Birmingham, UK - Mathew Whelan has spent tens of thousands on radical body mods and tattoos. Recently, though, the economy and an arm implant-gone-wrong has seen him take a break from the needle.

Last year, Whelan hit the pause button on his tattoo and body modification habits due to a cost-of-living crisis in the UK, which caused a financial squeeze that simply couldn't accommodate his ink addiction.

Yet, he has now shared that the story goes far deeper than that.

The tattoo fanatic, who likes to go by King of Ink Land and is referred to by many as Britain's "most tattooed man," suffered an extremely dangerous and traumatic implant accident.

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An implant in his hand got seriously infected, causing the skin to rot. He is now left with a hand that he describes as "slightly deformed" and almost needed to be amputated.

Whelan explained that he will need to undergo a number of corrective procedures because "the skin has worn thin on one side, and I'm concerned it could tear," the Mirror reports.

"I don't want to be in a medical situation again like I was with my knuckle duster implant a few years ago. Again, the skin tore, but then it began rotting and filling with plasma which needed to be drained multiple times."

Having spent thousands of hours under the needle, the experience was one of the worst he has had over the course of his body mod journey.

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"I can't have that happen again, as it almost cost me my arm, and this was going a similar way – so I've made the tough choice to remove this ‘crown’ implant too before it’s too late."

Quitting cold-turkey seems to have helped, though: "I've managed to go a whole year without being tattooed too, and it doesn't even feel strange. It's not something I deeply crave or lust after anymore."