After years of my shoulder repeatedly dislocating, grinding, slipping out of place, and causing constant…
After years of my shoulder repeatedly dislocating, grinding, slipping out of place, and causing constant pain, I finally had surgery on my left shoulder.
What started as an old injury turned into years of instability and damage. Every time my shoulder dislocated, it caused more tearing and wear inside the joint. Over time it damaged the labrum, loosened the ligaments, and even caused dents and wear in the bone itself from the shoulder repeatedly slamming out of socket.
During surgery, they found multiple areas of tearing and instability. I underwent:
• Arthroscopic Bankart repair
• Remplissage procedure
• Rotator cuff/capsular tightening
The surgeon repaired the torn labrum with multiple anchors, tightened the loose capsule and ligaments around the shoulder, and used part of my rotator cuff to help create a “block” to stop future dislocations. They also found cartilage wear already starting in the joint from all the years of instability.
This wasn’t a simple cleanup surgery. My shoulder had to basically be rebuilt and stabilized.
Right now the recovery is extremely slow and painful. Most of the pain is deep in the back of the shoulder blade where a lot of the repair work was done. I’m stuck in a sling for weeks with strict weight restrictions and a very long rehab process ahead of me before I can safely tattoo again.
For those asking — recovery is expected to take around 6–8 months before I can fully get back to long tattoo sessions the way I used to.
Mentally, this has been one of the hardest things I’ve dealt with. Not only because tattooing is my passion, but because this happened right near the end of my apprenticeship journey. But no matter how frustrating the setbacks are, I’m not giving up on this career or on myself.
I appreciate everyone who has checked in on me, supported me, believed in my art, and stayed patient during this process. It truly means more than you know.
For now, the focus is healing, physical therapy, and taking this one step at a time so I can come back stronger than before. ❤️
