It appears that women are more likely to have their tattoos removed compared to men, most probably because they face more social stigma and negative comments regarding their choice, a new study published in the July issue of the Archives of Dermatology reveals.

“We saw that for women there is still some negative societal fallout to having tattoos. This isn’t the problems for men. Society supports men, because tattoos are related to a macho image, so we don’t question it. But for women, having a tattoo seems to be a transgression of gender boundaries,” said lead author of the study, Myrna L. Armstrong, a professor in the school of nursing at Texas Tech University’s Health Sciences Center, in Lubbock, Texas.

For the study, Prof. Armstrong and her colleagues compared results of a 1996 study to a 2006 study focusing on how people feel about their tattoos. Those involved in the study were people coming to four dermatology clinics in Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Texas to remove their tattoos.

Background information of the study showed that about 20 percent of people having tattoos end up dissatisfied with them but only about 6 percent seek tattoo removal using laser treatment. Overall, one out of four American adults aged 18 to 30 has a tattoo, and women constitute 45 percent and 65 percent of the tattoo market.

In the 2006 study, the researchers interviewed 196 tattooed people; 130 of them were women. Overall, more women (69 percent) than men (31 percent) decided to have tattoos removed. The reason they gave for their choice was that they felt stigmatized by the society for their tattoos. For example, about 40 percent of women endured negative comments at work, in public or in school compared with 5 percent of men. Also, 93 percent of women decided to remove the tattoos because they had to hide it on various occasions. Only 20 percent of men gave this reason.

“You can’t go to a wedding these days without seeing one bridesmaid with a tattoo her back. But there are still a lot of people in our society who have problems with that. So anybody who gets a tattoo takes a social risk,” Prof. Armstrong told Reuters in a telephone interview.

When asked why they chose to remove their tattoos both men and women answered as follows: 58 percent said they decided to remove it without a specific reason, 57 percent said they suffered embarrassment, 38 percent had lowered body image, 38 percent new job/career, 37 percent problems with clothes while 25 percent experienced stigma.

The study also looked at what made these people have tattoos in the first place and found that 44 percent of them wanted to feel unique, 33 percent wanted to feel independent and 28 percent tattooed themselves to mark a particular life experience.

As tattoos are sometimes hard to remove and involve repeated laser treatments, which could damage the skin, Prof. Armstrong suggested that those not ready to commit to a tattoo for a lifetime should use a new type of tattoo ink that can be readily erased.