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  • If you're a fan of Dolly Parton, you've probably noticed that the country music legend always

  • wears long sleeves.

  • And even though she looks glamorous in every single long sleeve dress, gown, and top she

  • wears, fans can't help but wonder why she chooses to cover up her shoulders and arms.

  • According to Jezebel, the "Two Doors Down" singer wears long sleeves, and sometimes even

  • gloves, to hide all her secret tattoos.

  • "I'm not really one to have, just, completely tattoos, but I do have a few."

  • "Okay."

  • "But they're not where you can see."

  • In 2013, Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous fame publicly confirmed on Australian TV show

  • Sunday Night that Parton is covered in tattoos.

  • Saunders recalls the time the superstar flashed her ink in a restaurant, describing them as:

  • "The most beautiful angels and beautiful butterflies and baskets of flowers in pastel-colored tattoos."

  • Parton made Saunders promise to not tell a soul, however, Saunders went on to share the

  • story on TV as well as in her autobiography, Bonkers: My Life in Laughs.

  • During a November 2019 interview with Good Morning America, Parton confirmed that she's

  • partial to a butterfly or flower tattoo.

  • Butterflies are a recurring motif in her life, mentioned in songs and appearing on the logo

  • for Dollywood, Parton's Tennessee theme park.

  • Explaining their very special meaning, she told ABC News,

  • "They tell stories about me getting lost in the woods, and getting in trouble chasing

  • butterflies."

  • According to Inked, Parton has also previously admitted to Jay Leno that she has an angel

  • tattoo somewhere on her body and told Larry King that she doesn't have full tattoo sleeves

  • or anywhere near as many tattoos as people think.

  • "Splattered them here and there, but I'm not making a, wouldn't be a biker chick or anything."

  • If you take a close look at what Parton wears on the red carpet and during her shows, it's

  • often her upper arms that she hides most.Though the singer has never confirmed that the reason

  • she wears long sleeves is to cover her tattoos, she has confirmed that she originally got

  • tattoos to cover up her scars.

  • Speaking to Vanity Fair, Parton admitted,

  • "I don't really like to make a big to-do of [the tattoos] because people make such a big

  • damn deal over every little thing.

  • Most of the tattoos, when I first started, I was covering up some scars that I had, 'cause

  • I have a tendency to have keloid scar tissue, and I have a tendency where if I have any

  • kind of scars anywhere then they kind of have a purple tinge that I can never get rid of."

  • "So I started having little pastel little things to disguise things."

  • It sounds like wearing long sleeves is simply another way that Parton can hide her keloid

  • scars while keeping her tattoos personal and private, revealing them only to who she chooses,

  • rather than the entire world.

  • According to a consultant Plastic Surgeon at the British Skin Institute,

  • "A keloid is a type of bulky scar that develops in the skin as a result of injury, infection

  • or inflammation and spreads beyond the borders of the original field of skin damage.

  • It is essentially an area of excessive collagen deposition."

  • The surgeon describes them as "shiny, rubbery skin lumps" that can be very unpredictable

  • as they can take years to develop, and can stop and start growing at different stages

  • of life for no reason known to medical professionals.

  • As stated on the UK's National Health System website, they're most common on the upper

  • chest, shoulders, head, and neck.

  • In recent years, Parton has been very open about the fact that she has keloid scars.

  • While there's no need to have them removed since they're completely harmless, like most

  • scars, they will stay on your body for life.

  • If you want them treated for cosmetic reasons, the British Skin Institute recommends you

  • see a skin specialist or dermatologist; there's no single treatment that can remove them completely,

  • and the process can be quite complicated.

  • It's also important to understand that most people usually need to undergo multiple different

  • treatments, and even if successful, the keloid scars can still return.

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If you're a fan of Dolly Parton, you've probably noticed that the country music legend always

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