Should I wait?

Hi everyone - I'm 39 years old and am just starting my journey with WLS. I have been wanting to get my first tattoo for a long time now and was wondering if I should wait until I lose some weight. (I weigh 425 now). I'm afraid if I get one now, after I lose weight, the tattoo may be distorted. I want to get a white tiger climbing up my shoulder and coming up over it onto my upper arm/chest area. Any ideas?

Hey There! I'm no expert, however, my best friend owns four shops in two different states and is rated as one of the top tattooists in the world. I wanted to get a tattoo also, but he suggested I wait until I lose the weight, for the exact same reason you mentioned above. Your skin will be loose after losing weight, so if it were me, I'd wait Just like this surgery, tattoos are forever so you want them to be perfect! XoXo~ Kimanne

My 10 tattoos preop hurt far less than the one I got postop on my back. It seems all that fat softens the sting of the needles. I'd wait until you get below 300lbs. As far as distortion goes, they are all looking good, but much smaller than they once were.

Hello Ed, I just wanted to put my two cents in here. I had a belly button tattoo before my gastric bypass and after I lost the weight, I decided to have a tummy tuck and the doctor had to take the tattoo when he did my t/t. This is just something to keep in mind. The one thing that I noticed though when I was loosing weight is that the tattoo got a little smaller but still looked great until it was taken off. I hated to lose the tattoo but having the tummy tuck made me feel a lot better. If I were you I would probably wait but that is just me. Good luck.