Cosmetic tattooing
Permanent cosmetics or cosmetic tattooing is not a new procedure, but it is becoming increasingly popular for a variety of reasons. Some people can’t wear makeup due to allergies or skin sensitivity; others with physical impairments can’t apply makeup. Then there are active people who don’t want to worry about sweating off their makeup, and those who are just too busy too spend time applying it.
Cosmetic tattoos are permanent, although they may require touching up from time to time, according to the Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professional’s Web site. The most popular procedures are eyebrows, eye and lip liner and lip color, according to Kim Legaspi, who has been a permanent cosmetic technician for eight years, and Linda McCarty, who has been a permanent cosmetic technician for seven years.
“Someone who is fair-skinned is going to need maintenance on their brows every two to three years,” McCarty said. “Eyeliner, lip color, you’re talking years and years.”
Permanent cosmetic technicians are not required to be licensed in the state of Idaho, and Legaspi and McCarty urge consumers to exercise caution and common sense when choosing a technician.
“Beauticians and nail techs are more regulated than I am,” said Legaspi, who is certified by the American Academy of Micropigmentation. “Do you want to know if I’m any good? That’s the question you should be asking,” Legaspi said. “Not how much does it cost. Don’t pick somebody based on that. Go in and look at photos. Research the person that you choose to do it.”Legaspi’s permanent cosmetic business, Permanent Advantage, is at Hawaiian Sun Suntan Center and Day Spa. Also a dental hygienist, she has had to study biology and human anatomy and aseptic procedures. McCarty, a registered nurse who was first an ER nurse, works within the office of Mark Owsley, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Her goal was to be a permanent cosmetics technician in a plastic surgeon’s office. She also treats Owsley’s patients who have had breast reconstruction, with areola pigmentation.
“I feel very adequately prepared to handle needles, and to inject people,” McCarty said. “I don’t have any idea really what the training for someone else is. My clients come to me because of my background.”McCarty said that most of her return clients come in for touch-ups on their eyebrows because she uses lighter pigment, which doesn’t have the longevity of black or a dark brown.
Both McCarty and Legaspi use a topical anesthetic to numb the area to be treated.
A typical procedure takes approximately two hours. McCarty recommends Vaseline be used on the affected area for five days after the procedure to keep it moist while it heals. She said that there can be minimal swelling after an eyeliner procedure that may last from two to 72 hours.
McCarty uses a rotary machine as opposed to the traditional coil machine used by tattoo artists who do body art. The rotary machine allows her more precision, with “tinier” needles. It looks a lot like a magic marker, into which the needles are inserted. The pigment is drawn up into the needle.
Legaspi uses a Noveau Contour digital machine, also with individually pre-packaged, single-use, disposable sterile needles. Legaspi said that it’s impossible to have pigment back-flow with her machine, so it’s very sterile.
McCarty stressed successful cosmetic tattoo technicians, in addition to having a strong sterile background, “really have to have a knack at beautifying people, and not everybody has that knack.”
“I think that’s probably the biggest shame, when I see people who have poorly done permanent cosmetics,” McCarty said. “Everybody must be held to an artistic standard. It’s important that your technician has skill. This is permanent.”
She said she recommends to her clients what is best for their appearance. In the case of brows, she doesn’t remove the brow hair, but shapes it, then enhances the shape or color of the brow with pigment. McCarty said that little adjustments can make a big difference with eyebrows. Both she and Legaspi use a technique that looks like natural hair strokes when doing eyebrows. Legaspi has had good results with tattooing brows on patients with alopecia, a hair-loss affliction.
“When you see the brow before any other feature on a person, that’s not a good sign,” McCarty said. She said eyebrows should be like a picture frame for the face.
Lips can be done with just lip liner, in which case it is best to match the color with your natural pigment, so if you’re not wearing lipstick it doesn’t look strange. The lips can be filled in, for full lip color.
Legaspi recalled a “botched” lip job that she corrected.
“It’s a process of taking out color, which is sometimes risky and not always effective,” she said.
It involves an over-tattoo process, using saline, and she said it’s not “very pleasant.” If it is more than she can remove, then laser removal is recommended. The laser actually shatters the pigment in the skin, and can take several treatments.
Prices range from $350 to $600 for eyebrows, eyeliner or lips. Scar camouflage and areola pigmentation are on a case-by-case basis.