Story By: Maja Mishevksa, Sub Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

These images show a man who decided to remove his arm tattoo by himself just one week after having it done – using a cheese grater – because he could not get a job.

Social media user ‘Matias Costa’ shared the images of his friend who removed the tattoo, who wishes to remain anonymous for personal reasons but is from the city of Mendoza in the western Argentine province of the same name.

In the photos, the man’s tattoo can be seen on his forearm and he told local media: “I had the tattoo done and a week later I wanted to join the airport police. Although among the requirements on the website it is not mentioned, I was told that I could not work there with visible tattoos”.

“This happened in August 2017, I was 19 years old at the time. 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. I searched on YouTube for ways to remove it. Firstly I tried with a pumice stone, but it did not work. Then I continued with the grater. It hurt and bled a lot. I had to bandage it a lot and apply disinfectant. A week later I went to the hospital and I had a tetanus vaccination.”

He added: “My family disagreed with my decision, but it was already done. I suffered other personal problems and I decided to stay in Mendoza and not join the airport police.

“In that moment, I regretted it, of course I did. But when I saw it had gone a lot, I did not worry more. But I would not recommend it to anybody”,

The post on Twitter was retweeted more than 16,000 times and received more than 77,000 likes and more than 2,100 comments from netizens including ‘francofdiez’ who wrote: “It was removed because the tattoo artist was sh*t. A well-done tattoo is not easily removed, You end up with a kind of crater.”

‘JemNebula’ commented: “It has scarred well.”

‘Josep-RZ’ added: “It was clearly done poorly, the area will always be poorly healed.”

Diego Staropoli, the owner of Mandinga Tattoo, explained to local media that “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.”

Local media report the incident occurred in August 2017 but the pictures have only just been reported.

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