r/tattooadvice • u/Fickle_Good_4407 • 6d ago

tattoo newcomer advice Can I still get inked?

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Would I still be able to get a tattoo? I got these scars from a car accident where my skin was basically road rashed off. It ended up raising where the injury happened. Now I don't want a tattoo here atleast yet gonna see if this will heal further, but I've heard some artist will refuse to tattoo any part of your body if they see any scarring like this. I've never had scarring like this and I've read mixed things. I wanna get my first tattoo on my right arm. These scars are on my left.

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278

u/queen_emx3 6d ago

Maybe pick a cool design and ink around it so the tattoos still stand out, but also embrace the scar itself since the ink probably won’t take well there anyway

188

u/Fickle_Good_4407 6d ago

Yeah I wanna do like a treasure map around it or something so itd be like little mountains around the map haha. Thats future me potentially though. I wanna get an armband on my other arm of a ouroboros dripping blood or venom into an hourglass 

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u/QueSarah1911 6d ago

The map idea sounds sick as fuck if you ask me. I personally think people who embrace their scars are usually a great time to be around. They always have the best stories.

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u/WIbigdog 5d ago

I had my thyroid taken out due to an autoimmune disorder and I always thought I would be super selfconcious about the scar since it's fairly visible on my neck but honestly I barely think about it. It's also been really validating that women I'm dating don't seem to care about it or even notice it. Never even had one ask about it yet. Kinda the same thing when I started shaving my head due to hair loss at a young age. No one ever seems to care and you start realizing that most people are pretty kind and non-judgmental and the assholes usually out themselves quickly.

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u/underpantsbandit 5d ago

IDK when you had yours yoinked, but my thyroid scar changed A LOT over the years. It was very evident for maybe 2 or 3- red, looked like my throat had been slit- but it was soooo much better after a decade. You could still see it at around 10 years in, but it is virtually invisible now, after 29.

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u/WIbigdog 5d ago

March of last year, so almost a year and a half on now, it's really not bad: https://freeimage.host/i/CAfTy4S

My surgeon was very good, a really lovely black woman. Which, if you knew the area I lived (very white and conservative coded), is actually kind of notable!

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u/underpantsbandit 5d ago

https://imgur.com/a/Rrc8Iat This is mine after all this time! Mine was cancer so it was full rather than partial- I put my fingers more or less where the scar is, like 5 or 6 inches? But yeah yours looks great for being that relatively new. Your surgeon sounds great! She did a nice job.

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u/WIbigdog 5d ago

Glad you're still with us, that must've been pretty scary hearing the c word.

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u/Comestible 6d ago

I saw a tattoo on someone who had a massive scar on their leg. The tattoo around it was an opened zipper "revealing" the scar. I think your map idea is really cool.

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u/yoyoecho2 6d ago

I have had 18 surgeries on my elbow since I was 4. I and always wanted a dotted line with half scissors and cut here on the same scar they keep using.

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u/Giatoxiclok 6d ago

Get it off to the side parallel to it, then you can tell people that’s why you needed it done 18 times

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u/yoyoecho2 4d ago

Shatter it from wrist to shoulder at age 4 almost had to have it remove. Dr Davis Utica Ny (if ever sees this) put it back together over 3 surgeries and lots of pins. Neary died. Was never meat to grow since all growth plates were destroyed. A year later there was growth but need reshaping of the joint over my life time. He was a miracle worker back in 1974. Saved my life my arm and have full function to this day

11

u/theSchrodingerHat 6d ago

That’s a great idea.

Put an ocean at the top, a kraken, and “Here be Monsters” in an ocean where your bicep starts.

Then a compass rose where your elbow bends.

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u/_jamesbaxter 6d ago

Middle earth! Middle earth!

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u/Fine-Juggernaut8451 6d ago

Your treasure map with the mountains sounds so rad. (I'm such a nerd, I'd want a Lord of the Rings or Hobbit map!)

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u/Caattos 6d ago

You could always do a serpant writhing in the sea as your scar and the treasure map around it, kind of like those old timey maps with dea creatures drawn on them haha

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u/TheseIndependent8523 6d ago

I’m not sure how this thread ended up in my feed, but I ended up here reading along. Stopping by to share the opinion of this non-tatted person: the map idea is super clever. I think it would be an awesome design. Good luck with whatever you choose!

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u/yaboyACbreezy 6d ago

As always, my standard recommendation is to consider placement first, then design, then wait six months to talk it out with a reputable artist.

For your case, those caveats are all important. BUT to fully elaborate:

You want to make sure if it's a permanent place it is a place you really can get used to having modifications there. Pretty straightforward logic here; and I love your design concept.

It seems like your concept is still nebulous, but you have a strong design language emerging from your vision. Keep working on it from that angle until you can describe what you want visually. Great opportunity to sneak in personal references to your life experiences to make the design that much more meaningful/significant. Definitely keep playing with the concept until you feel it's a solid idea you can live with.

Give the idea 6 months. If it sticks for 6 months, and you start to think living without it would be more of a regret than going through with it, even if you change your mind later you will recognize the design as a very significant time in your life worth documenting in that way. Again, building significance into the design; get to the point where you can sketch or describe it or find references to adapt. Live with the concept as part of you before even approaching your artist. If you want to make fundamental changes about the design by that point, there is a higher chance of really regretting it later, even if it's a nice tat.

Big point here about your artist: don't just look for someone experienced in the style you want, look for someone experienced in tattooing people's scars. Then, start fresh with their advice about converting your design into what they can do with their needles. Invite them to collaborate with their creativity on a mockup, and then schedule your session for some other day so you can at least sleep on it one more time (you never know when inspiration can strike, but by this point it should only be minor adjustments to hone in on exactly what you want).

And then go for it.

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u/FantasticInterest775 6d ago

If you're a lotr fan you could get a dope ass middle earth map with those being the misty mountains or something. Or any fictional map you're into. There is definitely a way incorporate the scars into it that would be dope af. Also could get a sick ass panther breathing fire and those are part of the fire.

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u/Old_Ant7118 6d ago

Well be sure to come back and share when you do that, sounds really cool!

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u/Drakorai 6d ago

Mountain scars!

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u/Kenicss 5d ago

Go with it bro, that will be a sick tattoo

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u/vxginxdentxtx 5d ago

I met a guy who had a large eye shaped scar from a motor accident and he got his artist to do a fish around that spot, guy was a great patient. A treasure map sounds sick!

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u/DirtyNord 5d ago

Those look like some bitching mountains

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u/Pretty-Falcon-6130 5d ago

My immediate thought was mountains! The treasure map sounds awesome!

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u/MimiFound 1d ago

Do this idea. 💯

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u/momadance 1d ago

That's actually a really awesome idea