What is a Tattoo?

A tattoo is a puncture wound that is made deep into the skin, filled with ink. Tattoos are made by penetrating your skin with a needle and injecting ink into the area, which usually creates some sort of design.

What makes tattoos so long-lasting is that they're deep; the ink isn't injected into the epidermis (the top layer of skin), but the dermis (the second, deeper layer of skin). Dermis cells are very stable, so the tattoo is practically permanent.

In the beginning, tattoos were done manually, in which the tattoo artist would puncture the skin with a needle and inject the ink by hand. Although, this technique is still used in parts of the world, most tattoo shops use a tattoo machine, which is a handheld electric instrument that uses a tube and needle system. On one end of the machine is a sterilized needle, which is attached to tubes that contain ink. A foot switch is used to turn on the machine, which moves the needle in and out while driving the ink about 1/8 inch (about 3 millimeters) into your skin.

Your tattoo artist will know how deep to drive the needle into your skin, as not going deep enough will produce a poor tattoo, and going too deep can cause bleeding, intense pain, and scarring. You will find that complications related to tattoos will generally depend on amateur artists, do-it-yourselfers, and informal tattooers; remember that just because a tattoo shop is in business and has customers and employees, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are clean, sterile, and reputable.

I advise that you strongly consider the following tattoo aftercare tips and advice because if you don't care for your new tattoo properly for the first two weeks, or so, you have a higher risk of infection and scarring.