It's kind of a silly question to ask, but I need to know

I'm glad you brought this up because I have been contemplating getting a tattoo for years. Besides being a big chicken and my wife's "are you some kind of freak" comments, I have resisted getting one because I hear you have to stay out of the pool for a couple of weeks. Is this true? Does anyone know or care?

Don't know about Master's but I know there are quite a few tattoos in USAS.

If you get a tatoo you will have to stay out of the pool for a couple of weeks. When a tatoo is done, you are using a needle to push different colored inks into your skin tissue. Notice I said "pushed", not injected. This is not like getting a shot where the syringe is filled with fluid and jabbed in your arm. The tatoo needle is much like a regular sewing needle and is solid. The needle is dipped in the the ink, like an old feather pen and the the ink is "appied" to the tatoo area. Having stated that, the process of getting a tatoo is basically getting stuck with a short needle a few thousand times. Which leaves a bunch of tiny holes in your skin. If you get this area wet during the healing process, you will literally wash out the ink, thereby ruining your tatoo. You can still lightly wash the area after a couple days, but you have to leave the area pretty much alone, except for applying the antibiotic ointment the first week and moisturizing lotion for a few weeks after that. Besides the time out of the pool, another consideration is that tatoos DO NOT do well in SUNLIGHT. The brighter and more vibrant the colors the worse they will fade in sunlight. If you do most of your swimming in an outdoor pool and the tatoo is in an uncovered portion of your body - it's going to fade, even with the use of powerful sunscreen. I have tatoos, do all of my training swimming indoors, but swim open water courses. When I swim open water I just put on TONS of sunscreen, etc and hope for the best.

I don't know of any rule on point, but I've seen lots of tatoos at Masters meets (including temporary tatoos, which I've worn with no objection). As far as I know there's no rule against it.

Hi, When I was in college, I really wanted a tattoo. (Sometimes I still do!) But then I thought about getting older and having a faded ugly tattoo on my sagging body and reconsidered. A friend of mine joked and said "Why don't you get a tattoo of a puffer fish on your rear end. That way when you gain weight, the puffer fish will get bigger, and bigger." Ha ha. But nowadays, I think tattoos can be removed by laser so maybe it's not such a commitment. I haven't heard a lot about how well that works. Best of luck! -GG

Me and my friend work at the Y and teach swim lessons almost every day and my friend got a tatoo. Her's was tie dye looking, it was really cool. She got into the water the next day. She put Vasselin on it every time she got in and out of the water, for about a week. It seemed to be fine. It still looks good. I don't know that is just what she did?

Even lasers may not remove tatoos completely. A teammate of mine had one removed that way, but the process left a white discoloration where the tatoo had been -- I don't know if it fades over time. This would be particularly noticible in people with dark or olive complexions. In any event laser surgery is a lot more expensive that the original tatoo. Something to consider before doing something you might regret later.

There is a product on the market that I have used on cuts and scrapes that I have found to be quite effective in the water. I think it is called New Skin. It is a liquid bandaide. I don't know if that might be an option for you. I don't think I would use it immediately after getting the tattoo, but perhaps you could reduce your time out of the water to just a week or a few days.

Dave, If you swim outdoors a lot, I'm not sure you would want to go to the time, money, pain and effort of getting a tatoo. Tatoo's do fine in pool water, once they've healed (see note above), but the sun just kills them. I have an armband tatoo that is a vine with wooden signs hanging on it with each of my kids names and dates of birth. I've had the tatoo for about 5 years and it looks as good today as it did the month after I got it. BUT I followed the rules precisely, stayed out of the pool for two weeks, used the ointment, used moisturizing lotion, didn't pick at any scabs or peeling skin, etc. If the area that you're going to get your tatoo is going to be in the sun, Just Say No. Trust me, after you go through that much pain you don't want it to get messed up because you went back in the water too early or because you're in the sun all the time. As far as pain goes, the front of the arm was no problem, it felt like someone was dragging a very low voltage electrical wire across it. But OH MY GOD, when he rounded the back of the arm and around the inside of the arm - holy crap I thought I was being tortured. But in hindsight it was worth it for me. I really like my tatoo, I designed it myself and my kids love it. they actually get me to show it to their friends, LOL.

(a lttle "Star-Wars" pun) Here's the real deal, straight scoop. Find the picture you want "stuck" on your body forever that you know your friends and family will love and you will never tire of. Put it on a piece of fabric, SSTTTrrrrrrETCHHH it out and put it on your mirror where you will see it every day. Do the picture in purple-blue, which is what it will become. Then..........go for it, I guess !