TUESDAY, July 22, 2008 — Jen Graham, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., has gone through three sessions so far to remove a band of stars she impulsively had tattooed around her ankle at age 19. A tattooed ex-boyfriend gave her one “homemade” star with a safety pin and ballpoint-pen ink, and she had the design touched up and completed at a tattoo parlor soon after.
“I didn’t immediately regret it, but certainly within a year,” she says. “I’d thought about getting it removed for a long time and then finally made an appointment when I got a much more professional job at a publishing company and moved to New York. Plus my aesthetics had changed; I think tattoos look trashy now.”
Getting a tattoo is historically a male-dominated activity—but in a society where celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Rihanna flaunt their latest inked designs, tattooing has become popular among females as well. However, women may still face more societal stigma than men about their tattoos, and are more likely to have them removed because of embarrassment, body image, or career concerns, according to a new study.
More social stigma for women
Women represent at least half of the 45 million Americans with tattoos today, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). About one-fourth of adults age 18 to 30 have a tattoo, and 20% are estimated to be dissatisfied with their body art. Only about 6%, however, seek removal—a costly, painful, and time-consuming procedure that involves laser treatments, surgery, or chemical skin treatments.
In the recent study published in Archives of Dermatology, researchers from Texas Tech University surveyed a sample of 196 patients visiting dermatology clinics for tattoo removal. In contrast to a 1996 survey, study participants were more than twice as likely to be women (69% vs. 31% men), and were typically white, single, college-educated, and between the ages of 24 and 39. Previously, more men had requested tattoo removal.
Both men and women said they wanted to get their tattoos removed to leave their pasts behind them, and because they:
- Just decided to remove it (58%)
- Suffered embarrassment (57%)
- Had a lowered body image (38%)
- Were getting a new job or career (38%)
- Had problems with clothes (37%)
- Experienced stigma (25%)
- Were marking an occasion, such as a birthday, marriage, or newly found independence (21%)
While most women were pleased with their tattoos when they got them, their feelings changed over the next one to five years. “While men also reported some of these same tattoo problems leading to removal, there seemed to be more societal fallout for women,” the authors wrote.
Specifically, their tattoos had begun to cause embarrassment and no longer provided a feeling of uniqueness. More women than men said they were removing their tattoos because they often had to hide them (73% vs. 36%); they experienced stigma problems because of them (27% vs. 9%); and the tattoos elicited negative comments in public, the workplace, and/or in school (31% vs. 5%).
The decision to remove
Graham first visited a hair-removal clinic where a woman used a painful laser without an anesthetic. Since then, she’s had two treatments at a doctor’s office—much better, she says, because they numbed her first—for $400 each plus a $300 consulting fee. “Sadly, it’s not much lighter yet,” she says. “The edges are blurrier, though; right now it just looks like I have a bad tattoo.”
Though the removal process is expensive, Graham considers it a career investment. She’s waiting until the fall to have any more procedures—”It looks terrible right afterward; you get these huge blisters that stick around for over a week, and I’d rather hide it under pants or tights,” she says—and then plans to get one every four to six weeks until she’s satisfied.
When considering a tattoo, women especially should think twice about the location on their bodies, say the Texas Tech researchers. Compared with the earlier survey, more study participants had skin markings in visible locations such as arms and legs, suggesting that they may have felt more comfortable about getting a prominent tattoo at the time, but regretted it later in life.
What to think about
The FDA warns consumers to think of tattoos as permanent because removal doesn’t always work and some colors may never be entirely gone. Those considering getting inked are also urged to consider the following:
- Known health risks of getting a tattoo include infection from dirty needles, allergies to various ink pigments, and unwanted scarring or small bumps called granulomas, which may form around material that the body perceives as foreign.
- Tattoos can hide or obscure signs of skin cancer, French researchers reported in the same issue of Archives of Dermatology. Patients with a history of melanoma should avoid tattoos, and those with a family history of melanoma or atypical moles should choose small designs with light colors, the researchers concluded.
- The FDA has not approved any tattoo inks for injection into the skin, and many pigments used are industrial-strength colors suitable for printers’ ink or automobile paint.
- Do not buy or order do-it-yourself removal products online. These acid-based products are not FDA-approved and can cause bad skin reactions.
- If you want a tattoo removed, consult your health-care provider (not a spa, clinic, or tattoo parlor, where the procedure is not always FDA-approved); the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery can help you find an experienced and certified doctor.
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Comments (14)
I think it’s a little ridiculous to reduce female intelligence in regards to their decision of getting tattooed using the primary argument that women are following ridiculous pop culture “role models” like Rihanna and Angelina Jolie. I think it’s a worth while study to look into the reasons women versus men are getting tattooed, but I found this article extremely 2-dimensional and lacking journalism.
Agreed with the last poster, I think it would be far more interesting to study why those choosing to have tattoos removed got the tattoos in the first place.
