Do you have any tattoos, piercings, or scars that you regret?

I had a piercing that turned into a scar. Got a stud put in at a music festival, and that's how I learned I'm allergic to low-purity silver alloys. After taking the anchor-y part off the back, I had to fish the stud out of my swollen earlobe with needle-nose pliers.

I did the thing and got a tattoo of something special between me and my spouse.

Now ex-spouse.

Am currently getting laser tattoo removal to lighten it enough for a cover up.

No, actually. I got tattoos way back when it was a shocking thing for a woman to do, am really so shocked myself that they became popular. Thought I might not like them when I was in my 30s/40s but knew I'd like them when I was old. But as it turns out, I liked having them straight through and still do.

Scars I do like too.

One band logo tattoo. I got it when I was childishly upset at someone I soon after broke up with. One day I'll get it covered up. It's a good in for people to talk to me at least it seems haha

I have a scar in my left armpit. I have several patches of skin all over my body which looks and behaves funky. I have brown straight hair but where my funky skin is I have blond spare curly hair which doesn’t grow long. I got it lasered on my neck and face as a teenager because I was told it needs to go because insurance didn’t want to continue paying for an acid creme to make it brighter (the skin is also darker and uneven). + random assholes asking me if I didn’t wash my neck. Under my arm the skin got often inflamed from sweating and looked like a rough naked mole. They tried to laser it and I got bad scarring and they decided to cut it away. Roughly 10 cm. The scar is ugly as hell. I can’t feel shit and it is uneven and hard to shave around. Lifting my arm for sport like jumping jacks hurt. Lucky me I hate sport anyway.

Be careful about offering up identifiable information that you can't change on a random lemmy post, especially if you're in the U.S.

I got an ugly scar on my pinky from a bullying incident at school when I was 12. It’s not like this was their intention, but it got out of hand and a door slammed hard on my finger.
I had to get rushed to the hospital, got stitches and a massive bandage for half a year.
The bullies never apologized and it got brushed off as an accident.

It’s a reminder of bad times during my teenage years and I still get sad when I look at it.

I have 2 ugly tattoos that I got done on the same day, by the owner of the shop nonetheless. One of them looks like a drawing made by a 6 year old. The meaning behind the tattoos are basically gone, yes, but I don’t regret that at all…. just the poor quality. Even if I got tattooed an alien sharting itself in graphic detail, I’d have zero regrets if it was done well.

I blame myself to be honest, I wasn’t ready for tattoos and had the wrong mindset about it all. But the experience taught me valuable lessons:

Don’t lower your standards. Don’t feel like your appointment seals your fate — if they aren’t getting the design right, cancel and find a better suited artist. It’s permanent and it’s your body. Also, there’s no “saving money” with a tattoo you’ll end up paying to get removed later. A professionally-done tattoo is well worth the money and travel. Find well-known artists in your community, and talk with them before you even consider letting them tattoo you. Online reviews of shops aren’t good for vetting individual artists.

For reference, I got a full back tattoo when I was 17, but the only thing I regret is having to get a few bad teeth pulled due to not taking care of them in my twenties.

Take care of your teeth kids. They don't come back.

Sure, one scar. We were demolishing a bigass concrete retaining wall and I was chipping out the wrought iron handrail. Couldn't be arsed with safety glasses and safety squints weren't doing it, so I was just chipping it out with a 35lb electric jackhammer with my eyes closed most of the time. As I got to the last parts, it was really starting to lean out over me.

Absolute looney toons moment. About five hundred pounds of wrought iron fell over onto my head while my eyes were closed and made a two-inch tear on my scalp. It was floppy enough that it didn't break my neck, but I had to get staples.

All my tattoos, they are cheap and one contains my kid's deadname so I keep it covered is much as possible.

I almost lost a fingertip a couple of years back when someone I worked with fucked up.

That's the only one I'm slightly miffed about.

I have enough sensation, and the scarring has improved with time

My tattoos are old and wonky, but they're a marker of my life. They are with me to remind me of where I am, and where I have been

I've removed all the piercings apart from the PA, and that's not closing up without surgery. I'm actually really fond of it. I've had it for a couple of decades now, and I think it's pretty impressive

Most importantly, my woman likes it!

I don't regret any tattoos.

I regret the piercings.

Got my ears pierced when I was a kid, hated wearing earrings and I still have holes in my ears.

At 18 I got a belly button peircing that was even more annoying, so that's just another hole now. If you're getting any part of your body pierced that you have to move, really think about what you have to do for the next two weeks because you'll be VERY aware of it.

A few scars but nothing significant. I have a shit ton of tattoos and piercings, I have a forked tongue, and I used to have a magnetic implant. Zero regrets.

Absolutely. The only advice I'd offer the younger generation is to wait until you are 25 to get tattoos. You may not be fully matured but you will reduce a lot of regret.

I spent a short time in the US Navy, just long enough to get a couple of tattoos that I put literally zero thought into. One, a stupid cartoon character done at a whole-in-the-wall shop while I was drunk faded away pretty badly, but the other one, a sexy sailor girl (done by Philadelphia Eddie himself!) stayed pretty nice for quite some time. I was sober that time. That was about 44 years ago. I don't necessarily regret them, but I wish I'd put more thought in to them, especially dumb old Yosemite Sam...

I very mildly regret getting my upper ear pierced when I was a teen. It caused the collagen to push to the back of my ear, creating a little bump. It has gotten somewhat better over the years.

I don't regret the words of the tattoo I have, I just regret that I didn't do a consultation first and went right into it. It's... Not good and hardly legible. The coloring also looks bad imo, which is frustrating because I really looked at the artists profile beforehand and liked it quite a bit. Ouch.

I had to think a lot to remember then I saw someone mention their knee and I remembered I have have a scar on my own knee that is product of my own stupidity.

I forget it exists for the most part, but if I had a chance I would absolutely avoid going through it. I fell off a skateboard and got a deep gush on my knee. It was stupid because I've never been much into skateboarding. I was just trying to pick it up hoping to "be cool" and impress someone. Stupid shit like that you know.