Understanding the permanence of acquiring a tattoo is an important part of getting a tattoo. Once you have some idea of the difficulty of removing the tattoo, you can reasonably proceed with both eyes wide open. The tattoo process, or the initial process of getting the tattoo, is similar yet different in some ways to the tattoo removal process. Time, cost, effectiveness, pain factors, and skin damage are all things to consider.

The initial tattoo process involves using ink on the skin that is injected into the skin which cannot be washed away or even worn away with time. Once the ink is set into the skin, it is considered a permanent piece of art or expression placed on the skin. It is meant to last throughout time, and even the entire life of the person. Furthermore, getting a tattoo is not necessarily extremely costly and depending on the complexity of the tattoo, its size, the colors used, and perhaps the skin type, the cost of getting a tattoo can usually be fit into virtually any budget. The initial tattoo process can be extremely painful to moderately painful. Some drugs and numbing agents can be used to help with the pain.

Once the initial tattoo is in place, it is easy to forget that it is even there, especially after the initial pain and healing process subsides. Once the tattoo heals, it will realistically last for a long time, even until death. There is very little likelihood that it will fade or disappear in time unless the ink used was a poor quality. Some stretching of the skin with age or body type changes can cause the tattoo to look stretched and malformed. But generally, a tattoo will remain as was based on the initial tattoo process.

The removal of the tattoo process can be a different issue altogether. To remove a tattoo can be far costlier than the initial cost. In fact, tattoo removal can cost hundreds and thousands of dollars depending of course on the tattoo and number of treatments required. Getting your tattoo removed is something you should think of when getting the tattoo to begin with: are you prepared for the required costs if you should change your mind? Further more, tattoo removal can be just as painful as the initial tattoo itself due to the high-frequency laser which is used to break down the ink that is beneath the skin. This light can feel like sunburn and can burn as such for a while after treatments. Of course pain killers may be used and a strict skin care regimen must be followed after treatments to care for the skin.

The initial and removal tattoo process vary in some ways, yet are similar in others. To remove a tattoo can take up to about a half hour depending on the tattoo, so less time may be needed than the actual meticulous artwork needed for the initial tattoo process. Keep in mind that the removal of a tattoo is not 100% effective either, unlike the permanence of the tattoo itself. Removal can aide in the lightening and diminishing of a tattoo, and in some cases completely remove it, but there is no guarantee that your tattoo can be removed completely.