Synonyms in a broader sense
scientifically also Tatauierung = tattoo
Definition
A tattoo is a motif that is applied to the skin with ink or other colorants. For this purpose, the color is usually with the help of a tattoo machine through one or more needles (depending on the desired effect) into the second skin layer and draw a picture or text. After a tattoo, there are some things to consider, for example, when doing sports.
There are several reasons not only for the desire to get a tattoo, but also for the urge to have a tattoo removed. Frequently, well visible names of once beloved persons and partners after the separation are perceived as annoying. Sometimes also the tattoo or the tattoo artist has not met the artistic demands, or one can no longer identify with the tattoo motif.
Often, however, it is social changes, which are associated with the desire of the tattoo removal. Who wants to get rid of his tattoo again, often has to realize that this is not so easy. Nevertheless, there are old proven methods and also the latest developments make an almost scar-free tattoo removal possible.
However, the tattoo is not an invention of the 20th century. Many peoples have independently discovered the cult of tattooing for themselves and practiced. In the north of Chile, 7000 year old mummies were found, which were tattooed on hands and feet.
And also the famous glacier mummy “Ötzi”, who lived about 5000 years ago, was tattooed. Elaborate and large tattoos were also found among equestrian peoples from the Russian steppes and the Caucasus. This execution also gained ritual importance in Micronesia, Polynesia, among the indigenous population and Ainu and Yakuza (Japan).
The Old Testament forbade its creditors the tattoo. In early Christian sects, however, it was partly common. And even today, many Christians express their God-feeling and religious affiliation by tattooing a cross, folded hands, angel wings and the like.
Until 1890 it was even common in Bosnia to tattoo Catholic girls, so that they could not convert to Islam. Nowadays, body jewelry is usually no longer carved into the skin by hand, as it was then, but by mechanical pressure with the help of professional tattooing equipment into the skin. Most tattoo artists today enjoy a graphic training and pay more attention to hygiene measures to avoid possible infections.
The skin, as the largest and heaviest organ of the human being, is exposed to about 20 needle stitches per second during a tattoo, whereby a part of the color substances is immediately removed via the vascular system of the skin. Larger pigment crystals remain in the skin and form the tattoo, the tattoo. In a properly performed tattoo, the tattooed color pigments are located in the middle layer of the skin.
Only in this layer the tattoo remains (relatively) color-fast. If the color pigments of the tattoo as for example in henna tattoos only in the outer layer of skin tattooed, the tattoo disappears with time by itself, because this skin layer renews itself completely independently and the skin scales fall off. After some time, the tattoo color sometimes fades or leads unintentionally to a color change.
Reasons for this are either a photochemical reaction or the removal of the color particles by the body’s own macrophage system. Tattoo colors can therefore also accumulate in the nearest lymph nodes. These lymph nodes usually appear enlarged or appear black when removed.
Surveys have shown that currently in Germany, about 10% of the population has at least one tattoo, in young people (16-29 years) it is up to 23%. Thus, the number of tattooed people in Germany has clearly exceeded the 7 million mark. Per year can be dated about 20,000 tattoo removals. This means an increase of almost 40% in recent years. Mostly it is women between 25 and 50 years who do not feel comfortable with their tattoo anymore.