THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPECTING THE SKIN
Tattooing is an art, and those who practice it are artists. But unlike a painter facing a fabric canvas, a tattoo artist faces a living organ that is different for every person.
This is why it’s essential for a tattoo artist to learn about the skin and its physiological characteristics. Respecting the skin is the starting point for any tattoo artist worthy of the name.
SKIN FUNCTIONS
To respect the skin, it’s first essential to understand its functions:
- Mechanical protection: against heat, light, trauma, and infections
- Excretory functions: elimination of many metabolic products through sweat
- Excretory functions: elimination of many metabolic products through sweat
- Storage functions: the adipose tissue located just under the skin acts as an energy reserve
- Thermoregulation
- Immunological functions: presence of immunocompetent cells
- Synthesis function: production of pigmented immunocompetent substances and vitamin D
SKIN STRUCTURE
Another fundamental aspect of respecting the skin is knowing its structure. The skin is composed of:
- Epidermis
- Dermis
- Hypodermis
- Skin appendages
- Blood vessels, nerve fibers, sweat glands, sebaceous glands, hair follicles, sensory corpuscles, nails
Specifically, a tattoo artist working correctly at the right skin depth will release the ink into the dermis, which is the middle layer of the skin.
Obviously, there’s much more to know about respecting the skin; a tattoo artist must consider numerous other aspects, including the fundamental one of skin tone. Skin color means the artist needs to choose the right color shades to achieve the artistic quality they’re looking for.
Skin tone and elasticity are also crucial for choosing the right needle and setting the correct voltage.
The skin can also present problems that the tattoo artist must be able to recognize to understand if it can be tattooed or if it’s best to work around the issue. Therefore, it’s important to always perform a skin exam to properly respect the skin.
PRIMARY SKIN LESIONS
Skin lesions are numerous, each with its own specificity. To respect the skin, we must know these lesions to understand which ones can be worked on and which cannot.
Lesions are divided into three categories:
- Primary lesions
- Secondary lesions
- Primary-secondary lesions
Primary Elementary Lesions
Primary elementary lesions include erythema, wheals, vesicles, papules, nodules, nodosities, gummas, bullae, and pustules.
Secondary Elementary Lesions
This category includes crusts, scales, fissures, erosions, ulcerations, and spots.
Primary-Secondary Lesions
Primary-secondary lesions include scars, atrophy, lichenification, vegetation, sclerosis, and keratosis.
Let’s take a deeper look at the relationship between scars and tattoos
Respecting the skin requires the tattoo artist to know which type of scar can be tattooed and which cannot.
Covering a scar is no small task and requires significant experience and skill. From this perspective, relying on a highly experienced tattoo artist who knows the skin seems obvious, to say the least. Keep in mind it’s still a scar—miracles can happen to make it practically invisible, but the result will depend on the type of scar and how each skin heals (do you scar easily? Are you prone to keloids? This hereditary factor shouldn’t be underestimated as it can make you a better or worse candidate for a good tattoo).
What characteristics must a scar have to be tattooable? Many factors influence the choice; it’s certainly best if the scar isn’t “fresh”—ideally, it should be a couple of years old. In any case, it’s better to have a good dermatologist work alongside the tattoo artist to understand the specific characteristics of the scar and help the artist make the best choices.
In our hygiene and safety course, the section on skin knowledge is very extensive and detailed.
https://www.tattooschoolmilano.com/prodotto/abilitazione-igienico-sanitaria-per-operatore-tatuaggio-piercing/
