Do you believe Belgian teen's tattoo tale?

Kimberley Vlaeminck's story has been making its way around the world.

You might have caught a snippet of it in one of those "And here's a curious thing" segments at the end of a news broadcast.

Or perhaps you read about it here.

In case you're unfamiliar with the tale, Vlaeminck is the Belgian teenager, who last weekend , popped along to the local tattoo local parlour to have three little stars tattooed on her face and ended up with 56.

The 18-year old claims she fell asleep while the tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, got on with the job and when she woke up she was horrified to find the left side of her face covered in 53 more tattoos than she had bargained for.

Anyway, as the story has made its way around the globe, there have been a fair few doubts cast on the veracity of Vlaeminck's version of events, with the often repeated question being how could she possibly have dropped off while having her face tattooed.

Disbelief is how many have reacted to the story including, as you'll clearly see from the accompanying clip, that of the French television presenter, Marina Carrère.

She's one of the hosts on the daily health magazine, Magazine de la santé, broadcast live on national television each on France 5.

On Wednesday, Carrère, along with co-host Michel Cymes, was giving a round-up of the latest health news stories and of course the case of Vlaeminck and her 56 tattoos.

Perhaps its a reaction that best sums up what many people think of the whole story.

Oh, and don't worry. You don't need to speak a word of French to understand what's going on.

It's one of those classic moments of television.

Belgian teen's tattoo nightmare

Recently 18-year-old Kimberley Vlaeminck decided she would like three small tattoos on her face, "Just three little dots," she insisted.

So on Sunday she made her way down to the local parlour in the Belgian town of Courtrai, and told the tattooist what she wanted.

That was probably her first mistake because Vlaeminck lives in the Flemish-speaking part of the country and the tattooist, who was originally from France, only spoke French and English.

Somehow though the two apparently managed to understand one another and Vlaeminck eventually agreed to let him go ahead and give her three little stars because "It would look prettier," she said.

Mistake number two.

And that was quickly followed my mistake number three, as Vlaeminck told the Flemish daily Het Laatste Nieuws, because as soon as he started his work, she dozed off.

"When he started the tattooing I didn't want to feel the pain and so I went to sleep. I had got up at five in the morning," she said.

And when she woke up, Vlaeminck got more than a nasty surprise.

Instead of the promised three little stars, she discovered that she had in fact been given 56 (that's perhaps worth spelling out, fifty-six) of differing hues and sizes stretching along the length of the left of her face.

Horrified at what had happened, Vlaeminck now says she'll have to undergo costly laser treatment to remove them and plans to sue the tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz.

Now you could be forgiven for thinking there's something a little far-fetched about this story.

After all who could possibly agree to undergoing any form of tattooing on such a sensitive part of the body without being absolutely certain that they knew what they would end up with.

And how could anyone drop off in the process?

Well there is of course an alternative explanation and it comes from the tattooist himself.

Toumaniantz contests Vlaeminck's side of the story and said he had done exactly what she had wanted.

"She agreed to the 56 stars on the left hand side of the face and she was awake the whole time," he said.

"In fact she seemed quote happy with what I had done, and it was only after her father saw it that she changed her mind."

Toumaniantz says he's willing to meet half the costs of any laser treatment to remove the tattoos, but he's also adamant that he's not disappointed with having given Vlaeminck exactly what they had agreed.

"I don't regret anything," he said. "In fact it has all rather given me a good deal of publicity."