Taming the Tattoo

​What do you do when something weird and wild comes into your emergency department? This month, we mean lacerations over tattoos or body piercings. Cosmetic repair of injuries involving tattoos and piercings are important to our patients. We should ensure proper wound closure while preserving the underlying body art.Tattoos and piercings are ancient practices of body modification. This form of art appreciation continues to be a popular and important cosmetic alteration for many people. Body art ranges from ear piercings ($20-30 for earlobes) to extensive tattoos that cost thousands of dollars.Many have sentimental value and special meaning to patients, and a laceration disrupting them can be upsetting for them. Scarring left behind from improper closure can cause the formation of keloids and discoloration on tattooed skin. Lacerations involving piercings, especially the ear and belly button, can cause severe skin stretching that needs plastic surgery repair if not closed appropriately.The Approach-Laceration repair of tattooed skin-Combination of simple interrupted, mattress, and deep sutures-Proper bandaging, wound care, and follow-up instructionsWatch a video of Ms. Roberts repairing a tattoo laceration with deep and simple interrupted sutures. Dissolvable sutures were applied on top of completed superficial sutures​.The PauseIt is important to consider tattoo cosmetics during repair, but no skin art should take precedence over proper skin closure of an injured site. If...
Source: The Procedural Pause - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs