20 AM on August 2, 2006

If you are going to tattoo over the scars, be extra picky about the tattooer. Tattooing over scars is hard, especially if there's any kind of detail in the design at all.
And yes, if you cut deep enough, if will probably mess with the tattoo.
posted by gally99 at 11:25 AM on August 2, 2006

When I was a teenager, I used to cut my left arm, when I was going through depression & an eating disorder. Fortunately I was treated for it, and about four or five months after I stopped cutting, I got a tattoo in the area. The tattooist never commented about my scars, so perhaps it is more common than one might think.

Now, a decade later, the tattoo has held up pretty well, but the scars are still visible (somehow I had thought they would heal, I don't know why). The tattoo has been a major reason for me not to start cutting again... it reminds me how strong I can be and that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I know it's probably some trick of the mind, but I can actually feel my tattoo hurting when I've thought about cutting again.

I think the thing to do would be to take your design to a tattoo artist that you like or has been recommended to you, and talk to them about it. What they can do is probably dependent on how scarred the area is, but I am no professional. Whatever you decide, good luck to you.
posted by meringue at 11:56 AM on August 2, 2006 [1 favorite]

I freely admit I have no idea what I'm talking about here, but is incorporating the scarring (texture, shape, and/or color) into the tattoo an option?
posted by kimota at 1:09 PM on August 2, 2006

At my dad's shop, I met someone who was going to get their fairly large burn scar turned into the face of yoda and my dad had mentioned people with scars incorporating them into tats in a lot of ways. He did a tiger paw with claws out that looked wicked cool with a guy's back scars. People might even think the scarification was intentional decorative rather than self injury.

So, find a good tattoo artist that will work the existing scars in, rather than try to just work over (they'll show). It requires more money and more research, but ink's forever, so I tend to think it's worth it.

As far as cutting again, yeah, it'll mess it up, both in color and shape. I've got baby stretchmarks through a lizard, so it's become fuzzy and it looks like it was run over by a car...
posted by Gucky at 1:20 PM on August 2, 2006

Scar tissue, as far as I know, is less porous than undamaged skin, so tattoo artists may have to go over scar tissue a bit more to color it in. This should not be a large problem, and tattoos have been done over scars (see above). I suggest talking to your tattoo artist about this if you have any concerns. I'm sure it wouldn't be their first time dealing with someone with a situation such as yours. Best of luck.
posted by viachicago at 1:25 PM on August 2, 2006

I took my mother to get cigarette burns on her shoulder tattooed over (the story behind them is horrible and obvious) a few years ago. The tattooist needed to check the depth/consistency of the scars over in order to decide whether it was possible, and they were of reasonable (nearly 30 year old very red blotchy scars) thickness. So I'm guessing it depends on both their ability and the prominence of the scars themselves as to whether it's possible.

I would say get a few recommendations for tattoo artists, pay them a visit, have a chat with them and see what they think. The man that tattooed my mother (who also did my first tattoo a few years before) had seen it all before. It comes with the job it seems, and covering those scars up was (hopefully) one of the best decisions my mother had ever made.
posted by saturnine at 1:29 PM on August 2, 2006

You might want to use Mederma on them for a few weeks prior to smooth the skin a bit.
posted by radioamy at 1:35 PM on August 2, 2006

I friend long ago had a deep scar on her arm from a bad accident. She had it incorporated into the mouth of a tattoo of a comical woman's face. She named her tat "Scarlett." When she held her arm just right and wiggled her fingers it looked like Scarlett was talking. Incorporating the scar into a funny tattoo was emotionally healing according to her.
posted by agatha_magatha at 1:41 PM on August 2, 2006

Scars are pretty difficult to tattoo over. A lot depends on the size; my best friend's arms are covered in very large self-inflicted scars, generally made with kitchen knives, and they show through all the tattoos she has. But the tattoos on my arms cover up, for the most part, the hundreds of scars, generally made with razor blades, that used to be very visible.

So, simply, the more scar tissue there is, the less likely it is to take any ink.

And yes, future cuts will fuck up your tattoos. The severity, of course, depends on how deeply you cut, how badly you scar, and what you used to cut with.
posted by cmonkey at 7:52 PM on August 2, 2006

My standard answer: check the bme qod. They have lots of q&a's about stuff like this.

Scar tissue is tattoo-able. The ink won't take as well as it would on non-scarred skin, and scarred skin is generally much more sensitive than non-scarred skin.

Best bet, as others have suggested, is to go to an artist, have him or her examine your scars and give you suggestions as to what will work best for you.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 6:38 AM on August 3, 2006

Getting a tattoo, for me, satisfies to some extent the urge that cutting myself used to satisfy. It is much more expensive, unfortunately, but much cooler looking, and requiring no embarassing explanation. I've long been considering getting tattoos over my scars when I can afford it.
posted by Darth Fedor at 12:49 PM on September 19, 2006