this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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https://www.indiatvnews.com/trending/news/worlds-most-tattooed-man-now-works-as-primary-school-teacher-sylvain-helaine-2023-04-18-864583
Removing his nipples and belly button for more tattoos are the only things that strike me as concerning.
Not for the children, but his own welfare. The tattoos are amazing.
Injecting black dye into his eyes you don't find concerning at all?
That is a lot more common than surgery to remove a belly button or nipples. I've known people who had done that with their eyes, so that doesn't seem anywhere near as concerning to me.
Many things are common. It doesn't make them safe or legal. https://www.aao.org/education/clinical-video/scleral-tattoo-gone-wrong
I dont believe I commented at all on legality or safety, only on what I personally consider a concern (surgery).
If you're trying to create an argument, I'm not remotely interested.
I am not creating a argument but merely pointing out that your sense of concern and risk assessment differs from that of most people.
Cool story.
Why do I think surgery to remove body parts for additional tattoos is potentially concerning?
Any surgery carries risk, and requires appropriate consideration.
Let's take breast augmentation as an example. There are some folks who will choose to do so because it will help them match their gender, and that makes a lot of sense for their mental well being. There are some folks who have had a mastectomy, and an augmentation (and in many cases a tattooed nipple to finish things off) will help for their mental well being. These are generally one-time surgeries with a clear beneficial outcome.
There are others who will continually go larger and larger and larger, and its actually detrimental to their health and well being, they are often doing so because of other issues of their self image or self worth, and the surgery will never be enough for them. Its even been shown to make those perceptions of their bodies worse, which is why they end up getting surgery over and over again.
My concern here is whether or not he fits in the first group or the second. I sincerely hope he does not have an internal struggle that will drive him to many surgeries, never addressing the actual issue, and making things worse for himself over time.
How it looks is irrelevant to me, if he likes it more power to him. I think his tattoos are incredible, personally.
I just hope he's OK.
The article photo wasn't visible for me so here are some photos of him after having his nipples and bellybutton removed: