While they've adorned skin since time immemorial as exotic emblems of beauty, rebellion or even criminality, if I start talking about tattoos, I can tell that lots of you of a certain age will react simply by sighing deeply or clucking your tongues in disapproval.
Sorry, Mom and Dad: we're long past the time when just sailors, soldiers, performers in burlesque acts or gangsters got inked. An estimated 45 million Americans have tattoos, and that number is quickly rising. Although the practice seemingly is becoming, along with piercings, ubiquitous among certain younger or youthful-minded folk across the country, the ink that tattoo artists inject remains unregulated. And while many potential risks are well known, others -- including long-term aesthetic and health concerns -- are less certain.
The focus of fears by most public health officials about body inking once concerned properly sterilized needles, spreading infections and unsanitary conditions at tattoo parlors. Scientists now are saying attention needs to be diverted to the very ink inside a tattoo needle.
As the market for tattoos has expanded wildly, so, too, have the types of materials employed, including UV inks that glow in the dark and permanent makeup. How toxic are their components, especially over the long run?
Not All Inks Are Equal
One recent study examined black ink, common in nearly every tattoo, as the skin designs often are dark or entirely black. Black tattoo inks are based on soot and iron oxide, they are unregulated and many contain hazardous chemicals that potentially can stay in the skin for a lifetime, absorb UV radiation and may affect skin integrity, researchers say.
Tattooing can require injections of substantial amounts of black ink, meaning large amounts of chemicals shot into and under the skin; many of these chemicals -- such as benzo(a)pyrene, a carcinogen found to cause skin cancer in animal tests -- are toxic, so some advocates have called for further scrutiny and oversight of tattoo inks. The study also suggests that the substances in black tattoo inks -- materials known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) -- migrate into subjects' lymph nodes, which aid an individual's body in filtering out disease-causing organisms.
The FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research is investigating tattoo inks and whether their movement in the body has health consequences. Tattoo pigments are subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation, but the agency's website says that, "because of other public health priorities and a previous lack of evidence of safety concerns, FDA has not traditionally regulated tattoo inks or the pigments used in them."
While some tattoo inks contain pigments that are FDA-approved, others use materials more typically associated with automotive and industrial paints. A study in the Archives of Dermatology examined samples of 30 tattoo inks and identified aluminum, oxygen, titanium and carbon as the most common elements in them, with researchers concluding components vary vastly.
The FDA has received reports of adverse tattoo reactions, prompting investigators to further study the safety of inks, especially their long-term effects and how they interact with light or metabolize in the body.
The agency's experts say there's an absence of "systematic" studies and little information is available about how the pigments break down, though they note that tattoos tend to fade over time or when exposed to sunlight. They cite the color yellow, particularly when "Pigment Yellow 74" is involved in the tattoo ink, as susceptible to fading and disappearing
In the meantime, those wanting to get inked up should beware: regulators say those multiple reports of bad reactions they have received have come both immediately and even for years after from those getting tattoos. Again, some of the itching and inflammation appears to occur after tattooed folks expose themselves to the summer sun.
The well-known risks associated with tattoos include: infection, as unsterilized needles can carry infections including HIV-AIDS and hepatitis; allergies from various ink pigments; unwanted scar tissue, which can appear after a new tattoo, or after the removal of a tattoo; small knots or bumps known as granulomas, which may form around materials the body finds abnormal (in this case tattoo pigments).
In rare cases, some people experience temporary swelling or burning on their tattooed skin while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An unidentified pro football player suffered such an injury, prompting experts to publish a warning in a sports medicine journal about the prevalence among athletes of both tattoos and the need for MRI tests for injuries; they said caregivers should be wary of tattoos laden with black ink and pigments containing iron oxide, which may be more likely to react electromagnetically with the imagining technology and cause burns.
What Are They Thinking?
I know that those of us of a certain age may need to count to 10 and control our judgmental selves as more people around us display "tats." However, such personal decorations may have been as common in history as they are now, with archeological findings suggesting that as long as 5,000 years ago, Oetzi, a well-preserved "Iceman," had 57 tattoos on his body. In ancient Egypt, tattoos were familiar and in the South Pacific, they are widespread and marks of societal significance, while in Japan, as, frankly, in parts of Southern California, inking is a critical part of life in criminal gangs. There certainly are scholarly publications indicating that those with tattoos can evidence higher levels of mental disturbance or, among teenagers, a greater likelihood of maturity and adjustment issues than those without tattoos.
