Before you book
Is this right for you?
Sometimes the answer is no, and sometimes it is not yet. Both are better found out now than in the chair.
One thing to be clear about before any of this: Mugi is a licensed tattooer, not a doctor. Nothing on this page is an assessment of your health. It is a list of the situations where she will not proceed, and the situations where she will ask you to speak to someone qualified before she does.
When she will not go ahead
While you are pregnant or breastfeeding
A settled convention across the industry rather than a judgement about risk. It is also a period when skin and pigment behave unpredictably, which is a poor time to make something last for years.
On skin that is broken, irritated or currently flaring in the brow area
Active eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, sunburn, a healing wound or anything raised or inflamed where the work would go. Tattooing over it does not go well and the result cannot be predicted.
Over a mole, a raised scar, or anything in the brow area you have not had looked at
Pigment is not put into or over those. If there is something in the area you are unsure about, get it looked at first, by someone qualified to look at it.
Within a few weeks of Botox, filler or a resurfacing treatment in the area
The brow position can move as those settle, so a shape mapped now may not be the shape you have in a month. Whoever did that work will tell you how long to leave it.
While you are on a course of isotretinoin, or soon after finishing one
It changes how skin heals substantially. The usual advice is to wait a good while after finishing, and your prescriber is the person to ask how long.
When to ask your own doctor first
None of these is automatically a no. They are the ones where the person who should decide is the person who knows your history, and where you will be asked whether you have checked.
- —Diabetes, particularly where healing is slower than usual
- —A bleeding disorder, or blood-thinning medication
- —A condition or medication that suppresses the immune system
- —Keloid scarring, or a history of scarring badly from minor injuries
- —Ongoing cancer treatment, or recent treatment
- —A history of cold sores in the area, if you are considering anything near the lips
- —Any allergy to pigments, dyes, metals or topical anaesthetics
- —An autoimmune condition affecting the skin
What to tell them, if it helps: this is cosmetic tattooing of the brow area, pigment placed into the upper layers of the skin with a machine, over two sessions about six weeks apart, using single-use needles, with a topical anaesthetic.
The more common reasons for a no
Most of the times Mugi declines have nothing to do with health. They are a reference photo that will not work on your face, existing permanent makeup that needs lightening before anything can be built on it, a wedding in ten days, or an expectation that brow tattooing cannot meet.
Those are set out on the page about how she works, and if the issue is work you already have, start here instead.
Questions about suitability
Usually it means ask your doctor first and come back with an answer. Mugi is a licensed tattooer, not a clinician, and she is not going to make a call about your health from a form. What she will do is tell you exactly what the procedure involves so that the person qualified to answer has something concrete to work with.
Not usually a formal one. What matters is that you have actually asked, and that you can say what you were told. If your doctor says wait, the answer here is wait.
Tell her. A new medication, a flare-up, an unexpected pregnancy, a skin reaction: any of those can change the answer, and finding out at the start of the appointment is far better than finding out afterwards.
If you have reacted to pigments, dyes, metals or topical anaesthetics before, say so when you get in touch and it will be discussed before anything is booked.
Several, and they are the more common ones. A shape that will not suit your face, existing permanent makeup that needs lightening first, an event next week, or an expectation no technique can meet. Those are on the page about how she works.
If you are still working out whether any of this is for you, the questions page and the healing guide are the two most useful things to read next.
Not sure whether your situation counts
Say what it is when you get in touch. It is a far better conversation to have now than at the start of an appointment, and nobody is charged for being told to wait.
A question, and a photo only if you want to. Mugi reads it and answers herself.