Do West Virginians regret any of their tattoos?

In this picture taken on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, a a woman covers her face during the International Tattoo Convention Bucharest 2016 in Bucharest, Romania. More than 100 tattoo and piercing artists brought their skills and art to a three-day convention in the Romanian capital.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

by: Isaac Taylor

Posted: Aug 21, 2023 / 10:59 AM EDT

Updated: Aug 21, 2023 / 10:59 AM EDT

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) — According to the Pew Research Center, 32% of Americans have tattoos and 22% of them have more than one. So, some of them have to regret them, right?

In the past 12 months, West Virginia was in the top 10 states searching for tattoo removal, with Nevada, Montana, Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado and California beating the Mountain State in search volume, according to Google Trends data.

States looking for "tattoo removal" the least include Alabama, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Illinois, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Iowa, Delaware and D.C.

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that 69% of American adults with tattoos said they got them to remember or honor someone or something, 47% to make a statement about a belief and 32% to improve appearance. But what kind of tattoos are people regretting?

According to a study by Advanced Dermatology, 25% of Americans regret at least one tattoo. The types of tattoos people regret the most are lettering/script (19%), symbol (16%), name (12%), animal (10%) and tribal (9%) tattoos, with the most common reason being that they don't like how it looks.

Advanced Dermatology said 51% of participants said they started to regret a tattoo two or more years into having it. 23% of participants said they are planning on getting a tattoo removed, with 59% planning to get one removed, the study said.