I won’t be getting my full sleeve tattoos removed any time soon….
Agreed. I started my tattoos ten years ago, and as it was obviously a conscious choice, I cannot imagine myself “changing” so much that I’d want to remove them. Tattoos are generally more accepted by society these days, and that may be why more people choose to get them - not just to blindly follow celebrities.
I agreed with other comments posted. You have to know why people got tattoes. For me tattoes are a form of expressing yourself, and it has nothing to do with following pop culture. We are all different and everyone has the right to express however they want. I myself have a tattoe. Do I regret it?, No. It reminds me of my younger days. So for me it has a meaning of being free and wild without responsibilities.
I have several tattoos, some of them in visible locations like my ankles and arm. When I got my first tattoo I was in the military. At that point, I was not allowed to have any ink that showed while in uniform (was not accepted then for officers but was for enlisted). Even then, I though carefully about what I wanted, why I wanted it, and where it was going. The military wasn’t going to be my only career so I chose tattoos that were tasteful if they did show (like while wearing a skirt) but easy to cover up if needed (pant suits work great).
I find the tone of this article rather insulting however. If you visit the link to the study, you’ll notice that this study was done in 2006. It was limited to 4 clinics in 4 different states (Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Texas). I hardly think that’s an adequate sampling to make such a generalization. Then again, I’m not a scientist so I obviously am missing something.
People who get tattoos are adults. It is a little hard to feel sympathy for their vain decisions. We live in a free society: you can buy a V-8 SUV, get an interest-only mortgage, get a prominent tattoo of your boyfriend/girlfriend’s name. Just don’t expect others to bail you out if you regret these decisions later.
don’t people know in the quest to be so “different” with tatoos,they have become more like everyone then they know,the people who really stand out are the ones who choose not to have them.
If you must get a tattoo, at least be wise enough to think 10 or 20 years into the future. My son got a large tattoo of a logo from an album of his favorite band.. which promptly broke up. He hadn’t consulted me, but if he had, I would have pointed out that it was going to look dated in five years, not to mention that it makes him look like a bath towel with an odd monogram…
I agree with the previous posts. Most adults do not get a tattoo just because someone in hollywood does. That seems pretty minor and shallow. I know some people do it because it’s a trend and others are getting it done. What does that make them…stupid!! People generally do not think in long term, only for the moment. Tattoos are walking pieces of artwork that were not meant to be hung in a museum. People should think very thoroughly on the kind of art they want inked on them. Because what looks good at 22 may not look as good at 62!! Remember that people.
I agree with other posters that the author of this article gives a very shallow look at women who get tattoos. I’ve had mine for 30 years now–I got them when I was in my 20s. And I certainly wasn’t influenced by celebrity tattoos! Nor did I want to be “different.” I made my decision to have my legs fully tattooed due to a love of tattoos that I’d had since I was a small child and first saw some. I have never once regretted getting my tattoos, which reflect my love of the ocean and marine life.
The one thing the author did get right is that there is still a bit of prejudice about women with tattoos. Mine can’t be seen when I am at work, for that reason.
Perhaps Ms. MacMillan should do an article about those who have no desire to remove their tattoos and who gave real thought to them before getting them as a balance to the one-sided, prejudiced view in this article.
I’m 43 and getting my first (and probably only) tattoo. I think that if people are embarrassed or regret having it done, they didn’t think it through when they had it placed on a visible location that could impact career advancement, etc. It has taken me a long time and I finally have a design that I think will be appropriate no matter my age, and in a location that won’t hold me back from promotions, jobs, etc. (yes, it is in a “viewable” location)…
The report is definatly one sided. I have many visible tattoos on my wrists and arms and have no plans of ever getting them removed, they will always remind me of the time I have spent in the navy and of significant events in my life. A repot really needs to be done on the reasons why people get tattos and the stigma of having them.
Inks are poison…and Human Being must consider it seriously. Your blood is being poisoned!! and body is not the place to put art works???duhhhh…Wake up humans!!!! Be intelligent enough to know urself…
Cheers!!
well the first comment i have is that your blood will not be poisoned because the tattoo only goes into the skin not the blood. Tattoo’s aren’t stupid just because some article said so, its a personal choice. Most people think o wow he/she has a tattoo they must be a slob. Just because you don’t want one doesn’t mean you have to bash everyone who has one or is thinking about getting one. This article and most of the comments made against tattoo’s is very bias. And to touch on nancy’s comment “don’t people know in the quest to be so “different” with tatoos,they have become more like everyone then they know,the people who really stand out are the ones who choose not to have them.”
Why do these people who don’t have them stand out to you so much compared to people with them. You are making tattoo’s sound evil. You comment almost states that if you have a tattoo you are one of the stupidist people on the face of the earth. You may very well agree with that statement but don’t beat down people who have them or are considering them. That is ignorance and that is the real problem here.
This article is stupid! not the people with tattoos