Tattoo FAQ: Will Pregnancy Affect My Stomach Tattoo?

Your tattoo will do exactly what your skin does. If your skin stretches, so will your tattoo. Though, it’s not entirely unlikely for the tattoo to return to its former glory after pregnancy.

Everyone’s skin is different, so everyone will have different results. It also depends on the style of tattoo; If it’s something with a lot of straight lines and geometric shapes it’ll likely be more noticeable if it does stretch.

If you have a more organically-styled tattoo on your stomach like flowers, filigree or something of that nature—it won’t be quite as noticeable if the shape warps.

Will Stretch Marks Affect My Tattoo?

If anything is going to affect the look of your tattoo after pregnancy; it’ll mainly be stretch marks. When stretch marks tear through a tattoo they’ll noticeably leave splits in the image.

You can absolutely have these tattooed over, but keep in mind it’s not always guaranteed that the pigment will hold in scarring. It’s also recommended to wait a few years before tattooing over certain scars. A good indication as to whether or not the stretch marks are ready to be tattooed over is the colour. If they’re still a reddish/pink, they’ll need some more time. Whiter scars which have had a few years to heal are much more likely to hold pigment.

To sum up, the answer is mostly a yes. Pregnancy can affect most tattoos around the abdominal area (with a few exceptions). As I’ve said; Everyone is different. Every tattoo will be affected differently by pregnancy, and there’s always a course of action you can take to rescue the tattoo when you’re ready to do so.

If you’d like to submit your questions to Tattoo FAQ; Email info@inkaddict.com with the subject line ‘Tattoo FAQ’ and your following question.

Thanks for reading. Happy tatting!