3d snake tattoo

By Angela Generoso
Has body modification gone too far? The craze and infatuation over the ever-popular 3D Tattoo is mystifying.

Those advocating for the madness claim adding shape beneath the skin enhances the tattoo by having the pattern injected giving extra shape to the design. But what are the complications?

What it is:

The basic idea of a 3D tattoo is to slightly lift a tattoo up about two millimeters. This is done by putting a tiny amount of hyaluronic acid (sugar) under the skin, by means of injection. It goes underneath the tattoo in specific areas of the design to show the shape of the outline and specific points of the tattoo, creating a contoured design.

The amazing aspect about these tattoos is that any part of the body can be raised. It doesn’t matter if it’s your cheeks, your thighs or your left shoulder, it can be done.

Few tattoo artists will attempt these strange designs, and even fewer specialize in them.

What’s the appeal:

A tattoo in three dimensions does not look cool. It looks like your tattoo was done wrong and needs extra special care. It looks like a scarred tattoo often seen when the artist doesn’t really know what he’s doing. It looks like the client had a bad reaction to the ink for it to puff up in 3-D. It just looks bad.

Safety:

Today we will do anything for the purpose of looks. We will go through surgical procedures, and take numerous types of drugs to enhance our physical appearance. But some things just aren’t safe. Injecting yourself with sugar so that your tattoo pops up in three dimensions is not safe, and definitely not cool.