Our Imperfect Skin: Scars, Stretch Marks, And More

[tatB]

I'm looking for good healed examples of good tattoos by good artists that have been made on imperfect skin. When I say imperfect skin I'm thinking surgical scars, burn scars, cutting scars, road rash scars, acne scars, stretch marks, moles, freckles, birthmarks, and anything similar.

I ask because I have a pretty decent sized surgical scar along with some stretch marks on my back and I'm curious to see how skin imperfections look covered by tattoos. I know scars and stretch marks tend to "blow up" immediately after tattooing so healed examples would be better than fresh.

[scubaron]

I have a big nasty keloid scar on my shoulder from surgery. It's an old scar, but still big, ugly and raised.

You can still see it, but it's totally covered by the sharks tail. I did make the artist shift the tail to fully cover the scar, so the tattoo does look a little off. This picture is immediately after getting the tattoo. The scar is a little less raised now. I'm happy with it.

[DevilMan]

I have a surgical scar from a shoulder injury (from a crash with a roadbike).

This is a picture the day after surgery

The scar didn't heal very nicely (as you can probably imagine from that picture ;-) )

And this picture a couple of minutes ago, you can still see a part of the scar without ink, and you can see the covered part.

I also have some road rash on my elbowd, which is now covered by my sleeves.

[tatB]

Thanks for sharing @DevilMan and @scubaron beautiful examples!

[HettyKet]

I have old (10+ years) cutting scars that were tattooed over last october and november, there's no knowing how they'll age but they've settled in nicely. I'm not sure I meet your standards (WRT GOOD)but thought I'd post anyway as in some places the tattoo goes right though the scarring, that's not something I was able to find many photos of myself. In both the photos the scars are more visible than in the flesh - the texture difference seems more apparent.

Scars

tattoos

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crikey! That second photo is way too big - will try and sort that out!

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Better like this, I think. My excuses.

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/0e/d0/6b/0ed06b32a0a7dea2833890308a49f5e7.jpg

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(the stabbed turnip at the top isn't healed yet but doesn't touch any scarring either)

[tatB]

@HettyKet another great example! if i wasn't looking for the scars i wouldn't have noticed any in any of these photos posted so far.

[OutOfIdeas]

Hope this works, and you can see it, but i have a very large (3/4" wide) but flat scar, from a heart surgery 21 years ago. The "r" sits almost entirely on it, in my chest rocker. Looks a little different from the other letters, up close, but not too noticeable from a distance. Felt weird as hell getting tattooed though! If you want I can try and get a better picture when I'm not in my car on lunch break, which is awkward.

[HaydenRose]

@HettyKet your arm is coming along nicely! Congrats. And thanks for sharing. I, too, have cutting scars on my left forearm, which will someday (funds pending) be entirely covered with a COHESIVE ARM TATTOO (yeah!). If I ever tattoo my hands I have a nasty scar on the top of my left hand, so based on everyone else's examples it looks like it should be OK.

Was there any differences in sensation while being tattooed over scars? More sensitive? More difficulty healing those areas? Just curious.

This thread is great! Thanks everyone.

[DevilMan]

Tattooing over my surgery scar was a bit more painfull, but not much... but my scar was something like 10 years old when it got tattooed over.

Healing was no different than the surrounding skin.

[Tesseracts]

This is sort of an unrelated question, but I have acne scars on my shoulders I want to cover. How socially acceptable is it to have a tattoo near your neck but not actually on your neck? Most shirts would probably show it.

Some of my cystic acne scars seem difficult to cover, as they are dark purple, and all of the scars I see covered are lighter.

[OutOfIdeas]

Tattooing my scar was weird. Felt like some parts I couldn't feel pain, just vibrations, and others were quite intense. The intense sensations only lasted like half a second though. Not sure what that was all about.

[HettyKet]

Thank you @HaydenRose :o Is all down to Willem.

I didn't notice any difference in feeling while the scars were being worked over, I don't think (was mostly my first tattoo though) but I gather it was a wee bit of a challenge with the scarred skin being very thin in places and tough in others - he kept doing technical stuff with his machine. But yeah, of the +/- 100 scars that have been tattooed only the one played up a bit during healing and was absolutely fine in the end.

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I need to know more about this COHESIVE ARM TATTOO© too, please!

[MadeIndelible]

Tattoo over cutting scars from when I was a teenager and in love with a cutter. The tattoo was done by Ron Henry Wells. He said that as long as the scars were over a year old, then it was fine to tattoo over them. The tattoo only covers a small area of scars, but it healed really well. The scars are flat.

[graybones]

Thanks for posting those photos @HettyKet and @MadeIndelible, I too have cutting scars that will eventually get covered up, so happy to see it worked out so well for you.

Did you notice any difference in healing the over the scars vs. the rest of the tattoo?

[polliwog]

Here is an encouraging picture of a full back tattoo over acne scarring. I'm a little reluctant to post it, since it's not an uncontroversial style of tattooing here, but I'm mostly posting because it's a pretty extreme example of tattooing over acne scar tissue. It all seems to be older and lighter-colored, though.

I have some (pretty minor in comparison) back scarring from compulsive picking and can't wait to cover it up.

[polliwog]

One other thing I've noticed is that tattooing over KP bumps seems to have kept it somewhat at bay. It's like the best exfoliation ever.

[MadeIndelible]

Thanks for posting those photos @HettyKet and @MadeIndelible, I too have cutting scars that will eventually get covered up, so happy to see it worked out so well for you.

Did you notice any difference in healing the over the scars vs. the rest of the tattoo?

As you can see in the picture, there's a slight discoloring on the green and black leaf, but none on the silhouetted black one. That's really all that I noticed.

I also have a surgical scar on my knee from when I broke my leg. Been thinking about covering it, so thanks for posting this thread, @BrianH .

[BigTex]

I have a shit ton of stretch marks on my inner arms and im slightly concerned as to how that will affect things. This thread makes me feel slightly better.

[Cork]

I have a few stretch marks on my hips and upper thigh that the back piece has covered up. Maybe even my thigh baku has covered some of my front thigh stretch marks (I grew like a little devil in high school). I'll try and remember to get some pics tonight. In summary though, I think the stretch mark areas have taken the ink well, which seems to follow the trend in this thread so far.

[gougetheeyes]

Damn, you guys are all tore up! I have a few scars on my left arm that were blasted over and you can only tell in a certain light.

[OutOfIdeas]

My fun one will be the chest eagle I want one day, the surgery scar gets more pronounced the further down it goes, so it might get a little wacky. Have to wait to see if they're gonna cut me back open first though

[scubaron]

I am new to tattoos. I always thought they were cool, but had trouble getting past the issue of permanency.

The funny thing about scars is, they are permanent. Finally realized, a nice cool permanent tattoo is a lot better than an ugly permanent scar.

[OutOfIdeas]

Here's a bit better picture of mine. The bit at the bottom is skinnier, but more raised and tough feeling. I think that'll be the problematic spot.

[Cork]

Alright well I can't really get a good picture, but the ink on top of stretch marks looks fine. Maybe eventually when it starts to fade, the marks on the skin will be less hidden, but the ink will probably still hold up. That's my guess. There was also another user who got tattoos on her lower stomach and upper thighs to cover stretch marks, and I remember her being very excited at how will they were covered. I can't remember her name though...

[tatB]

Since I started this thread I thought I should also share my imperfect "canvas". Obstacles include the surgical scar along my spine, some freckles/moles, acne scars, and stretch marks. Tattoo process is scheduled to begin in about 9 months. Fun to imagine a bad ass Japanese inspired back piece covering this.