do tattoos change size?

Okay, it was a silly conversation.  

Someone said, just use your hand to judge how bit the thing is.  

And someone else piped up and said, just measure your hand and remember how big each knuckle is.

And the third person said "let's get tattoos on our hand with measurements on them, then we will always know how big 2.5cm is"  (because it's metric here, alas)

A silly conversation and I'm not much for the idea of getting a tattoo.  But it got me wondering.  Would it work?  Or do they change size and shape as people age?  Especially on the hand?  

Would one inch today be an inch and a quarter when I'm having a bloated day and three quarters of an inch of fridays?  

Well I don't have tattoos, I have scars.

But it's worth considering that butterfly tattoos sort of turn back into caterpillars as time goes by. That's as far as I'll go.

They can and do change size & shape with the skin they are on, including hands. A scar near one can pull the skin and change the tattoo shape, too. And colors fade and loose their distinction. I often think I'd like to get a tiny 1 - 2 inch ruler on one finger on my left hand - then I look closer and see how badly twisted and bent with arthritis my fingers have become, in the last five years, and change my mind, pronto.

Something I've always wondered, but more in connection with body art.
Seems to me that what we are measuring on our bodies is the underlying bones, which aren't going to change, and the flesh on our hands is just that, very little subcutaneous fat. So once a measurement is established it shouldn't change much.   Tape measures are a relatively "new" invention, and measuring using various body parts has been used down the ages (e.g. the cubit, using the forearm)  I use hand measure all the time when I'm knitting and can't be bothered going to find the tape.
We need input from someone who is tattooed!

I vaguely recall some legal cases regarding deceased persons and their body art, and family complexities. Should the art be buried with them or preserved for posterity?

If you tattoo your hide with fine art, do you want it skinned and preserved and displayed in a gallery when you kick the proverbial bucket?

ink spreads out over time in the skin, you definitely wouldn’t be able to clearly measure really small sizes (thinking tenths of a cm/ 1/4 inch or smaller) over longer terms, but the relative location doesn’t change except when the skin changes- either stretching, injury/illness, etc. i know a couple people who have measurements they use frequently tattooed on fingers or finger + hand. hands generally don’t change size much.

I learned new things.  Thank you.