Tattoos as a Form of Self Harm

Self harming has become pandemic among teenagers and young adults. The stresses of modern life and the de fragmentation of family life are largely responsible for this.

As sufferers recover, the physical scars remain. These often become a source of great shame and a constant reminder of their past.

Often, recovered self harmers will seek to cover these scars with tattoos. The problem that tattoo artists are faced with is two fold. They are faced with crating a tattoo that will act as a camouflage for the scars and also, they need to be sure that the client is not using tattooing for a substitute for self harm.

Tattooing is done without anaesthetic and it is known to be painful. The pain is not unlike that of self harming. For this reason, it is not unusual for recovering self harmers to seek tattooing as an excuse for relapsing on their road to recovery. Self harmers may also feel that the tattoo left behind, is a more socially acceptable alternative to a scar.

This puts the tattoo artist in a very difficult moral position. It's recommended that tattooist don't work on a self harm victim to at least a year after the last episode. The tattooist should be very mindful of the reasons the person has for having the tattoo done. Are they trying to hide their scars or are they looking for an alternative to scars? If the latter is suspected, the tattooist should not work on the person until he or she is fully recovered.

When a person tattoos themselves as a form of self harm the long term psychological effects are the same. The tattoo is no different to them than a scar....it is a scar... a reminder of a painful past.

Many victims of self harm look to remove both their scars and tattoos. Lasers are a good solution for both of these as is skin needling and non laser tattoo removal methods provided they are done by a qualified professional. Tattoo removal creams that are sold on the internet do not work, not even remotely. All of the available treatments are professionally done.

Skin needling works very well but it has to be done directly to the scared area. Blanket methods such as dermal Rollers do not work for these sorts of scars. Better results are achieved from micro pigmentation specialists.

The scars of self harming will never heal completely but there are steps that can be taken to make them less noticeable.