Getting a tattoo on the ankle area is painful in most cases because of its thin skin and close proximity to the bone. Usually, places on our body that are finely cushioned with fat are more likely to be less painful and the bone at the ankle area is just under its skin.
Therefore it is a difficult place to get tattooed but we have to keep in mind that different people have different pain tolerance and every person perceives pain in their own individual way.
So for some people, it can be an unimaginable pain while for others it can be manageable.
The Hurt Factors of an Ankle Tattoo:
Exact Location:
tattoos hurt more where the skin is thinner as in ankles, elbows, chest, and knees. At the ankle area, the ankle bone is much closer to the skin so the needle gets in closer proximity while tattooing. Though it never gets in touch with the skin it can be extremely painful to many people.
Some tattoo artists use the inside area of the ankle as a canvas from their personal experience because it’s easy to ink there and much less hurtful.
The Style of Design:
getting a small tiny tattoo will obviously hurt less than a large tattoo using colors. A tattoo with light shading will also hurt less than a tattoo with thick lines and heavy shading. An artist inserts ink in your skin by poking countless holes in it to create a tattoo and it creates an open wound.
A heavy shading tattoo would require the artist to go over the same wound again and again which will definitely hurt on an area as sensitive as an ankle.
In the case of a very large tattoo, you can get the tattoo in segments, with multiple visits with your artist so that you can decrease the length of the pain.
The Use of Numbing Cream:
in many cases, the first few minutes are much hurtful than the rest of the time because our body reacts to the initial attack of the needles and takes time to adapt to the pain.
To numb this pain to some extent you can visit a dermatologist ahead of your tattooing appointment so that he can refer you to an anesthetic cream.
Consult with your tattoo artist if the tattoo procedure is flexible with numbing cream and use it on your skin before tattooing.
Different People Experience Physical Pain Differently:
This factor includes a person’s nature and previous experience with pain. Some people are extremely sensitive to physical pain and react with a lot of emotions. For them getting an ankle tattoo is very difficult.
While some people are more flexible and quickly adapt to the pain. Having previous experience in tattooing can make the work easier.
Also Read: Do Foot Tattoos Painful Enough To Make You Weep?
A sensitive ankle tattoo should not be the first tattooing experience of a person. Also biologically women have more pain tolerance than men so it could be more hurtful to some men as well.
The most important factors are the location of the tattoo and how you perceive physical pain. A tattoo on the inner part of the ankle will hurt more than a tattoo on the outer part. If you are a pain tolerable person you can give it a try.
My name is James Dalton specialize in developing research-based content on the fashion & lifestyle industry. And has good experience in tattooing. Tattooing is my hobby and worked for some years as a tattoo artist.
