Cosmetic Lip Tattoo - The History Cosmetic lip tattooing is not new. As a practice to enhance beauty, women in ancient African and Mediterranean cultures often thickened or narrowed their lips using dark red or brown pigments and needles. This primitive form of cosmetic lip tattooing was known as scarification. Over the ages, surgeons, cosmetologists, tattoo artists, aestheticians and nurses are practicing cosmetic lip tattoos for beauty conscious women. What is a Cosmetic Lip Tattoo? Technically, cosmetic lip tattooing is still a form of scarification. Unlike other plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery procedures, it is non-invasive, and the application and recovery time for the procedure is much more comfortable. The procedure is usually used to reestablish the existing outline of the lips or to redefine the shape of lips. This is called permanent lip liner. You may also have permanent lip color applied to the fleshy part of the lips as well. As an effort towards achieving perfect lips, lip cosmetic tattooing is often performed to mask and/or restore the lips. It is not just for vain individuals or those who simply can¡¯t be bothered to apply their lip liner or lipstick. It is used to repair the lips of individuals who have had oral cancer or have suffered excessive depigmentation as the result of chemotherapy or sun damage. It can also help individuals who are blind or who have shaky hands (as the result of multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy) to always look as if they have just applied a fresh coat of lipstick. Permanent lip tattoos are also a cosmetic solution for individuals who are partially or completely blind and unable to apply lip liner or lipstick by themselves. Cosmetic Lip Tattooing - Procedure The application of permanent lips is done the same way as regular tattooing. A tattoo gun, which automatically dispenses biocompatible inks to the area to be tattooed, is commonly used for the procedure. The inks, which are delivered below the skin, are made of iron oxide or titanium dioxide pigments. If the work is very painstaking then the professional applying your new lips might apply the pigment manually with a hand held needle. There is some debate about which method is better, the manual method or the tattoo gun method, for delivering pigment beneath the skin. Although the tattoo gun is faster, the fleshy part of the lips is very sensitive and using a tattoo gun might simply be too painful. Manual tattooing causes less bruising, swelling and bleeding but it also takes a lot longer. As lip tattooing can be very expensive, you might want to put up with the discomfort of the tattoo gun to minimize the amount of time you spend with the practitioner.