Tattoos with Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS)

Warrior Tattoos

Some of us have tattoos as symbols of our fight and struggles with HS. We encourage you to share your HS inspired tattoo you want to share. People are always looking for inspiration for HS tattoos, please share yours! If there's a special meaning behind it, please also feel free to share that as well! Read our article about tattoos with HS here.

Brook

I originally had this planned out for domestic abuse years (9 years ago) for walking out of my abusive marriage. But since getting diagnosed with HS the meaning behind the tattoo changed! Surviving the daily pain and oozing of my spots and knowing I can’t get up and walk away from it is truly surviving. Here is to us survivors! The color in the tattoo are the Hs colors in the ribbon

Jessica

I’ve been struggling with HS since I was a teenager, and progressed to stage 3 in my early twenties. I have many tattoos that represent my personal journey struggling with HS but my Hydra is my favorite. I saw the below post about the Hydra in a HS Support Group on Facebook and immediately fell in love with the symbolism of it.

Danielle & Steph

I am submitting mine and my best friends tattoos.

Me and my huge support of a friend has known each other a lot of years but due to the embarrassment that HS courses us all even though we had noticed dressings on each other before it was never someone we talked about or asked about.

Then one day…We started talking about what a rubbish time we was both having and the more we spoke the more we relies we was going through the same problems with the random questions off…. Do you have HS Danielle? Me saying very sheepish yes how do you know about that condition? Her reply being I have it as well!!From that day on years ago she has been my go to woman and rock when comes to this condition nothing I can not tell her!! Between us we are around 300 plus deep into numbers of general anesthetic and surgeries. I now have a Hickman line fitted and that without the local lances and countless antibiotics…So the HS is on my inner left arm (uk based so blue)And the little alien tattoos are our matching tattoos to show that end of the day we must be aliens (they don’t know why it started and don’t know how to fix us)"

Elyse

Sya O

I got my tattoo on my finger, as a daily reminder of my HS battle, the many times I tried to kill myself, the times I got angry at God for ‘cursing’ me, the times I just wanted it all to end.. I am proud of my battles and my scars💜

Lora

I designed this tattoo to remind me to keep going, keep pushing, putting one foot in front of the other and never stop. HS can be so painful but those days where I don't think I can do it. I look down and know I can - just one step at a time. HS may have changed my life since I was 13 years old but it won't stop me from living life.

Jodi

This tattoo is my mantra. Whether it be HS, or any situation I find myself in, it reminds me to push through it and keep going. I also like to think of it as a message to anyone who sees it.

Brindley

HS Connect has been such a huge part of my life I decided to get it tattooed on my thigh. I went from living with HS in secret, like most of us, to becoming an advocate. I have met some of the most amazing people and have had the most wonderful opportunities present themselves. My life has changed so much since "outing" my HS; the giant weight I've carried for 29 years has been lifted from my shoulders.

Melissa

I find happiness in every way possible, even on my darkest days. At times I worry what the future holds with this disease, but I remind myself to live in the now and enjoy life as much as possible. So to all the HS Warriors... stay strong, you are beautiful and don't let anyone make you feel different! People who don't have HS, don't know what it takes to survive! I appreciate all of you so much and forever grateful I found people just like myself When I'm feeling down I look at my tattoo and it gives me strength and hope. It represents self love and acceptance without fear of shame Never give up HS WARRIORS

Chelsea

I am 30 years old, and I have had Hs for 6 years now. I have struggled with depression and self confidence for awhile now. This past year has been the roughest on me especially with self confidence and the break outs getting worse. I've had a lot of things happen to me in my life that I've overcome so getting this tattoo was a reminder to myself that I'm a fighter, a warrior, and there's nothing I cant conquer, as long as I never give up.. When I'm down all I gotta do is look down and find the strength to get back up.

Lau Hu Mu

I was misdiagnosed until I was 20, it started when I was 12, unfortunately the bad treatments lead me to scars, yellow teeth (antibiotics, tons of it) and side effects of all kinds. When I finally found a good dermatologist (I'm still with she, after 17 years and one remission) the treatments were aggressive sometimes but I found I got better, except for self-esteem and acceptance. I finally accepted, almost three years ago, I am not perfect, I have a scarred skin and flares and It's not my fault, so I "came out" in Facebook, searched for help groups online and started dealing with my body image, leaving body shame aside. To remind me this huge step for me I decided to get a tattoo HS inspired in 2018 (two months later after I posted about my condition in Facebook) and its about self-love, change, let go, and the symbols associated to HS.

Kara

This tattoo reminds me of the things HS has caused that I have survived! People without HS just don't know what it takes to SURVIVE. But us Warriors know the struggle of survival whether it be sepsis due to HS, or surviving brutal bandage changes, or the depression caused from this or sometimes just surviving the day. This is a lyric in Demi Lovato's song "Warrior" that really sticks out to me and reminds me I've survived 100% of my days so far. Keep fighting Warriors!

Dawn

Had this done after I nearly died 9yrs ago. I am now 50 at the time of this tattoo I had just tuned 41 and had suffered with hs since i was 13. I had a stroke at work and was flaring with hs everywhere, armpits breasts stomach theighs. I had a very large lump in my left breast and was in agony, but it was getting bigger and bigger, after yrs of being fobbed of with various antibiotics that had no effect I gave up on gp and dealt with them myself, but this one was the worst ever, I was starting feel like I was going crazy I was loosing energy and pain I could not take anymore so I went to my gp and he sent me straight to hospital within 1hr I was being operated on, it turned out it was so far in my breast it was 10cm down and could not reach the surface and was about to burst, doctor said another half hour I could have died as I was suffering effects of septicemia and if it had burst it would have been fatal', that was the first time I had been told it was hs, I suffered all them yrs with no help so I had the tattoo done with the words " no one should ever suffer in silence" but unfortunately one of my daughter also suffers now and one of my sons

Nicki

I got the blue ribbon on my foot as I was told it represented HS. Being a HS warrior (Blue is the color for HS in the UK).

MaKellee

This tattoo was a matching tattoo I got with my nurse who cared for me through my whole journey (and still continues to). Its simple and nothing special, but this is it. I also designed it myself.

Kat

The hydra represents HS, and Pain and Panic represent complex post traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. In many ways I feel as though my GAD and HS are connected. Anxiety creates cortisol, which can cause me to flare. HS causes me anxiety. Fear that someone will smell it. Fear that I'll move wrong and tear a flare open. Fear that eventually it'll take over more of my life than it already has. This piece gives me power in the sense that when people ask about it, It's an opening to tell them what it represents. To tell them about HS. It gives me power over my body, making myself into a canvas. 🖤

Ashlie

Lori

This is my HS inspired tattoo. It is my own design of a straitjacket which symbolizes the way HS has kept me from enjoying life and the wings symbolize a hopeful cure.

Tanja

Initium Novum which is Latin for 'New Beginnings'. Tanja had this tattoo done in Tiblisi Georgia while there for Phage treatment and felt that was her new beginning. Learn more about phage treatment here.

Nichole

My HS tattoo defines what this illness does to us warriors; the ripping and tearing of the skin and that our scars may flaw our skin, but they are a part of our story and are beautiful!

Doug

Michael

Warrior Tattoos

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