Blog post #1: Why Tattoos are Permanent

Being inked is maybe one way to have a permanent peace of art in your body. Some people get inked because the tattoo that they want has a sentimental value, while others just do it because they think that it's cool to have a tattoo or they just want  some art on their body. In fact, if you ask me if tattoos are cool, I would have to say yes. But the real question is: why are tattoos permanent? Also, what are the risks that you may have by getting one?

In relation to the topic, I found an article entitled "FYI: What Makes Tattoos Permanent?" by Carley Lintz from the site www.popsci.com. 

To apply a tattoo they use a mechanized needle to puncture the skin and inject ink in to the second layer of the skin also known as the dermis. Having a tattoo means damaging your skin. Basically, the body responds with white blood cells which attempt to absorb the foreign particles and dispose of them in the blood stream.

In 2010, tattoos have become increasingly popular according to Pew Research Report. About 40 percent of Americans between the age of 18 and 29 have at least one tattoo. Age is probably one of the problems that you may encounter on having a tattoo because a tattoo becomes blurred after years on having one, and also fading and distortion may happen due to changes in body shape. That is one of the reason why tattoo shops only accept people above 18 years old of age because that's basically the age when your body is fully developed.

If you don't like your tattoo no more whether it's faded or causing a bad case of buyer's regret, the most effective method is the laser treatment. To remove a tattoo using laser, the light beam zeroes in on a single color (in most cases black) and breaks up the pigments particles until they are small enough to be carried away by white blood cells. Usually this process requires many sessions depending on the size of the tattoo and the color and also removing a tattoo may cause scarring.

The problem with tattoos is exactly what makes them so appealing--their permanency.

"If you have the name of your boyfriend on there and then you marry somebody else, that's a problem," Laumann says.

So if you want to get a tattoo, think about it. If it's gonna be worth it and are you still gonna like it even after a couple of years. Also, never ever have a tattoo of your boyfriend/girlfriend's name, because you never know what's gonna happen to your relationship.

In connection to this topic, I came across an article untitled "How do tattoos last for so long?" by Neil Walker from the site www.thenakedscientists.com.

The definition of tattoo is marks produced on skin by the injection of the material by a puncturing. As a dermatologist, Neil Walker sees a variety of tattoos, not any of those which have been applied by a so-called tattoo artist. Occasionally he sees a lot of people with a black kind of tattoo, where a dye called PPD is used and it can cause nasty skin reactions.

A henna tattoo is not a tattoo at all, but it's a drying process using the paste to produce a design in the dead outer layers of the skin. The design fades as the skin regenerates and that's the reason why tattoos that are applied by puncturing are permanent. The skin regenerates over a period of six to eight weeks.

Pigments that are applied under the growing layers are in the dermis or supporting layer of the skin and are turnover. Pigment granules are recognized by the body as a foreign material and there are cells which function is to remove such material by engulfing them and transporting it to the lymph glands. These cells are unable to engulf pigment granules every certain size and, therefore, the body seem to surround them at their microscopic level by a thin layer of fibrous or scar tissue.  And they become permanently trapped in the dermis.

The removal process takes time and can fade over time with different colors fading at different rates depending on the particle size of the pigment.

"In short tattoos are permanent because pigment particles are injected under the growing layer of the skin and the body’s mechanisms for dealing with foreign materials can't remove the particles over a certain size," Neil Walker says.

Tattoos are definitely something to think about before getting  because they are permanent. In other words, they will not vanish with soap and water. It is probaly better to get a henna first just to see if tattoos look good on you. The best part of it is that it only lasts for maybe a week and, if you get one from a good henna artist, it will look like a real tattoo because usually most people that do henna are also tattoo artist.