Tattoo artist Sarah Gaugler, who has almost 20 years of experience creating delicate designs, believes the sudden request for this new artist to step in may have also contributed to the fall-out.
“When an artist feels rushed or anxious, the needle may stay too shallow, placing the ink solely in the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin),” Gaugler says. “If ink sits only in the epidermis, it remains in the scab that forms and then flakes away with that scab during healing.”
Did My Age Affect How the Tattoo Healed?
My beauty editor brain kicked into overdrive when I ran my fingers over the scab an hour or so after the appointment. My skin is 50 years old, I thought. It doesn’t bounce back the way it used to. I was concerned my age would affect the way the tattoo healed, even if I never imagined it’d vanish completely.
Board-certified dermatologist, Dr. Mona Gohara, MD—who like me, got her first tattoo at 50—explains that while I was right to be worried for other reasons, I shouldn’t have been concerned that the age of my skin would be an issue.
“It is true that as we age, collagen production decreases, skin becomes thinner and less elastic, and wound healing can be somewhat slower, and those changes may influence how skin responds to tattooing and heals afterward,” she says. “But a disappearing tattoo is more likely to involve technique, pigment depth, and location than simply turning 50.”
I also thought that the size of my tattoo could be to blame. After all, it was so tiny! But Gaugler insists this isn’t the case and, like Gohara, believes the artist’s experience was to blame.
“If a tattoo disappears entirely during the peeling phase, the cause rests with the artist’s technique and depth rather than the size of the artwork,” she explains. “For tiny tattoos, yes, there is definitely a limit to how small a design can be before it blurs over time, however, your specific tattoo size would be perfectly fine. Tiny, fine-line tattoos can heal beautifully and last a lifetime when placed with proper precision.”
The Placement of a Tattoo Matters
To give our artist some credit, she did give us great advice on the placement of our tattoos. When we mentioned that we wanted them on our inner wrists, she told us to avoid inking too close to our wrist creases. Zurita agrees that this was the correct guidance; the wrist crease is a high movement area that can affect how the tattoo holds up and ages over the years. “I always like to recommend placing it a couple of inches below the wrist,” Zurita says.
Even so, that area can be particularly difficult to tattoo. “The inner wrist is a beautiful placement, but it takes a lot of skill to find the perfect depth,” Zurita adds. “The artist has to balance preventing fading with avoiding a blowout, especially since the skin there is so thin and subject to constant movement.”
