I’ve seen several examples of tattoos on older people that are faded, blue and ragged. I assume part of this is the natural migration of skin tissue, but some of it may well be sun damage or the chemistry of the ink.
On the other hand I know somebody with a bold, deeply etched “borneo” pattern he’d recieved in New Zealand in the early 60’s that still has good contrast and a vivid black color nearly fourty years later.
Any tattooed older dopers want to provide a rough idea of the life cycle of a tat?
I think the sun does the most damage to tatoos. My tatoo is on my scalp and is covered with hair, I’ll shave my head in forty years and let you know how it looks.
it IS the sun the ruins tattoos. The fading, etc. comes from too much son. Ragged edges may just be because the tattooist went too deep and the ink “bled”. Tattoos done by good artists, and well taken care of will look good for a very long time (may need some touch ups).
The sun causes the fading, but not the blurring or “ragged edges.” Your immune system does that; it attacks the ink as a foreign substance, and makes it hazy over time. I was told this by my ex-girlfriend, who’s a urologist, not a dermatologist, so take that for what it’s worth, but it seems reasonable.
My tattoo is of a panel from Calvin and Hobbes, complete with a word balloon. I got it in 1995, and it’s reproduced on my shoulder blade at the same size it appeared in the book I got it from.
Big mistake! Only five years later, Calvin’s words are already becoming fuzzy and people have trouble reading it. I don’t know any way I could fix that. I should have blown up the image.
I ** don’t ** have any tats. My ex husband got one just after we divorced (14 years ago).
An eagle on his chest.
now, the only colors left are the blues and greens, the edges are ragged, and since he’s lost and gained the same 40 pounds every few years, it’s also all stretched out and you can’t tell at all what it originally was.
I like it tho’ since it’s convinced our son that he never wants one.
