Medical tattoos can assist in radiation therapy, post-mastectomy recovery, concealing skin disorders and more.
Not only are tattoos more popular than ever, they have also been mainstreamed. Alongside professional athletes and random celebrities, Average Joes and Janes are getting illustrative body art in increasing numbers, with young people, Blacks and women leading the ink brigade.
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Remember Michael Jackson’s skin condition? Vitiligo causes the body’s immune system to attack pigment cells or melanocytes, resulting in pigment loss. Some, like supermodel Winnie Harlow, celebrate their vitiligo, but for those who desire, tattoo artists can fill in and camouflage vitiligo’s white patches using pigments that match their client’s original skin tone.
Paramedical tattoos also conceal scars and surgical stitches, including those left behind after a C-section, as well as stretch marks, burns, alopecia, birthmarks, and even age spots. Restorative tattoos help people recover psychologically from visible scars after a car accident or some other traumatic event. For example, one Illinois tattoo artist posted a photo of fingernail tats he created for a client who had lost two fingers in a construction accident. According to The New York Times, the photo went viral, and business boomed.
Instead of wearing a medical alert bracelet, some people choose to engrave critical medical information on their skin. Tattoos can alert paramedics and other health professionals to conditions such as diabetes, severe allergies, heart disease, and epilepsy before they start treating the patient.
Many combat soldiers have at least one tattoo, and some ink their military IDs on the torso, underneath the arm, in case a bomb separates limbs from bodies. For this reason, tattooed dog tags are sometimes called “meat tags.”
It’s not easy to get insurance coverage for “cover-up” tattoos, which are considered cosmetic. However, a federal law called the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 (WHCRA) requires group health plans and individual health insurance policies to provide coverage for post-mastectomy reconstructive procedures, including areola and nipple tattooing. Still, this law doesn’t preclude complications, delays, and dead-ends before and after submitting a claim. Preauthorization is typically required for all diagnosis codes. But many people just end up paying out of pocket.
However, most would agree it’s worth it because medical tattoos can improve body image and greatly contribute to a patient’s confidence and mental health. Looking good — or at least restoring a sense of normalcy — is deeply connected to feeling good.
“When women who have been through cancer and mastectomy start seeing themselves as this sculpture, as this work of art,” said Jones, “that’s when it really clicks, and they get to the other side.”
Carol J. Kelly is a freelance writer/editor with extensive experience at leading newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. She’s currently writing a memoir focusing on her mother. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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