12 Things To Know Before Permanent Makeup

There are 12 potential risks you should know before getting permanent makeup done, and your practitioner should consider before performing a permanent makeup service on someone who may be experiencing any of the following conditions.

As a tattoo artist too often we want to tattoo eyeliner, brows, and lips on everyone that walks through our doors. But it’s important for us to consider long term success depends on knowing when not to do a procedure. This means telling your potential client permanent makeup may not be appropriate for their situation.

Today I’d like to share with you 6 of the 12 potential risks, and I invite you to stay tuned for the remaining 6 risks I will be sharing in next weeks post.

Of course as tattooists, we would love to apply color on everyone we meet. But as a professional cosmetic technician, I think it’s important to recognize that we need to be interviewing our clients to see if permanent makeup is a good fit for them, as much as our potential clients should be interviewing us as their practitioner.

Here are 6 of the 12 potential risks you want to be aware of:

1. DIABETES– clients diagnosed with diabetes have definitely climbed over the past 30 years. Diabetics have the tendency to both bleed, and bruise easily, depending on the severity of their condition. Communicate with them that their healing time may take longer than the normal 4-6 weeks. Ask your client how they react to a surface wound, such as a paper cut. Be cautious of those clients who are brittle, and are insulin-dependent. A physicians note of approval always gives more comfort to both the technician, and to the potential client.
2. PREGNANCY– Keep in mind that the most expensive insurance premiums, and settlements in the medical community are paid to those involved with pregnant woman. You are always safer, and provide more ease of mind for your client to wait until the baby is born, and then proceed with her desired tattooing treatment.
3. GLAUCOMA– People who suffer with glaucoma may experience problems with eye lining procedures because of the pressure they experience around the eyes. It’s always wise to request an approval from their physician.
4. PSORIASIS– These patients suffer from excessive dry skin characterized with peeling and flaking. This can make their skin extremely tender, and sometimes difficult for them to complete the procedure. Also they may experience more bleeding, and the final procedure may slough away fairly quickly requiring additional touch ups.
5. HYPERPIGMENTATION-This is more common in clients with darker skin tones. Hyperpigmentation results from a past injury to the skin which can permanently blemish parts of the skins surface. Sufferers of hyperpigmentation can often experience further discoloration to the surface of their skin from cosmetic, or any kind of tattooing procedure. You may want to do a test area to see how your potential client may respond as well as get a doctors note.
6. SCARS-A scar is the result of a past injury within the dermal layer of the skin. Tattooing is also considered a scar with color because of this procedure being performed in the upper dermal layer. Scars will vary in shape, size, appearance, and texture. Camouflaging to cover these scars are thought of as experimental in nature. It is always wise to do color testing on any scar before attempting to camouflage over the entire area. Test patches should be given 3-4 weeks to fully heal to give you a true value of how the skin will respond. Camouflaging can be very successful with dry needling where no pigment is used. This too is a procedure you would want to do a test patch before covering the entire area.

The work of a tattooist is an art, and we want to be able to meet our potential clients needs, and for our artwork to provide years of pleasure. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, Alisa Florio at Profiles by Alisa 419-680-1486 I’m always happy to answer any questions you may have.

Communication is key to educating our clients so they can make a more informed decision on their desires for permanent makeup. Just because our potential clients may be experiencing one or more of these conditions does not mean they are not a candidate for the procedure of choice, this is simply food for thought for both parties to take into consideration.

Thank you, and I look forward to sharing more with you!