@leec - I did the same thing, my tattoo covers some really bad scars where I was beaten. It's OK to have THOSE apparently, just not a tattoo.
Also, I knew an elder's wife in the congregation in her 60s with rings pierced all the way up both of her ears. She was actually a very cool, sweet lady. But I got a hoop put into the top of my left ear a couple years back and you'd have thought I'd mutilated myself or something by the reaction I got. Geesh.