Hello,
I've been getting my first tattoo over the course of the last year, probably another few months left before it'll be finished. I've wanted a tattoo for a long time but never had the time for it. I have psoriasis and finding a tattoo artist who's willing to work with that wasn't easy. After each session there would be a period after the healing time that my body was at risk of forming new patches over the scarred skin. This happened after the outlining was done.
Initial outline:
Winter in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is not your friend. At the time my tattoo was healing it was declared that it was colder in Winnipeg than it was on the planet Mars. The cold cracks the skin, and with someone who has psoriasis... this is even worst. So my back formed quiet a few small patches because of the trama to the skin. I had never had any patches on my back before. Once the outline had healed, I had to apply my steroid cream to my patches all the way until late summer before I could book a follow up session.
My tattoo artist went with the left side of my back because the middle and the right side had patches still, you can see them in the above picture. They're the red looking patches around the triangle.
After that session I figured it'd be another six months before I could get more work done, but by now my wife was on board with helping me apply cream to my back multiple times a day. I didn't tell my wife I was getting the tattoo. I knew if I had told her she would of talked me out of it. She wasn't happy and I was in the dog house for quiet a while. We still don't talk about it for long because it gets her upset. That being said she will help me with applying the cream, which really helps because it keeps the psoriasis from getting as bad. After this session I didn't have any new patches develop.
The third session was a lot, and very painful. My tattoo artist said it's because all the nerves around the spin and the fact that I don't have a lot of fat / muscle around the bony areas.
He worked around the patches that were still there. You can see them more clearly in this photo.
It was just recently that I got the last session done, finally the color. I'm very pleased with it and can't wait until it's all done. He told me we'll do one more session. The beam coming into the triangle is going to have white fading done. He's also going to touch up spots where my patches have gone away.
The doting you see near the top of the eagles head was where my tattoo artist made marks for himself to note where patches were at. It's not apart of the tattoo.
There was only one thing I wanted to change about the tattoo after I saw the coloring, and that was just to add a few feather protrusions to the orange.
I've already been talking about getting another few tattoos done, but nothing as large. After I get on with the Police here I want to get a thin blue line around my left upper arm. I want the japanese kanji for Gojira going down the bicep on my right arm. No rush on those.
All in all I am very happy I found a tattoo artist who is willing to be patient with me and my skin. I wanted to join a tattoo community online where I could talk about my experience and join in on others experiences with tattoos. I look forward to making new friends here. Thanks for allowing me to join.