Are tattoo's an addiction?

Many people say that tattoo's are adding but I feel that it is just a myth. People get tattoos for many different reasons. I do not feel that people would "need" to get a tattoo and calling it an addiction such as drugs. People get tattoo's because they like the way they look on, to represent something, and possibly because they think they look cool. People don't get tattoo's because they love the feeling of needles in their body.
I like getting tattoo's because of the way they look once their finished. All of my tattoo's are hidden but I have many hours of work put into them. I don't do it because I'm "addicted", I do it because I enjoy the look of them. I have a scroll on my foot that says mother, best friend, and family in chinese letters because my mom is my everything. I have three flowers on my thigh to represent my sister, my mom, and my grandma and under the flowers it says, "A bond that will never be broken." My back piece is just a bunch of designs with no representation. The point I'm getting at it some people do it for different reasons.
Tattoo artists do tattoos because they are very good at art and enjoy what they do. People that have tattoo's all over their body have put lots and lots of money into them. In big cities they are ridiculous prices. For something as small as a quarter, they may charger you 300 dollars. I couldn't imagine paying that much for something so small. Every time I travel I always check out tattoo shops and ask prices because I'm always curious.
I think that if anyone was to get a rush and be addicted to tattoo's it would be the tattoo artist. The artist is the one who hears everyone's stories, who puts something permanent on someone everyday, who get's to take their art and designs and make it into something real.
http://www.kotatv.com/global/story.asp?s=11159969

Teen Fashion, Body Piercing and Tattooing

Everytime I search tattoo's and piercings I find a lot of the same information relating to teen's being more involved at such younger ages. After reading this article I realize how true it is. I heard kids under the age of 18 talking about getting or already having tattoo's and piercings. I got my first tattoo at 15 but when I got mine, they weren't popular to get at such a young age. Now everyone has them whether their 14, 18, or 21. The more tattoo's on younger people I see are getting trashier and very stupid. My ex boyfriends dad just let his 14 year old brother get the monster energy drink "M" tattooed on him. What parent in their right mind would sign for a child to get that tattooed on them? I have saw anything from play boy bunnies to girlfriend or boyfriends names. I understand if a child finds a way to get the tattoo without their parents signing for them, then the parent can take action but what about these parent's who are signing for their children to get tattoo's like that? The kids are in high school! Yes, I know some couples last forever but why would you want to get their name tattooed on your body at such a young age?
I know that teenagers do crazy things and majority of the time don't think about what their doing before they do it or they think it's something cool to do. Many teens are also followers so if their crowd of friends are doing it, they should too. In high school kids go by what's in style, the cool color to dye their hair to be different, ways to cut or style their hair, the clothes they wear, or the things they do such as smoking, drinking and doing drugs. Clothing, hair cuts, and hair dye come and go, its fixable. Smoking, drinking and doing drugs is something a parent always has to worry about their children getting into but tattoo's don't come off. Once they are put on your body, theirs no way to fully go back and get rid of it. You can cover it up or try to get it removed but somehow or another it will always remain.
Parent's need to think about what their letting their children do. I'm not saying it's a horrible thing to let your child get a tattoo at a young age but make sure it's something their never going to regret. I got stars on my lower back when I was 15. Do I regret it now? No, but you can't see it unless I have a swim suit on and I love stars so as of now it doesn't bother me. Will it bother me when I;m an older person? Possibly but like I said you can't see it unless I have a swim suit on so it can always be covered.

