My nephew started with tattoos when he was 14. I was worried about it because most of the people in this world still judge first on looks so I had long discussions with him that I was worried that some day, because of his tattoos, he would be denied the chance to do something that he really wanted to do just because of how he looked. Of course, that went in one ear and out the other with a teenager. Fortunately, he did listen to my advice and keep all of his tattoos on his legs where they can be hidden if necessary under long pants - so now he has the tattoos from hips to the tip of his toes. They are all very nice tattoos - most he designed himself and they have meaning to him. Then he went to piercing. First just a normal ear pierce - then 1 inch ear plugs or gauges as they are called. Then two lip rings one top, one bottom, right in the middle of his lips. First to go was the top lip ring. Then he stopped wearing the plugs in his ears but the holes only closed to about dime size. Then he took out the bottom lip ring about 6 months ago. A few weeks ago, the day before he graduated from college at 20 years old, he had to pay the plastic surgeon $2800.00 to fix the big holes in his ears - why - because he heads to medical school next month and they told him the ear holes had to go. So, he found something that he really wanted to do and he was willing to give up the ears to be able to do it. Of course, he is laughing that the admissions people did not see his legs under his trousers. He still loves his tattoos - gets the colors touched up whenever they fade and tries to find a spot to fit more tattoos in.