In Los Angeles in the 21st century, of course, tattoos need not mean anything more than do a pair of stylish shoes or a bright-colored jacket. But just because they're seemingly everywhere in our entertainment-industry driven metropolis doesn't mean that they won't pose quandaries, say for parents of young people who announce their desire for ink. Yes, they adorn people of all levels of education, income, race and color and women get half of the inkings these days. But pragmatism and the cosmetic surgery practitioners who are busy trying to erase skin designs testify that, no matter how fashionable, tattoos may be -- yes, Mom and Dad -- an adornment that must be carefully considered.
Unwanted Ink
If your tattoo's been around for years and your work or personal circumstances shift so that your impulse inking doesn't seem so hot, lasers offer a reliable removable tool. They're an improvement over what was available, including bleaches or wearing long-sleeves or other disguising clothes. The lasers break up the pigment in the tattoo with a high-intensity light beam. But if you're considering this process, research the options with care; choose a qualified dermatologist or health care professional to perform your tattoo removal. Inks respond differently to lasers, so some tattoos may require multiple procedures with different types of lasers to produce the results that will satisfy you. Black often is the easiest color to remove since it absorbs all laser wavelengths.
Most patients do not require anesthesia while undergoing tattoo removal, though a topical anesthesia or pain injections may be used. While laser tattoo removal is relatively safe and effective, infection and scarring still are risks. You also may experience hypo- or hyper-pigmentation, where patches of your skin may appear lighter or darker than surrounding areas.
So, considering the risks, potential costs, time and inconvenience, is it worthwhile to be the coolest person at the club, restaurant or party, with a body covered with all manner of colorful designs, maybe even skin art aglow in black light? That's not a doctor's call. I can say that customs and fashions, especially in a place like L.A., change faster than the blink of a strobe light. So, ask yourself: how are you likely to feel in 10 or 20 years about the mural that you want to cover your back? Asking yourself what your parents and (future) kids might think about it also may help you make a rational decision about body art.
And unfortunately even the most beautiful ones fade after a while into that dingy greenish gray. To me it's a maintenance issue like dying your hair. If you dye your hair and are just going to let the black roots start to show and slowly take over -- you're going to look worse for doing it only halfway.
One thing not mentioned in this article which I have read elsewhere -- tramp stamps are a bad idea for women who intend to have children, as spinal injections to relieve the pain of childbirth can take some of the inks from that area and put them into the spine with negative results. Friends who are nurses have laughed that many women come into the hospital determined to give birth without anesthetics, but once the real pain sets in, all bets are off and most of them have a "conversion" to painkillers right away. So ... maybe there's one place to think extra carefully about getting a tattoo.
It's great that you take pride in your job as an art professional. That's what I would want from a tattoo artist.
Re scolding the author, he takes pains to point out in more than one place that tattoos are here to stay and that they are nothing new -- as well as to be non-judgmental about it. If anything he comes across as less judgmental than your post was. Your being so defensive makes it hard to believe you could research anything you have any stake or interest in, even at the layman's level, with an even keel and open mind.
When I die, I would like to have some of my ashes made into a diamond. They used to do it in Germany, but now there is a company in the US that makes artificial diamonds that way. I think they use 4 ounces and compressit in a mold under very high heat and pressure (that same way the earth makes diamonds) and 4 days later a beautiful real, albeit manmade, diamond is born. I think that it would be nice if my only child had it made into a necklace or something, or maybe a locket with the diamond in the cover.
I have heard though, that if you ever do want a tat removed, that the laser can remove any color except white. The lasor "atomizes" the ink molecules into minute bits so they can be absorbed by your body and flushed out. Except the color white. They said lasers can't remove it. So if you get tattoos, tell them not to use that color as a highlight or anything, just in case.
As others have stated...DO YOU HOMEWORK when it comes to who does them and where you get your tattoos done. Talk to others with tattoos and find out where they've gone. Go to the shops and speak to the artists, check out their work, look at their stations. A reputable place will not have a problem with you doing this. If they do, you don't want them touch you.
Having a tattoo doesn't change human nature. It's ink, not magic.
In short, there's a reason that author is unknown ...
In the defense of people with ink...They get tattoos because they feel it is important to them to reflect their thoughts, beliefs or share memories...we have a great varied clientele that come from all over and you would be suprised-most are professional business people looking to remember a special person. Do we get people that just pick out something dumb? YES---but we usually say "we are booked, give us a call in a month" and 99% of the time they take it to think before they ink, because later on I will just have to cover it!
Just research the place you're getting it done, come in and watch what they do, and make sure they are clean. Not that hard.