http://www.theparentreport.com/resources/ages/teen/behavior/100.html

Tattoo's and Piercings at a work place

When searching for a job, everyone goes through the interview process. An interview is a meeting of judgment. Back in the day if you have exposed tattoo's and piercings it was almost an automatic no that you won't be getting hired. Now days many managers look over the tattoo's and piercing's because they are so much more common. Now days most people would try to say that they are discriminating if they didn't get hired because of a tattoo or a piercing instead of looking at it logically and realizing that they shouldn't be exposed in the work place.
A study was done and 36 percent had piercings and 22 percent had body art. At a work place the only things considered as discrimination is things like race, color, religion, and age. Managers and Owners are allowed to ask employee's to cover up their tattoo's or take out their piercings while being at work.
Managers have to be careful when asking employees to cover up tattoo's and what their limits are on piercings. Some may have a limit to the number of piercings a female can have in their ear but what happens when they tell a male that he can't wear any piercings at all? You have to treat all employee's equally.
I feel that some piercings do need to be covered up. If it is very visible and looks trashy or not normal then it should be removed at work. If it's an ear ring or a small piercing such as a nose ring, some people would rather see a little stud in their nose then a whole or a band aid covering it. Tattoo's should not be visible because it doesn't look good when someone has a tattoo on their neck or hands, to me that is a little trashy. Those are the tattoo's that people should have removed or not even get at all.
http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/tattoos-and-body-piercings-get-under-managers-skin-2688229.html

Skin Pocketing, Piercing and Trans Dermal Implants

Dermal implants are also known as skin pocketing or anti-piercing. It is a piercing that lies on the surface of the skin. It is a regular piercing except the piercing is held in by a pocket under the skin such as tissue. This procedure was created by Ben from The House of Colors. Dermal piercings are known as implants because they have to be surgically removed. A family doctor can removed them, it doesn't take much but it's not like a normal piercing where you take it out yourself.
Most piercings you can take out the whole piercing and change it yourself where as dermal piercings, you can only change the tops of them because the stem of the piercing is not removable.
I had a dermal stud in between my chest that was a diamond stud. I know, it sounds weird or crazy but it was actually very cute. When getting it pierced the lady massaged the tissue around the area then pierced it like a real piercing except at the bottle of this piercing there were two little hooks which I call footers. She then pushes the footers deep into the tissue so that the piercing will stay. The skin tissue heals around the piercing so that it stays in place. Due to surgery last week, the surgeon had to cut the dermal out before he could preform surgery because it would've caused me to be at high risk for infection. Now I have 5 stitches where the piercing was so I will probably have a scar there. I'm not sure if the scaring is worth it but it was cute while it lasted.

Tattoo Removal

Many people want tattoo's removed for many different reasons. Some people have tattoo's of that they regret getting, look horrible, or are associated with something they are no longer attached to such as gangs, ex's names, or a sign that means something.
There are many different ways for tattoo removal and I'm sure more are in the process of being created. First would be laser removal. Laser removal is highly concentrated light that will break the ink into tiny pieces, which  clear away by your own immune system. The laser isn't a one time treatment. The more treatment's you have, the more the tattoo will go away. By doing so many treatments it's very bad for your skin. It will cause burning, scabbing, and scaring. They say the scaring is minimal but it's a very painful treatment to go through. There is no guarantee that the tattoo will ever fully be removed. It could take 1 to 10 sessions to remove a tattoo and still after that it may not be fully gone. 1 session could cost anywhere from $250 dollars to $850 dollars a session. If you have a big bright colorful tattoo, it may take 10 sessions where as a little dull colored or black tattoo could take 2 or 3 sessions. The price also goes by how big and how colorful the tattoo is.
Another option is Intense Pulsed Light Therapy. A gel is applied to the skin and then a wand emits pulses of light to the skin. This is known to be a less painful treatment. The price of this treatment goes by how many pulses of light is used. The starting price is $ 10 dollars per pulse. So this procedure could be pretty expensive as well.
There is also do it yourself cream removal. This is obviously the most less painful option. There are many different creams that you have to keep rubbing on the tattoo. The creams are suppose to make the tattoo fade away without hurting your skin and without going through any pain. There are no proven facts that say any of the creams work yet but some say that the tattoo's have faded. The creams are much cheaper then the other options but still aren't cheap. For one bottle could cost $125 dollars but one bottle will never be enough. Some creams you will have to use for months to see a difference.
Personally, I do not think the creams will do much. It may fade your tattoo but tattoos fade in a matter of years anyways. If I had to get one removed, I would try one of the first two options. The laser would probably get the job done but then your risking scaring, hurting your skin, scabbing, and that area will probably never look normal again. The pulse therapy doesn't seem to bad but then again you have the side effects of the removal such as scaring and damaging your skin. I would just say if you think you might possibly regret a tattoo then don't get it. That's why I say you should think long and hard before getting one. Also, make sure you know your tattoo artist and have saw work done by him/her. If you get a tattoo from someone you don't know and have never saw their work, you are probably going to end up unhappy about the work they have done and either a different tattoo artist is going to have to try and fix it (which some are not able to be fixed) or your going to have to pay to try to get it removed. It's better to be safe then sorry.

