Tattoos and body piercings are the fashion statements of today’s youth. It’s hard not to come by even a single individual who is not sporting a tattoo, body piercing or other skin adornments. To some these forms of body art look cool and hep while to some it look cheap and demeaning. If you think it looks cool and are fascinated by it, there’s nothing wrong in that, but there are some things that you must know before you join the rest of the crowd fascinated with tattoos and body piercings.

Tattoos, piercings and other forms of body arts are nothing new, in fact they have very much been there from the past 5,300 years. Most of the people who like this form of body art today find it to be fascinating and consider it as a sign of beauty whereas in earlier eras it was a part of many cultural rituals.

Different forms of tattoos

A tattoo is a permanent mark or design made on your skin with the help of pigments imbibed on to the top layer of your skin using a needle.Tattoos may fall under any five of the following categories:

Traumatic tattoos - These are actually scars left on your skin because of a road rash due to a bicycle, motorbike or car accident. The dirt or debris from the road gets embedded beneath the skin leaving an area of pigmentation after healing.

Amateur tattoos - As the name suggests the tattoos are amateurish in nature done usually by the individuals themselves or by their friends . These tattoos have very little artistry or details and are done using a pin and India ink. Other pigments such as pen ink, charcoal or ashes can also be used.

Professional tattoos - Professional tattoos are of two types - cultural and modern. Cultural tattoos are made using the methods prevalent in a certain cultural ethnicity or heritage such as South Pacific Islands. Modern tattoos are made using the tattoo gun by a tattoo artists who are paid for their work. A variety of pigments are used to give a highly artistic look to them.

Cosmetic tattoos - Permanent make-up, using cosmetics such as eyeliner, lip liner, lipstick, blush, hair and eyebrows, are considered as cosmetic tattoos. Cosmetic tattoos are also done to camouflage vitiligo or cover an undesired tattoo.

Medical tattoos - Medical tattoos are done by physicians to mark the permanent landmarks for radiation therapy.

Any of these tattoos leave a permanent mark or design on your skin with the pigments that are imbibed into the top layer of the skin.

Tattooing, when done without anesthesia causes a slight to potentially significant amount of pain and small amount of bleeding as well. The effect of the anesthesia may last up to a few hours or long.