THERE is a growing trend of sports stars going under anesthesia for large tattoos.
Instead of going through hours of pain, athletes are paying to get sedated while getting a tattoo.
Athletes are using anesthesia to get massive tattoos done without pain[/caption]
It costs close to $50,000 to get a tattoo while sedated[/caption]
NFL safety Justin Simmons is a veteran player who has built up a high pain tolerance.
He gets hit constantly during his action with the Denver Broncos.
However, Simmons knew how bad it would hurt to sit through days of hours long sessions of tattooing for a new leg sleeve from his knee up his thigh.
Instead, he went under anesthesia and woke up with a completed tattoo.
Lakimii Tattoo is a Los Angeles Tattoo that specializes in body art completed in clinical environments.
“I remember them saying, ‘We’re about to put you under, count back from ten,’ and I got to eight,” Simmons told Front Office Sports.
“Next thing I knew, my brother was waking me up.”
Getting tattoos while under sedation has many benefits for athletes.
Among those is no pain, quicker recovery, and no lingering swelling.
“It was by far the best decision I’ve made in terms of making a tattoo super accessible,” Simmons said.
Sedated tattoos isn’t something that is available to everyone, though.
Lakimii Tattoo’s bookings start at $30,000, and easily surpass $50,000.
They can complete a tattoo in one session that might take multiple weeks without sedation.
“It’s not that [athletes] can’t handle the pain—they’re pros,” Lakimii Tattoo cofounder Timo Schuld told FOS.
“But they don’t have time to come back and forth for ten single sessions.”
A tattoo that takes weeks can be done in one day while under anesthesia[/caption]
Simmons understands that some people enjoy the traditional tattooing process, but that he never wants to sit through the pain again.
“To each their own,” he said.
“I get that some people like the process of sitting for a tattoo, and I also know that going under is a luxury not everyone can afford.
“But after doing the bottom half of my leg [without sedation], I was like, ‘I’m not doing that again if I can help it.’”
