It is possible to design tattoos to work with scars and stretch marks, but there are some limitations.
- Scars should be at least one year old. We want them to have stopped changing texture and color before we tattoo over them.
- Many scars take pigment, but often heal uneven in color, or the texture of the scar shows right through the design. The best thing to do in these cases is to use images that have similar shapes to the scarring, and designs that avoid flat solid colors, which just highlight instead of camouflage the scar.
- Some scars and stretch marks just don’t take pigment well – they are too keloided (permanently raised), knotty, or delicate to get the ink in. In that case, we can try to design something that works AROUND the scar, or along with the stretch marks, leaving the untattooed skin as part of the design.
- Very light scarring or slight stretch marks usually don’t affect tattooing much, but we still try to avoid using flat solid colors over the scarred areas, as the texture pops right out instead of being hidden by the tattoo.
Every scar is different, and most tattoos designed to hide scars or stretch marks are custom designs. Come talk to us about your particular situation, and we’ll see what we can do.
Tattoo by Design 