Dermopigmentation at its finest: scar camouflage

Anna Zabolotnaya, head of the Biotek International Academy of PM and Aesthetic Dermo-Pigmentation (Russia), certified artist, international class master teacher in permanent make-up, aesthetic dermopigmentation and trichopigmentation, winner of the first Contour of the Century competition (2003), judge of permanent make-up championships in Russia and abroad, lecturer at the International University of PM (Milan, Italy) (Russia)

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Types of scars and technical issues

The easiest way to deal with normotrophic scars . They differ from ordinary skin in color and structure. An experienced master will cope with such a scar in several sessions. True, here, too, there are subtleties. For example, it is always easier to work with a lighter scar than with a darker one. But the problem of a dark scar is solvable. It just takes more time and sessions to solve it.

Scar camouflage: before and after the procedure. Photos provided by the author

Atrophic and hypertrophic scars are more difficult to paint over, therefore, before undergoing a dermopigmentation procedure, it is advisable to first reduce the scar with plastic surgery. For example, an atrophic scar can be filled with a filler , and a hypertrophic scar can be leveled with grinding. After the scar becomes flatter and matures once again, the turn of dermopigmentation comes.

In special cases - if the scar is very large or too "expensive" to its owner - it can be disguised with a tattoo. A qualified tattooist can easily turn a lack of a scar into a virtue, because a three-dimensional drawing looks much more interesting than a regular one.

Perhaps the main difference between dermopigmentation and permanent make-up is that in the first case it is impossible to talk about any one technique. It all depends on the scar: its color, shape, structure, on the place where the paint is applied. That is, the master must equally use all the techniques available in his arsenal. The only thing that can unite the techniques used to some extent is the movements. They should be smooth, calm, in no case "digging", not tearing the skin.

The skin is very uneven in color. Therefore, recreating its color in place of the scar, it is necessary to create color chaos. If we draw an analogy with the fine arts, then the closest in technique to the direction of painting is pointillism. There are no clear lines in it, and the pattern is created by a combination of individual color dots.

Masking the scar, the master sometimes does things that are unacceptable in the PM, for example, does not change the needle when switching from one paint to another. In this case, the colors are mixed in a natural way, that is, just like the different colors that form the color of the skin.

Generally speaking, during the dermopigmentation procedure, it is not recommended to work with one pigment or even several pigments mixed in advance. Firstly, it is impossible to guess the same color, since the skin, as already mentioned, is not uniform. And secondly, paint mixed in certain proportions can end before the end of the procedure, and recreating the same shade is an unrealistic task.

Pigmentology and scars _

Knowledge of the laws of color formation for a master of aesthetic dermopigmentation is no less important than the knowledge of various pigment application techniques. Moreover, these laws are not as obvious as they seem. It is impossible to achieve the desired result by simply painting over. After all, the scar also has its own color, which, in a certain way, combined with the color of the pigment, affects the final result. For example, to get rid of red shades, you need to use green pigment, etc.

In general, the shades of pigment used in dermopigmentation can surprise the uninformed. In addition to conditionally skin colors that occupy a place in the spectrum from red to yellow, the palette necessarily contains green, gray, blue and other colors and shades that are difficult to correlate with skin color. But it is so. All these colors are really present in the color of the skin, which is the result of the interaction of all these shades in different proportions.

And what is skin color anyway? Every race, every nation, every person has his own. Each area of the body has its own color. And even the color of the same zone in a man and a woman is different. For example, the color of male and female areolas.

The skin of the scar has not only external differences. She reacts to the paint introduced into her in her own way. And since during the procedure the master must shade the border of the scar in order to smoothly fit it into the “border space”, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of this transition from zone to zone.

Here, the technique used by the master can be compared with the watercolor method in painting, when the applied pigment is gradually diluted with a diluent and the saturation of the hue decreases with each approach down to zero.

Face work

The face is a special case. If we say that aesthetic dermopigmentation is the professional pinnacle in the hierarchy of PM practices, then the face is the pinnacle of complexity in aesthetic dermopigmentation. Facial skin is the most sensitive. She reacts equally sharply to injuries and to attempts to hide their consequences. Therefore, work with the face, with all the similarity of techniques, should be carried out very carefully. This applies to both movements and the choice of a particular pigment.

In addition, it is necessary to remember what a face means to a person, and to understand the degree of responsibility. Therefore, the practice of facial dermopigmentation should be approached gradually, through years of training and mastery, first on dummies, and then on less significant parts of the body.

Sociologists note that a characteristic feature of our days is the tendency towards multiprofessionalism. There is a growing demand for people who own several related or not very professions. Some people find this annoying. Moreover, sometimes the combination of professions owned by one person strikes us with its quirkiness.

However, if we talk about aesthetic dermopigmentation, then this profession is simply unthinkable without such a combination. The master of dermapigmentation must be equally good at using the tool, understand the physiology of the skin, be a specialist in color and have the flair of an artist. The good news is that all of this can be learned.