Camouflage for patients with vitiligo

You might be a candidate if you meet the criteria below. Your scar should be:

•Healed and no longer pink or changing color: Your scar should be at least be 12 months old with stable color.  If it is red or pink or still changing color the scar tissue may still be healing.  A reputable, experienced medical tattoo artist will not work prematurely on scar tissue because it may cause further damage to the skin.

•Smooth and relatively flat: Camouflage tattooing cannot disguise or correct extreme changes in skin texture. If your scar tissue or surface area is irregular or raised, the process may not be effective. You may consider scar revision treatments to smooth out the scar prior to scar camouflage.

•Do not have one of the following: Keloid, scars with raised dark edges, Port Wine birthmarks; spider veins; freckles; age spots; or unstable vitiligo (not in remission).

•Have realistic expectations: Camouflage tattooing will not completely restore skin to the way it looked before it was injured. The process will not “erase” a scar or skin anomaly so it appears completely gone and the area looks “perfect” again. It improves color differences to help disguise the scar or anomaly and make it less noticeable to other people.

•Do not expect results in one session: Camouflage re-pigmentation is a process, Do not expect results in one session: Camouflage re-pigmentation is a process, not a one-time “cure”. It is performed on “unhealthy” skin that has been damaged or altered. Its response cannot be predicted—a scar or vitiligo patch may have areas that absorb pigment, reject it, or both. The area will look dark and red immediately after a tattooing session, and then it takes several weeks to show the healed color . This requires time and patience.