CLOSE TO HOME

I decided to interview my closest friend about her recent tattoo of a dinosaur (yes, a dinosaur). The picture above is a photo that my friend took of her own tattoo. It is being used with permission, as is the transcript and documentation of her interview below. Here is our conversation:

Me: Explain your tattoo. Where on your body is it?

Friend: My tattoo is of a green brontosaurus dinosaur, it is on my left rib.

Me: What is it's significance?

Friend: Well, I think it suits me as a person. I like its artistic expression, it makes me happy to look at, although I don't see it very often because it is in an odd place.

Me: Can you explain your decision making process?

Friend: One night I was walking around the Village (Greenwich Village in NYC- she goes to NYU) and decided "Hey, I want a tattoo!", so I got it! It was great. About four months before, my friend tried to convince me to get a dino tattoo on my butt. I didn't then, but it sparked my interest for the future. I always related to dinosaurs.

Me: Do you think you will regret it? Do you have any hesitations?

Friend: I probably won't want it in ten years, but how I look at it is that I hope to be successful enough in ten years to have the money to get it removed. I like to think of it as motivation to succeed in life. YEAH I have hesitations of showing it to my family because I am afraid they will think I'm weird.

Me: What satisfaction do you get out of having it on your body?

Friend: I feel like a bad ass!

Me: What were the positives and negatives of getting your tattoo?

Friend: The positives are that people think its cool NOW. The negatives are that they probably wont think it's cool later. I also can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery. (She's not Jewish...)

Me: What were your feelings about tattoos prior to getting yours?

Friend: I didn't want to get one because I wanted to be the only person in my family with out one, but then I was like whatever, I'm going to conform!

Okay, I think she was trying to be funny but she did provide some interesting answers to my questions. Her decision to permanently tattoo her body with a dinosaur was clearly a very impulsive one. I personally don't think she weighed the positives and negatives enough of her tattoo. I found some interesting information on tattoo removal, which my friend brought up in her interview. Although she was joking about being "successful enough" to get her tattoo, the fact that she would even be talking about that less than a month after she got her tattoo is a little disturbing. According to the Loftus Plastic Surgery Center in Cincinatti, one session of tattoo removal can cost anywhere between 200-300 dollars, with the total cost ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 dollars because usually multiple sessions are used. Is it worth it to get a tattoo that you will just get removed in the future? 

Here are some of the tattoo removal options I found:

1. Cover- up tattoos. This process only applies if you want to get your tattoo turned into something else, not removed. The tattoo artist simply changes your tattoo into something you would prefer. A "fade system" like this also might be desirable to lessen the darkness of the tattoo prior to cover-up surgery.

2. Excision. With excision, the surgeon will actually remove the actual epidermis and dermis where the tattoo is. This is an extremely invasive surgery and leaves a scar, but removes the tattoo completely.

3. Dermabrasion and Salabrasion. These two techniques of tattoo removal uses a "rotary" device to abrade the skin slowly. With dermabrasion, the tattoo is first sprayed with a freezing agent and with salabrasion, it is covered with a water and salt solution. Both methods leave bad scars in place of the removed tattoo.

4. Laster tattoo removal. This is the newest method in tattoo removal. The light of the laser is used to break down the tattoo so it can be naturally flushed out by the body. The skin bears no marks.

These removal techniques should be taken in account when deciding to get a tattoo, I believe. I particularly liked this quote on the Associated Content article entitled, "Tattoo Removal Options and Potential Side Effects". "There are many mistakes in life that we can't fix, we simply must live with them, but an unwanted tattoo doesn't have to be one of them." Did you know that it also costs MORE to have a tattoo removed than to have it put on?

1. Interview by Jane Gelb. Personal Interview. Norton, MA/ New York, NY. March 23, 2009.

2. Loftus Plastic Surgery Center. Electronic Document.

2009 Dr. Jean M. Loftus

www.infoplasticsurgery.com, Accessed March 23, 2009.

3. Sin of the Skin

2007  Sinoftheskin.com

www.sinoftheskin.com, Accessed March 23, 2009.

4. Tattoo Removal Options and Potential Side Effects

2008 Erin Morris

www.associatedcontent.com, Accessed March 23, 2009