It’s been 3.5 years since I made my post advising people just to, “get a tattoo, and be done with it.” In that period of time, the tattoo has had much time to “heal,” as they call it in the tattooing industry, and to resolve to its normal, long-term appearance.
It’s still an improvement, I think, and I would still advise it as the best among alternatives that are worthless, but I’m sad to say it’s not the silver bullet I first believed it to be.
As it turns out, tattoo ink is largely translucent, so pigment beneath it remains visible–even through dark gray and through colors. You might think solid blacks completely conceal the pigment, but it turns out that the blacks do not stay solid forever, and the pigment beneath it eventually peeks through the thin cracks that start to form throughout them.
The result is a tattoo that looks muddy and a birthmark that is, at best, obscured at a DISTANCE, but up close is quite apparent. And while maybe it may make you less embarrassed about your birthmark, now you are embarrassed that others can see that you were embarrassed about it (because they can tell you tried to hide it with a tattoo).
P.S. Touching my tattoo up might help, but this is natural, unavoidable fading that I’m describing. In fact, my tattoo has not once been exposed to sunlight since I got it, and it STILL deteriorated to what it has become today.