http://tattoo.about.com/od/tatremoval/a/tatremoval.htm

Tattoo's vs. Gang symbols

Many years ago people only had tattoo's if it was a symbol for something. People never knew how to identify them because they didn't have the skills to do so but if you had a tattoo it meant that you had some kind of gang or criminal association. It also meant you had probably served time in prison.

Now tattoo's are very popular. There are still many people that get or have gang tattoo's. The difference is many gang related tattoo's are tribal symbols. They aren't your normal body art like flowers, butterflies, and crosses. The gang related symbol is to define a certain group they are in and to also let people know the indication of their gang or status.

It is unlikely for people to be able to identify the signs. The symbols are used for rival gangs to see and for group members to identify each other. There are still many gangs around but majority of them are in major cities or prison. A few big gangs would be Yakuza or Japanese mafia, which form little black rings around their arm and that symbolizes each crime a gang member has committed. The hispanic gang has so many different gangs that theres to many to go through but majority of them have a five pointed crown found on the upper arm or a five pointed star can be found between the finger and the thumb. Mexican gangs often go by their religious background or blood ties for their symbols. Many of them have praying hands on them which symbolizes their praying for forgiveness. Another common tattoo for the Mexican and Latin gangs is the Lady of Guadalupe. Gangster's use to have symbols to represent a gang but now so many rappers and black celebrities have gotten them tattooed on them because of where they grew up or whatever reason they had to get it so now it doesn't always identify a gang symbol.

I think that gang symbols are very over rated and not real like they use to be. I see on jail and prison shows all the time that people will get symbols tattooed on them in jail or come in with the tattoo. When someone interviews them they say they got the tattoo in prison because they had to pick a side or they come into jail with a gang symbol and it's just representing where their from but has nothing to do with actually being in a gang. Some people have no clue what gang they are truly in. People fuss abut being a blood or a crip but that hasn't been around in years except in major cities.

http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/gang-tattoos.html

Tattooing and Body Piercing: Body Art Practices Among College Students

   Tattoo's and piercings are becoming more popular in the United States as well as other Countries. A study was done with 766 tattooed or pierced college students within 18 universities around the United States and one was conducted in Australia. They wanted to know the characteristics, motivational factors, and health concerns. The traditional age of getting tattooed is during their college days; ages ranging from 18 to 22 years.
   More health problems seemed to arise from more people with piercings then tattoo's. There was three cases reported of hepatitis from either a piercing or tattoo. They say health professionals should discuss the risks of getting tattoo's and piercings with their students and help with their decision making.
    Tattoo's and Piercings use to be known as "body art" and has been around for thousands of years. It has been practiced in almost every culture through out the world. Now days both genders are almost equally representing body art. It's now common for adults and adolescents from a wide range of jobs, occupations, and groups. Between 7 million and 20 million adults are tattooed and theres an even bigger percentage of adolescents being tattooed between the ages of 15 to 25. Which raises the percent up by 25%.
    Tattoo and piercings are quite popular. It is hard to come across someone who doesn't have one or the other. What people fail to realize though especially people getting tattooed at a young age, they never go away. Therefore, everyone should always think very hard about what their going to put on their body. Piercings can be taken out but the hole may never go away.

http://community.tribalectic.com/articles/tattooing-and-body-piercing-body-art-practices-among-college-students