LeAnn Rimes' new tattoo
Tattoos - once you have one, that's it, you're stuck with it. (That is, unless you want to fork out for laser removal procedures) With this in mind, what makes people have their lover's name marked onto their skin forever?
Flowers, chocolates and romantic meals are the obvious way to demonstrate your love for a partner, but there does seem to be an increasing trend for people to prove their love through ink. It is quite the commitment, knowing that it will be there forever, but the gesture can backfire if something goes wrong in the relationship.
Katie Price is something of a serial offender for getting tattoos of various partners' names, and made it very public when she had a large black cross put through a design on her wrist which featured ex-husband, Peter Andre's name. And whilst the ink on their wedding papers may have been erased when Eva Longoria and Tony Parker divorced in 2010, the wedding date ink on her wrist remained. Let's not forget Johnny Depp's somewhat creative idea to change 'Winona forever' to 'Wino forever' following his split from Winona Ryder in 1993.
They were once a rarity, but are now becoming quite the accessory to have if the third of Britons under the age of 44, who all possess at least one tattoo, are anything to go by. Ink is injected into the middle layer of skin, where it is protected from skin shedding, and because the particles of ink are too big to be broken down by the body's immune system, they will stay there.
Although supposedly permanent, there are (albeit very expensive) methods of removing tattoos. In the past, they would be scrubbed off using dermabrasion or acid skin peels, but now lasers are used to break up the ink particles into smaller fragments which can then be broken down. Not a quick fix, this method can take several months of laser treatment before the tattoo becomes less obvious, and it can't be guaranteed that it will be removed completely.
If it can't be done, there are other options, such as a cover up design. When Angelina Jolie's tattoo of Billy Bob Thornton's name still remained slightly visable despite laser removal, she had a new design, featuring the co-ordinates of the birth places of all of her children. Meanwhile, his 'Angelina' ink was turned into an angel.
Of course, you could reduce the likelihood of needing to splash out on laser removal by having something a little more subtle. For example, LeAnn Rimes' latest ink addition, which says 'the only one that matters', is a tribute to her husband, Eddie Cibrain.
The one thing standing in the way of most people braving the tattoo studio is the apparent pain. As with piercings, it depends where you are having them as to how much pain you experience - and your pain threshhold! Some describe it as a tingling sensation, and others say it feels like insect stings.
And with one of the top five reasons for having a tattoo removed being down to splitting with a partner whose name you have had inked on yourself, it's worth thinking carefully about it.
Can you stand the pain, or would you rather say it with some roses?
Georgia Smith
tagged in Peter Andre Leann Rimes Johnny Depp Katie Price