How are tattoos viewed in O.D. school?

[JustInYurEyez]

I know that there are several threads relating to tattoos that can found on this forum, even in other health professions but a lot of those posts were from many years ago and I feel that tattoos have been more culturally acceptable over the past couple years. I recently just got my first tattoo which is a half sleeve on my left arm. It's visible when I wear a short sleeve shirt, and can easily be covered up with a long sleeve. It's a design of a foo dog, which is a Chinese dog which to me represents a guardian to my body and well being. In the design, I also have a Chinese kanji of my parents name.

I'm applying to OD school during this fall semester and I just want to know how staff and faculty view tattoos on their students. I'm always going to make sure that my tattoos are covered up whenever I'm in clinic with long sleeve shirts and a white coat. The practice I work for right now are pretty lenient with tattoos, and I know that when I get licensed they would want to hire me as an O.D. for their practice, so I'm not so concerned about how it's viewed in practice, since it's always going to be covered up. I was contemplating plan on expanding my tattoo to my forearm or getting a forearm tattoo on my other arm and I wanted to be optometry inspired (like some illustrative eye looking through a phoropter would look soooo sick lol).

Do any current O.D. students have any experience with this or have any tattoos that are kind of in the same type of way that I'm going for? I'm just trying to see how my potential future peers and professors might view me.

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Weirdy]

I know that there are several threads relating to tattoos that can found on this forum, even in other health professions but a lot of those posts were from many years ago and I feel that tattoos have been more culturally acceptable over the past couple years. I recently just got my first tattoo which is a half sleeve on my left arm. It's visible when I wear a short sleeve shirt, and can easily be covered up with a long sleeve. It's a design of a foo dog, which is a Chinese dog which to me represents a guardian to my body and well being. In the design, I also have a Chinese kanji of my parents name.

I'm applying to OD school during this fall semester and I just want to know how staff and faculty view tattoos on their students. I'm always going to make sure that my tattoos are covered up whenever I'm in clinic with long sleeve shirts and a white coat. The practice I work for right now are pretty lenient with tattoos, and I know that when I get licensed they would want to hire me as an O.D. for their practice, so I'm not so concerned about how it's viewed in practice, since it's always going to be covered up. I was contemplating plan on expanding my tattoo to my forearm or getting a forearm tattoo on my other arm and I wanted to be optometry inspired (like some illustrative eye looking through a phoropter would look soooo sick lol).

Do any current O.D. students have any experience with this or have any tattoos that are kind of in the same type of way that I'm going for? I'm just trying to see how my potential future peers and professors might view me.

Thanks!

DPM program-

One of my classmates has a full sleeve.
Wears long sleeves most of the time during class (especially during clinicals).
School has never had an issue with it.

 

[AcademicEyes]

I would say it depends. How do you want your patients to perceive you? How would you perceive yourself in the eyes of another?
Probably doesn't matter in the end, but a few comments were made to a classmate with lavender ombre hair. She has since dyed it back to brown before rotations just in case. The reaction would probably be similar with tattoos. If you're really worried, you can wait until after you graduate.
Otherwise, I doubt you'd get too many comments.

 

[rubeyco2018]

We had many students with tattoos at our school IAUPR ( I know I know not one of the best but whatever) and as long as in clinic they were covered they didn't care that you had it. They really wanted to make sure you put the best face forward in clinic so a white coat should cover any sleeves, if a woman had a leg tattoo as long as they wore pants or long dress/skirt it was fine. They weren't big on telling people what to do in their personal lives as long as you looked decent with patients or even just in clinic.