Many people use body art as a form of personal expression, but a new trend is emerging that could save lives.
A small number of Americans are relying on tattoos to identify themselves in case of a medical emergency.
Melissa Boyer has been visiting Dr. Saleh Aldasouqi's office for years. When she came in for her most recent checkup, the first thing her doctor realized was that her wrist was bare.
"I've been a diabetic for about 29 years, so I ended up wearing the bracelets, the necklaces, and they get really expensive," said Boyer, diabetes patient.
The bracelets are so expensive and fragile that once Melissa broke another one she searched for a more permanent solution. She decided to get a tattoo.
"It was just a spur of the moment thing, my boyfriend kept complaining at the table because everyday he had to fix mine or my kid's," said Boyer.
For years people have been getting medical tattoos without consultation and that concerns doctors.
"It's almost like a small surgical procedure...so the body actually undergoes significant trauma and injury," said Saleh Aldasouqi, diabetes specialist, Sparrow Hospital.
Even more worrisome, there are no guidelines for getting these types of tattoos in medical literature.
"The location is important and has to be standardized, left hand, right hand so the EMS personnel can be familiar with that, another thing is regulation and licensing of the procedure," said Aldasouqi.
But doctors say they are working on developing procedures and that in the future medical tattoos may be a permanent tool, thanks to the ingenuity of patients like Melissa.
Dr. Aldasouqi says patients typically use medical tattoos to indicate chronic illness such as diabetes, but some are also using it to list allergies to medication.
