Protect Your Tattoo Against Time

Tattoos are wild, when you think about it! Skinart surgery for the ages...

Some people think that tattoo artists are copy machines and can just paste paragraphs of fine and tiny fonts onto a torso without any adverse result at all. Tattoo artists are not mechanically printing a simple design on a flat and stable surface, but are more like skin art surfers, riding the ripples and waves of a tumultuous integumentary ocean while pulling flesh tight so that they may jam particles of pigment into varying layers of skin to build and create a tattoo work of art. It's a painful and complicated process that is essentially a minor surgery.

Most tattoo artists spend many years and decades perfecting or improving their craft, and their clients must endure a challenging trial to walk away with a new tattoo. Unfortunately, with time and the aging that comes with it, as well as the shifting and changing nature of skin, tattoos are guaranteed to fade and spread over time.

If you want a great tattoo to last, here are some causes of damage, as well as a couple of ways to protect your tattoo against time.

Skin Aging

Skin aging is caused by both intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external) factors.

Intrinsic aging is driven by genetics, time, and biological processes like telomere shortening (DNA damage), which leads to a natural loss of collagen and elastin as skin cells stop reproducing. This results in skin that becomes thinner, drier, and less elastic, typically becoming visible in areas protected from the sun.

Extrinsic aging is primarily caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation and environmental toxins, which account for more than 80% of visible aging. This photoaging accelerates the breakdown of collagen, causes wrinkles, sagging, and pigment irregularities (such as age spots), and makes the skin more fragile and prone to injury. This type of damage is dominant where the skin is regularly exposed to the sun.

Sun Damage

The sun damages skin through UV radiation, which penetrates skin layers to cause DNA changes that lead to premature aging and skin cancer.

While the sun bleaches dead tissues like hair by breaking down melanin, living skin actively synthesizes new pigment to shield deeper layers from UV-induced DNA damage and sunburn.

Sun exposure and the inherent UV radiation trigger a biological defense mechanism that causes skin to darken. When UV rays hit the skin, the resulting DNA damage signals specialized cells called melanocytes to produce more melanin, the pigment that acts as a natural sunscreen.

We have to look at tattoo pigment through the skin. It resides around the level of our natural melanin, so the more melanin present, the harder it will be to see the pigment within.

Macrophages remind us of how incredible our universe is.

Macrophages

Tattoo pigments are foreign particles in our skin, so a natural immune response is triggered within our bodies.

Macrophages are large, specialized white blood cells that serve as the body's first line of defense by engulfing and digesting pathogens, cancer cells, cellular debris, and foreign substances through a process called phagocytosis.

Macrophages attack tattoo pigment as any other foreign particles through phagocytosis, treating them as invaders that must be cleared from the body. However, the pigment granules are too bulky for the macrophages' enzymes to break down, rendering the cells unable to digest or remove the ink effectively.

Our own body is constantly trying to eat our tattoos. This process is a significant factor in a tattoo spreading and fading over time.

How Can We Protect Our Tattoo Against Time?

Unfortunately, there is not much that we can do to stop or slow time, but there are a couple of things that we can do to protect our tattoos from the sun and other external factors.

Although it's my favorite star so far, the Sun absolutely destroys tattoos.

The Sun

When we have a fresh tattoo, our own natural SPF (Sun Protection Factor) level is at zero, and when it is healed, it's at SPF-1. A strong sunscreen can significantly protect your tattoo from the sun's more destructive radiation. The higher the SPF of a sunscreen, the more protection from the sun it offers.

Many things seem to come at a cost, however, and there have been growing concerns about the dangers of using many sunscreens, including: allergic reactions, dangerous systemic absorbtion of harmful chemicals (such as oxybenzone and octinoxate) that studies have shown can seriously affect our health and horormones, as well as environmental runoff.

Sunscreen can be helful, but at what cost?

Ultimately, the best protection is to keep your tattoos out of direct sunlight as much as possible. Many people have turned to athletic sports sleeves made of a spandex blend which are very comfortable, flexible, and effective protection from the sun without chemicals.

The World

Dog scratches and welding burns have got to be two of the biggest reasons for a tattoo needing a spot touched up or reworked, outside of you two not dating anymore.

Damage to your tattoo from a dog welding is boss level.

Protecting your tattoo while it's healing and in it's most vulnerable stage is very important, and will set the stage for how your tattoo looks for life. Be aware of the world around you, and protect your skin. If you ride motorcycles and have a lot of tattoos, you may want to consider leather, versus sandals and shorts. If you're a welder or dog trainer, think ahead and about your tattoos accordingly!

In Summary

Tattoos are painful, expensive, and destined to suffer the effects of time. The best way to ensure your tattoo is going to look great for the rest of your life, is to make sure you take care during the healing process, as it's the most imporant stage in any tattoo's lifetime and will greatly affect the end result.

Once you've secured a well-healed tattoo, keeping it out of direct sunlight is a huge factor to consider on a regular basis. Additionally, the world is a dangerous place and accidents happen, so there are lots of ways for the universe to take a bite out of your ink.

Luckily, most of the time, a tattoo artist can go back in there and do some touch-up work that will bring your tattoo back to life or it's more original state, and it's normally a much shorter process that can yield great results.

As always, feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns about your tattoo!