Hey everyone. We're starting clinicals here pretty soon and I need some advice.
Before I knew I'd be going into nursing - when it was just an idea far off in my mind - I had gotten a few tattoos. Some of them are visible. I love my tattoos and they're all very well thought out and in very good taste. I have a baby mermaid on my right inner forearm for my daughter, a tattoo of my deceased grandfather's birthmark which looks like a bird on my left inner wrist, and a hummingbird on my neck for my mom. I can cover the one on my neck with my hair but the other two are tricky.
See, it's really difficult for me to wear a long sleeved shirt beneath my scrubs. I take a certain medication that causes diaphoresis whenever I get the least bit warm. Deodorant doesn't last long and after a couple hours I begin to feel sick. This problem has actually caused me to vomit because I felt over heated and was sweating profusely. I can't switch meds because I don't have insurance at the moment and this is the only med paid for through my prescription assistance program.
So, I found this great product online called Tatjacket. Basically, they're these skin colored sleeves that fit over your arms to cover tattoos. The best part is that they're made of a stretchy material that wicks moisture and keeps the skin cool - so it's not like wearing a long sleeved shirt. I've talked to others about them before and they've all said that they actually feel cooler when wearing the sleeves than when they're not. So I emailed my instructor about them. She emailed me back and told me that I could "easily buy a much cheaper white long sleeved shirt". She also expressed concern for covering a tattoo on my chest and the tattoo on my neck. I've tried explaining to her the whole problem but she doesn't seem to get it. The tattoo on my chest is covered by my scrubs and the tattoo on my neck is covered by hair...she's also made comments about covering my tattoos with bandages as well. In my opinion, these sleeves are no different than bandages as they're skin colored and they're much less noticeable.
