Are You in The Gap?

We call it "The Gap" for short, "The Expectation/Results Gap" for long. It's that often-uncomfortable place between what you wanted and what you got.

What does The Gap have to do with tattooing and, by extension, laser tattoo removal?

Whenever we plan an action and carry it out, our satisfaction with the result has everything to do with how we were expecting to benefit from the action. For example, did you think the new car would be a date magnet before you bought it, as the advertising led you to believe? Did your social calendar burst at the seams after you took it off the lot? Or did that cake you spent hours baking look like the picture in the cookbook? If not, you found yourself caught in The Gap.

So often tattoo dissatisfaction (we don't like the word "regret") happens in The Gap. There are lots of reasons a new tattoo might fail to measure up to expectations.

• The tattoo concept was not fully communicated to the artist, or the artist did not fully understand the artistic intent.
• The tattoo was beyond the artist's technical ability.
• The customer had not fully developed or realized the concept.
• A less-than-ideal body site was chosen for an otherwise excellent piece.
• The finished tattoo seems more "noticeable" (too large, colorful, dark, etc.) than imagined.
• The subject matter of the tattoo hasn't aged as well as expected, as with "trend" tattoos.
• The customer was expecting more admiration of the tattoo from friends and family.
• The tattoo was a lot more fun to plan than to have.

...To name only a few.

Understanding your own psychology and personal experiences with The Gap can be very helpful when considering new tattoos and preventing calamity. Clearly many of the problems in the list above could be prevented by a good tattoo artist (not just a tattooer, but an actual artist) with experience and a willingness to collaborate. "Do your homework!" is a piece of time-honored advice that should never be underestimated. Apart from the artist, knowing yourself is the best way to negotiate The Gap.

Do you have a tattoo in The Gap? Do you know how it got there? Knowing the answer to that question is the single best way to acquire future tattoos with lasting relevance.

And TattooMedics can help you out of the one you're in.

Richard Rosol, MD