A lot of people get tattoos they later regret and while most just learn to live with them one guy made the very questionable decision to use a cheese grater to get rid of his.
The 21-year-old said it was because he believed he wouldn’t be able to join the airport police if he had a visible tattoo but I’m sure they would have been able to come up with some sort of compromise if it meant his arm could go un-grated.
He apparently didn’t want to take the risk, however, so he went to town with the kitchen utensil.
Speaking to local media in Mendoza, Argentina, the man, who has not been named, explained he got the tattoo just a week before deciding he wanted to join the airport police.
The police website didn’t specify that applicants couldn’t have any tattoos but the hopeful young man said he’d been told he wouldn’t be allowed to work there if he had any that were visible. He added he was 19 years old at the time, as if that made his decision-making process more acceptable.
Though the whole, gruesome event took place in 2017, images of the man’s self-inflicted wounds have just been released by his friend, Matias Costa.
The 21-year-old explained that as well as worrying about his ability to get into the police, he also just wasn’t a fan of the tattoo in general.
The ink formed the shape of an eye, with a lightening bolt-like design running through it.
He explained:
The other reason I did that to myself was aesthetic. I am very keen on details and I did not really like how the tattoo was left.
After deciding he wanted to get rid of the artwork, the young man turned to what could be considered the most dangerous place to get advice; the internet.
He searched on YouTube for ways to get remove the tattoo and attempted to scrub it off with a pumice stone, however when that proved unsuccessful he opted for the cheese grater.
The 21-year-old explained the method, unsurprisingly, ‘hurt and bled a lot’ and he ended up having to go to hospital as a result of his makeshift removal.
He continued:
I had to bandage it a lot and apply disinfectant. A week later I went to the hospital and had a tetanus vaccination.
In that moment I regretted it, of course I did.
The man added his family disagreed with his decision but by that point it was too late for them to do anything about it.
He admitted he felt better about his actions after realising cheese-grating his arm had actually somewhat removed the tattoo, though he added ‘I would not recommend it to anybody’.
It might have worked for this guy but this is definitely, definitely not an advert for the grotesque stunt.
Diego Staropoli, the owner of Mandinga Tattoo in Buenos Aires, warned against using a cheese grater to remove tattoos, saying ‘it is risky and it is possible to have a mark your whole life. Doing it like this is worse because it gets stuck to the skin.’
After suffering personal problems, the 21-year-old decided not to join the airport police.
I think one thing we all want to know is; what happened to the cheese grater? It better not have gone back in the kitchen.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.