Editing Tattoo (section)

=== Medical ===
{{Main|Medical tattoo}}
Medical tattoos are used to ensure instruments are properly located for repeated application of radiotherapy and for the areola in some forms of breast reconstruction. Tattooing has also been used to convey medical information about the wearer (e.g., blood group, medical condition, etc.). [[Alzheimer]] patients may be tattooed with their names, so they may be easily identified if they go missing.<ref>Hürriyet Daily News: [http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tattooist-offers-to-tattoo-names-of-alzheimer-patients-in-izmir.aspx?pageID=238&nID=71786 Tattooist offers to tattoo names of Alzheimer patients in İzmir]</ref> Additionally, tattoos are used in skin tones to cover [[vitiligo]], a skin pigmentation disorder.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Arndt |first1=Kenneth A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CP27h0r-FjwC |title=Manual of Dermatologic Therapeutics |last2=Hsu |first2=Jeffrey T. S. |publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7817-6058-4 |edition=illustrated |page=116 |access-date=6 September 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Man with armpit tattoo. Razor Neva, blood type, birth year. Color.jpg|thumb|Medical tattoo: [[blood type]]]]
[[SS blood group tattoo]]s ({{langx|de|Blutgruppentätowierung}}) were worn by members of the [[Waffen-SS]] in Nazi Germany during World War II to identify the individual's [[blood type]]. After the war, the tattoo was taken to be ''[[prima facie]]'', if not perfect, evidence of being part of the Waffen-SS, leading to potential arrest and prosecution. This led a number of ex-Waffen-SS to shoot themselves through the arm with a gun, removing the tattoo and leaving scars like the ones resulting from pox inoculation, making the removal less obvious.<ref name="lepre">{{Cite book |last=Lepre |first=George |title=Himmler's Bosnian Division: The Waffen-SS Handschar Division 1943–1945 |date=2004 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-0-7643-0134-6 |page=310}}</ref>

Tattoos were probably also used in ancient medicine as part of the treatment of the patient. In 1898, medical doctor Daniel Fouquet wrote about "medical tattooing" practices in [[Ancient Egypt]] based on female mummies at the [[Deir el-Bahari]] site.<ref>Gemma Angel, "[http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/researchers-in-museums/2012/12/10/tattooed-mummy-amunet/ Tattooing in Ancient Egypt Part 2: The Mummy of Amunet]". 10 December 2012.</ref>

[[Ötzi#Skeletal details and tattooing|Ötzi the iceman]] had a total of 61 tattoos, which may have been a form of [[acupuncture]] used to relieve pain.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Piombino-Mascali |first1=Dario |last2=Krutak |first2=Lars |chapter=Therapeutic Tattoos and Ancient Mummies: The Case of the Iceman |date=4 January 2020 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-32181-9_6 |title=Purposeful Pain: The Bioarchaeology of Intentional Suffering |series=Bioarchaeology and Social Theory |pages=119–136 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-32181-9_6 |isbn=978-3-030-32180-2 |s2cid=213402907 |access-date=28 April 2021| issn = 2567-6814}}</ref> [[Radiological]] examination of Ötzi's bones showed "age-conditioned or strain-induced degeneration" corresponding to many tattooed areas, including [[osteochondrosis]] and slight [[spondylosis]] in the lumbar spine and wear-and-tear degeneration in the knee and especially in the ankle joints.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spindler |first=Konrad |title=The Man in the Ice |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7538-1260-0 |pages=178–184|publisher=Phoenix }}</ref> If so, this is at least 2,000 years before acupuncture's previously known earliest use in [[Acupuncture#History|China]] ({{circa|100 BC}}).

Some women in the US and UK who have undergone [[mastectomy]] and [[breast reconstruction]] choose to get realistic tattoos of nipples.<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 December 2013 |title=Nipple tattoos and their Michelangelo |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25366749 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Others choose to get decorative [[Cover-up tattoo|cover-up tattoos]] over mastectomy scars instead of reconstruction.<ref>Locke, Katherine. 2013. [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/aug/07/mastectomy-tattoo-breast-cancer "Women choose body art over reconstruction after cancer battle: Undergoing a mastectomy is a harrowing experience, but tattoos can celebrate the victory over cancer."] ''The Guardian''. 7 August 2013.</ref>