Permanent Makeup: Cosmetic Tattooing

Permanent makeup, or cosmetic tattooing, is a fast-growing part of the health and beauty industry.

If you have faint eyebrows, no eyebrows, or partial eyebrows, a cosmetic tattoo can help. A lip tattoo can reduce "lipstick bleed," and give definition to the lip line. With a colored lip tattoo, lip scars disappear, plus you can kiss lipstick good-bye. After an eyeliner tattoo, put away your eye pencils forever!

Cosmetic tattooing also has more serious applications - like improving the appearance of a nipple after breast reconstruction.

Just be careful to check your tattoo artist's credentials. Ask to speak with former clients. Ask about before-and-after photographs. To avoid infections, and to ensure professional results, it is important to work with a licensed aesthetician - ideally recommended by a plastic surgeon. Make sure the aesthetician uses sterile gloves and sterilized equipment.

How It's Done

Tattooing involves a needle that penetrates the skin and pigment that is released into the hole. It's the same process used for hundreds of years to create designs on skin. However, in more recent years, greater attention has been focused on proper sterilization techniques and licensing. Also, tattoo artists and permanent makeup artists are being trained in more specialized applications like cosmetic facial tattoos.

What to Expect

A patch test is done to determine whether you have an allergic reaction to the pigment that will be used. You will select the color, based on advice and suggestions from the makeup artist. The technician then sketches the area to be tattooed with a sterile surgical pen. A topical anesthetic gel is applied on the area.

Using a hollow, vibrating needle, the technician applies the pigment into the top layer of the skin. Each time the needle penetrates the skin, a droplet of pigment is released into the hole made by the needle. You will feel a slight stinging.

Recovery

It takes about three weeks for the color to fade to its permanent shade.

Complications and Side Effects

After the procedure, the color will likely look dark and shiny, and the surrounding tissue will be swollen and red. Cold compresses can reduce swelling. Antibiotic ointment must be used to decrease risk of infection. Complications are rare but can include infection or allergic reactions to the tattoo dye.