Tattoos, once rare and exotic, now decorate an eye-watering number of limbs.As with most trends, our passion is sadly fuelled by celebrities and the most recent to go under the needle is Wayne Rooney – who now has Just Enough Education To Perform, the title of a Stereophonics album, etched on his right forearm.
But fashion is fickle, as are we, with half of those who have tattoos later regretting them.
Rapper and producer Pharrell Williams says he plans to remove his tats with a new method that involves growing skin grafts in a lab and sewing them back over his skin.
He then plans to get new ones. It is a painful and expensive method, with some reports claiming it could cost more than £100,000.
A far cheaper option, and Britain's favourite, is laser. The tattoo pigment in the skin is broken up by a laser beam and the particles are flushed away by our immune system.
However, it can take several treatments and some complain the ink never completely fades.
