Life
How Does Pregnancy Affect Tattoos? 2 Major Things That May Happen To A Mom-To-Be's Ink
As a mom-to-be, you know your life is about to change. But by how much? Questions run through your head during pregnancy, and for moms-to-be who happen to have ink, one question is will having a baby affect your tattoo? According to the website Medic 8, the answer is maybe, baby. Unfortunately, there's no real way to know for sure. There are some things that might happen to your pregnant body that can affect the color and shape of your tat. Then again, your tat might not change at all. There's no rhyme or reason to why some tattoos change and others don't.
So, the best thing you can do is educate yourself on all the possibilities, so you're not totally surprised. As someone with a couple of ink jobs myself, I can say, some of my tattoos have faded more than others, and I have't had a pregnancy to deal with. The best thing any one can do to preserve their ink it to properly care for the tattoo by applying moisturizer and sunscreen. (But, as a tat enthusiast, you probably know that already.) But that doesn't mean you should prepare yourself for the potential alterations to ink. There are two major things may happen to your tattoos when you're expecting.
Discoloration
According to Medic 8, a pregnant woman may experience chloasma, or a change in skin pigmentation where brown patches show up especially on the face and neck. The change in your skin's color might change the color of your tat. Similarly, Medic 8 noted that linea nigra can darken the skin on your belly. But it's nothing to worry about. You can either deal with it (a little reminder of your babe) or get your tattoo touched up postpartum.
Distortion
The verdict is out on whether or not your tattoo stretches as your skin stretches, But, The Bump reminded women that your skin changes during pregnancy. Not only might you get stretch marks on your stomach from being pregnant, but you might develop them on your hips, rib cage, under your breasts, and all kinds of weird places, reported Baby Center. Spider veins can surface during pregnancy, which stretches the skin. Just like with the stomach situation, this may distort the tattoo's appearance.
If you have a larger tattoo, however, this might not be a problem. According to Tattoo, the larger your tattoo, the less likely any image distortion will show up.
Bottom line — as long as you care for tattoo, the likelihood of pregnancy totally ruining your ink is slim. And your kid's gonna think you're one cool mom.
