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 Most people, most of the time, can lay claim to their tattoos being deliberate creations. That seems like a rather obvious fact to state, doesn’t it? Of course there will be people who’ve gotten tattoos and regretted them, and the eternal legend of the drunken escapade to a seedy parlour that results in a ludicrously awful little love heart or blurry rose, but we’re missing something here.
What about the people whose tattoos are complete and utter accidents?
Not quite on the level of the recently infamous and fraudulant ’56 face stars’ girl. The truest accidental tattoos involve no artist, no needle, no tattoo parlour or planning of any kind. They’re much, much more random and sudden than that, and there’s more than one way to acquire them!
The dictionary definition that a dermatologist will give you follows something like this: an accidental tattoo is the result of “pigmented particles, which are accidentally introduced as contaminants in wounds or penetrate previously intact skin at high velocity.”
This writer has an accidental tattoo – a small blue splotch on my right forearm. It makes for a very amusing icebreaker, as it means I can say I got my first tattoo at about age seven. What happened? Even my own memory is fuzzy, but a fight with a younger brother and a blue-ink fountain pen being used as a ‘stab’ implement are the culprits. It’s gained the nickname of ‘blue freckle’ down the years, and truth be told I barely notice it. As accidental tattoos go, in fact, I’ve gotten off rather lightly: much worse can be gotten.
An example of the rather worse (and more painful) accidental tattoo: “Irregularly spattered pigmentation is often seen after road accidents.” A sharp impact of skin-on-road will often result in tarmac being pushed in and under skin, and staying there – the worst cases resulting in ghoulish three dimensional black lumping under the skin. The lightest cases give the result of a patch of skin that seems permanently smeared or vaguely dirty. It’s known as “road rash” in some ERs where local traffic accidents are much too common. The good news for this specific type of accidental marking – where dirt, sand, grease and/or asphalt are the culprits – is that laser removal treatment is highly effective, much more so than with actual artistically rendered tattoos, and marks can be fully erased in one or two treatments.
Thus, the worst type of accidental tattoos: the ones that are far, far too dangerous to attempt any removal. A strange and little-known occurrence in the world of accidental tattooing involves gunpowder getting engrained under the skin. This happened often in miners who got too close to tunnel explosions, and is still known to happen with clumsy fireworks mishaps. It can allegedly occur with backfiring old shotguns, too.
Why so dangerous? The gunpowder remains explosive, even still whilst under the skin, and a laser will ignite it and result in far, far more dangerous disfiguration or even death. You did read that right: Some tattoos can render you explosive. Literally.
I shall finish off with one last fascinating fact linked perhaps not so much to “accidental tattooing” per se, than it is to “potential accidents during laser removal:” rheumatoid arthritis sufferers undergoing a particular type of treatment known as “gold therapy” are advised not to consider getting any old tattoos lasered off. A combination of their therapy and the laser can cause huge changes in the entire colour of their skin. Indeed. Between the choice of keeping a regrettable piece of ink or waking up an unnaturally different colour one morning, the wiser choice goes unsaid… CREDITS: Article - Rachel Kennedy Photo - DermIS |
