I went into a tattoo shop the other day, and i started to think about all of the interactivity among the customers and the artist. I would imagine there would be at least twenty customers a day. Which would mean the artist would have to do at leats twenty tattos. Each person that comes in has a specific idea in mind that usually comes along with a story. 
This is a tattoo of a silver fish pin. A guy named Danny had received a silver fish pin from his father but had lost it. So he got a tattoo of it to keep his father close, and so he wouldn't ever loose the pin again.
Angelamarie got the word Bambino as her first tattoo. When she was younger she used to call her baby brother Bambino. When her brother was 29 he dies of colon cancer. Angelamarie realized that he was the most important thing in her life, and got a tattoo of his nickname on her shoulder so he would watch after her. The tattoo artist would get to hear all of his client's stories as to what their tattoo means and how it is significant in their lives.
-Janelee.
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Beyond the negative associations that several societies hold for these ink images, tattoos have been and are used for significant reasons. "Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. The symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures. Tattoos may show how a person feels about a relative (commonly mother/father or daughter/son) or about an unrelated person." I was surprised to find out "As an aid in radiotherapy. In order to minimize damage to surrounding tissues, the radiotherapist seeks to keep the irradiated field as small as possible. Marking a number of points on the body with tattoos can aid radiotherapists in adjusting the beam properly."
Source: Wikipedia
For those interested, there is a fantasy novel called "The Black Tattoo" by Sam Enthoven. In this novel, a demon disguises itself as a black tattoo and takes over the mind of a character. It is an easy read.
Many possibilities in this direction, and as Minh-Tam said the significance, the history and symbolism and other myriad associations make this very compelling