I have lots of tattoos. I can't even remember how many, and of them all the ribs hurt and bled the most. It was only small in comparison to my others and only took about 1/2 hr each (on each side) but I felt every single bit of it. They're situated under my arms about bra height.

I did have heavy colouring in the flowers on my belly (just under my ribs) where they tattooed over and over to get the colours to 'take' as I have olive skin and that was a close second. I was shaking all over with the pain of it after 3 hours.

The third most painful was up high on my back but I sat for that tattoo for 6.5 hours without food and with 2 small breaks so I think I was completely depleted of endorphins by that stage and that made it worse.

It also makes a difference if you've got some padding on the area. I felt my tattoos less when I was a bigger girl. I feel them twice as much now.

My arms were walks in the park by comparison. I have a tattoo that goes right around my upper arm and even that didn't hurt as much as my ribs.

I've heard that the sternum area is the worst but that's one place I am not tattooed so can't compare.