Physician with tattoo

I have full sleeves. Have had them for years. As L2D said, yes people judge, yes you might miss out on opportunities, yes you might regret them. But saying what-if on everything I do isn't a life I want to live. I could die tomorrow, I could get my dream job and hate it. I don't really care if I miss out on a good opportunity, because there is probably another good opportunity that will present itself. The benefit of being a doctor is that most times there are tons of opportunities.

For every doctor or patient that dislikes my tattoos, there is another that doesn't care or even likes them. Yes people will judge me as a moron and say they don't want me as their doctor. But I have also heard "i feel bad not telling the doctor the truth, but you seem like you can understand my life." I also come from a blue collar background so I have worked the same jobs some of these people have worked.

Will I regret my tattoos? Maybe. I haven't in 8 years for a second, and I am still at the point where I see my arms in the mirror and am proud of them. I love the feeling of people seeing me and then hearing that i am a med student and giving me the "oh man, i never would have guessed." I also love the feeling when people are all "oh man, you are a med student with sleeves? that's freakin cool!" So if I regret them, it won't be any time soon.

So in short, if you love tattoos but you care what people think, don't get them. If you would rather work in a hospital doing world changing research, don't get a tattoo. If you want a tattoo whenever you are drunk and say "i will get it on my forearm, YOLO!" don't get one. But if you don't really care and just want a position with people who appreciate who you are and are realistic that you will likely have to keep them covered, ink up. I've never had an issue.

Full disclosure, I am applying to peds where the patients definitely don't care (and kids LOVE tattoos as mine are pretty colorful), the parents are my age (and likely accepting of tattoos), and I am a big fatass so the people are probably more put-off by that. I also don't have any one my hands, neck, face, or collar areas and I keep them covered up all the time (except during my surgery rotation but I would keep my white coat on when everyone else wasn't wearing one and take it off outside the OR).

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Physician with tattoo