How to Design a Tattoo That Works with Your Scars

Designing a tattoo around your scar can be a challenge. But, it can also make an exceptional and meaningful tattoo design. When you’re creating a design, you need to work with your scar’s unique boundaries to find something that fits. Another important consideration is the difference between scar tissue and normal skin. Scars hold ink differently than normal skin, and that means your tattoos may turn out differently.

Despite the extra work involved, scar tattoos can help you embrace your skin and honor your personal story. Here, we review how to come up with a tattoo design based on your individual scar. We also go over the process of getting a tattoo, and the best scar tattoo ideas to consider. Read on, and let your creativity run wild!

This is the most fun and creative part of the whole process. Each scar is completely unique, and your task is to find a design that will suit your scar’s unique contours, as well as your personal artistic taste. We spoke with Maxine, tattoo artist and owner at Lucky 13 Tattoos in Toronto, and she offered a number of tips on how to come up with a tattoo design for a scar. Her main point was that it’s “better to go with a tattoo that has texture and depth to it, in order for the scar to blend into the tattoo. Ideas that work well would be flowers…leaves, trees, fish scales, snake skin” or “any type of intricate pattern.”

Your first step is to decide on a tattoo style; some work better with scar tissue than others, so it’s an important consideration. Usually, it’s best to avoid styles that require solid black lines, like tribal tattoos or American Traditional tattoos. Scar tissue abides by its own rules, and the way it holds ink is often very inconsistent. Opting for a realistic or water color style, allows for more organic, flowing boundaries. Your next step is to find a design, say an animal or a plant, that can mimic the shape of your scar or fit around it. Think of something that’s personally meaningful to you, and see whether it will work.

The specifics of your scar will impact how your tattoo is designed and inked, so make sure your artist knows what they’re dealing with while they’re designing your tattoo. Maxine reiterates this point, explaining “We also have to consider the severity of the scar itself, as every scar is different…You want to avoid tattooing over scars that are new and still healing, as the skin will still be irritated and you could cause more damage to the area by irritating the scar tissue”.

Some things that the artist should know are: How severe is it? Is it a burn scar? From a cut? Is it raised? How deep is it? What color is your scar? How big is it? Is the scar fully healed? Do you get keloids? Each of these factors plays a part in how your tattoo will ultimately turn out, so informing your artist of the details before going to the inking appointment is really helpful.

It’s important to ask questions with any tattoo, but especially don’t hold back if you have any queries about how your scar tattoo might turn out. Most tattoo artists feel honored to be able to be apart of this kind of journey, “It’s nice to be able to help someone better a part of themselves they may not be entirely comfortable with. Everyone has a different story for their scars, whether they are self harm scars or that one time you fell off your bike”.

Ask about color, how it will hold, what you should expect, and anything else you might be curious about going into your tattoo appointment. You want to feel like you know what’s going to happen, and know exactly what you should be expecting after you leave the shop, so you don’t experience any disappointment if the ink isn’t taking like you hoped it would. This can be a risk with scar tissue tattoos, so again, be prepared and ask what you want to know!

The risks aren’t serious, but mainly have to do with the final appearance of the ink, and how it will settle once the tattoo heals. Make sure that if you have a keloid scar, or if you’re prone to them, that you don’t get ink directly over scar tissue, as this could develop into further skin issues.

If you’re not keloid-prone and your scar is old enough, you’re good to go. As mentioned, the most important consideration is what your tattoo will end up looking like. Sometimes, patches of tattooed scar tissue can look slightly more blurry than normal. Other times, since scar tissue is so tightly woven, it can completely reject ink particles, leaving behind blank sections of skin. If this happens to you, you might need to see your tattoo artist again, to have them go over your skin repeatedly to improve the patchiness.

If, at any point, your scar reopens, make sure that you go see your doctor immediately for medical advice. These cases are rare, but it’s always best to play it safe.

Tattoo designs with organic, flowing shapes and flexible boundaries are ideal for inking over scars. Scar tissue holds ink differently than ordinary skin: it’s much less porous, and sometimes the tissue is so tightly woven, ink particles are rejected. That’s why getting tattoo designs with fluid boundaries is your best option; you never know which parts of the scar will take ink, so you want a design that will look good either way. Here’s a list of the best tattoo design ideas that will work well with any scar:

Animals have a lot of cool textures and shapes that you can work with, and they make great scar tattoo designs. Check out this porcupine, whose spikes are made of scar ridges, and this flamingo, whose posture fits right into the scar boundaries!

A number of scar tattoos are done to cover up self-harm markings. If you want to conceal these, pick a style that uses a lot of lines, emulating a pencil sketch.

We all have scars – they’re a part of life! But it’s how you choose to view them that ultimately matters. You can enhance them with a tattoo, and the process isn’t all that different from getting any other tattoo. Communicate with your artist, and know what to expect by doing some research into how ink settles in scar tissue.