If you are unhappy with a tattoo, you should look at all the options available for getting rid of it. Besides removing a tattoo, another option is to cover it up. If you are simply unhappy with the appearance of the particular tattoo but don’t mind having a tattoo in that area, then this may or may not be a viable option.

Getting a cover-up tattoo is a complex design process in many cases. There are various factors to consider: the color, size, and pattern of the original. Are there open spaces with which to work with? Also, scarring may be present in the area of the old tattoo. Lighter colors are easier to cover up than darker colors or black. The color covering up may need to be black depending on the original color.

One cannot just stroll into a tattoo shop and request any design one fancies. It may be possible to work the old tattoo into a new design, especially when there is a lot of remaining empty space, such as with cursive letters. Even with black cover-up, scarring from the old tattoo may still be visible through the new tattoo, especially when light hits the skin at a certain angle. The cover-up tattoo will usually be twice the size of the old tattoo. In general, large tattoos with wide areas of dark color are very hard to cover up. An attempted cover up may end up looking like a large black blob. A scrupulous tattoo artist will be able to tell you if a cover-up is a good option.

So if you are alright with a larger, darker tattoo in the same area, then a cover-up may be a reasonable option, depending on the characteristics of the original tattoo. However, many people rightly choose to remove the original one than take the chance of getting a larger tattoo that looks just as bad or worse. Laser tattoo removal may be a less risky option for this reason. Once a tattoo has been covered up, there may be much more ink there than originally. This will make it harder, sometimes impossible to remove it completely if you change your mind and decide to get it treated with laser after the cover up.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 3:57 am and is filed under Laser tattoo removal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.