Every now and again an email comes through to the Body Art in-box, often starting out with an explanation of how the person sending the email has some sort of skin disorder, but they really want to get a tattoo... and is it going to be okay if they do get one? Interestingly none of these people seem to feel comfortable talking about this with their doctors or dermatologists, even though their medical professional is in the best position to know exactly how chronic or not their condition is, and where on their body it is as well and have awareness of any of their ongoing treatments or medications.

If someone has eczema, they are suffering from a temporary or ongoing skin rash. This can be caused by something that got on the skin (contact dermatitis), it can be a side effect from some other disease or conditions or it can be due to genetic reasons. Most often the skin is red and can feel itchy or have a burning sensation. There might be swelling, peeling or flaking, cracking, blisters or open wounds. If you are suffering from either a temporary or on-going case of eczema or dermatitis (another name for this family of skin conditions) you don't want to get tattooed in that area. If it's just something temporary, wait until you are fully healed and the skin is completely normal, smooth and unblemished. If you have an chronic condition, tattooing could trigger a worse reaction. You are also more susceptible to infection. In short, don't do it.

For someone suffering from psoriasis, that skin disease is caused by the body's own immune system. Mistakenly, the body tells the skin to grow and renew itself at a pace that is much faster than necessary. Most people suffering with this condition have patches of skin that form "plaques," which are inflamed spots covered with silvery scales of skin. In worse cases, the joints can get inflamed and the skin can be broken. Since tattoos are ink which is deposited into the middle layer of the skin, getting them in an area where the skin growth is out of control or otherwise abnormal is not a good idea. Again there is an increased risk of infection, and a high chance that the tattoo will be ruined by the increased skin growth.

Essentially, tattooing is best done on skin that is healthy, smooth and free from any growth, wounds, rashes or other abnormal conditions.