Tattoos & Top Surgery

[Martin]

Hey everyone! I haven't been around for a while, but I got a question for you all.
I'm thinking of getting a tattoo, but I am at some point in the future also going to have top surgery, and I want to be absolutely sure that the tattoo isn't gonna get all messed up.
The place I'm thinking of getting the tattoo is either on or right below my collarbone, and it'll be no more that two inches long.
Due to the size of my chest, I think I'm definitely going to end up getting double incision, which is probably a factor in the area of distortion.

If anyone has any advice on the subject, that'd be awesome. I'd particularly love it if someone actually had a similar experience, but yeah, tell me what you know people! 🙂

[Zerro]

There is a possibility that the tattoo may be stretched/moved a bit, but I think the collarbone area should be safe. I had DI, and while I didn't have any tattoos, I did have some scarring on my chest from old injuries. It was closer to the center of my chest and actually remained in the same area post op, so you might be good to go if you get a tattoo before surgery.

[Christopher_Marius]

I'd wait til after

[Martin]

Zerro: Thanks for the info.
Christopher: I'd really rather not wait until after... Unless some miracle takes place, top surgery isn't something that's going to happen for me for at least a couple years. The tattoo I want to get is a sort of symbol from the marriage equality campaign I worked on this fall, so it'd be a bit weird to get it that much later.

[Sia]

Your best bet would be to describe the surgery to an experimented tattoo artist and ask them their opinion. If in doubt, ask a surgeon too.

Personally, I'd wait until after the surgery to be on the safe side too - the thing with tattoos is that the slightest stretch of the skin can mess them up.

You may also want to ask yourself - if waiting a couple of years for getting your tattoo feels too "weird", don't you think it'll feel even weirder to actually have it in a decade (or two, three, ...)? If this campaign is a memory that you know you'll spend your life cherishing enough to have it inked on your body, the wait shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Sorry if that bit of unsolicited advice offended you, but I've just seen so many people getting a tat on a whim or as a celebration for something and ending up regretting them a few years down the road, I felt like I had to say it.

[Martin]

No, that makes sense. I don't know if I can entirely explain - it's definitely something that I really do want to remember my whole life, and I know that even if I decided much later that I didn't like the design as much (which I'm pretty sure I wouldn't) the meaning of it would be enough that I wouldn't regret having it there.
The weirdness of the wait is just that it would seem odd to get a tattoo "about" something that happened several years ago? I guess if I knew I was getting surgery in, say, a year and a half, I would probably wait. I just don't like waiting indefinitely... Bad enough that I've no idea when I'll be able to get top surgery.  😛

Anyway, I don't mind the unsolicited advice! You're right, I definitely don't want to get something stuck on my skin forever and then regret it. I would certainly rather people challenged me on it and make me think about it carefully!

Also, I tracked down a couple people on tumblr who have tattoos in similar areas and have had surgery – both of them said their tattoos hadn't been affected at all, so that's a good sign.

[GentlemanRDP]

If it would be weird to get it that much later because of the meaning,
Just get it somewhere else. You've got plenty of skin to ink elsewhere.

[Martin]

I may just do that. Not sure where, though. Suggestions, anyone?

Here's what the tattoo would be, if anyone was wondering. It'd be maybe 1.5 inches tall, no more that 2.