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Body Art: Tattoos and Surgery

As tattoos move into the mainstream, body art practitioners and collectors continue to push the boundaries of the flesh. Body modifications such as Teflon implants and designs cut into the skin with scalpels require tattoo artists and piercers to learn the basics of surgery, and to practice meticulous care in the realm of cross-contamination and first-aid procedure. In the meantime, those with regrettable tattoos find themselves in the offices of plastic surgeons, seeking laser removal.

  1. Similarities Between Tattoos and Surgery

    • A tattoo is created by injecting ink into the dermis of the skin, thus leaving behind a permanent mark. Although getting a tattoo certainly does not qualify as major surgery, it does abrade the skin using a cluster of needles, and therefore leaves an open wound. It must be bandaged overnight, and as it heals it will leave a scab. A reputable, licensed tattoo artist will remove needles and tubes from the same kind of autoclave bags used by surgeons to sterilize their instruments. If you do not see your artist open freshly-autoclaved bags, you should leave and seek another artist immediately.

    Tattoo Removal

    • Tattoos can be removed by several surgical techniques. While the most common is laser removal, in which tattoo pigments are burned out of the skin, other methods include dermabrasion, cryosurgery and excision. In dermabrasion, the tattoo is sanded off; in cryosurgery, it is frozen; and in excision, it is cut from the skin, which is then sutured.

    Implants

    • A more extreme form of body modification is that of implanting foreign objects beneath the skin. "The material...for the subdermals is carved Teflon," says Shannon Larratt of Body Modification EZine. These implants are inserted using traditional surgical tools such as skin elevators, small spatulas that allow skin to be lifted away from the muscle. Once the implants are in place, the incisions are sutured. 3-D art implants, as they are also called, are done without anesthesia in a tattoo or piercing shop. This is not a common procedure and is not readily available to the general public.

    Surface Piercings

    • Piercings are puncture wounds made with hollow needles, or cannulas. While most piercings go through a protruding part of the body such as an earlobe or nostril, surface piercings sit below taut skin and tend to have a high rate of rejection. The risk of rejection is reduced by using Tygon, a flexible plastic tubing, in place of the usual metal bar or ring.

    Body Art After Traditional Surgery

    • Some survivors of major surgery, such as a mastectomy, may choose to tattoo the resultant scar rather than undergo the process of reconstruction. For best results when tattooing over a scar, the wound should be allowed to heal for at least a year. Scar fade creams may help to return the skin to an even tone more conducive to a vibrantly-colored tattoo.

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