Going Skin Deep: FDA Studies Risks Posed by Tattoos
Rashes, swelling and blistering — that’s the price you could pay to get your body inked.
Spurred by a growing number of reports of skin problems and irritations, and with the popularity of body inking on the rise, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has begun studying the chemical compositions of tattoo and permanent makeup inks.
Researchers want to know how these inks break down in the body, their long-term effects, and which products pose a risk, writes Newhouse News Service reporter Robert Cohen (“FDA to Review Tattoo Chemicals,” Feb. 11, 2008).
State of the Body Art
Tattoos are no longer just the badge of bikers, punk rockers, and ex-cons. Body art has become a mainstream accessory, showing up on everyone from straight-laced college kids to suburban housewives.
More than a third of 18- to 40-year-olds in the United States have a tattoo, a 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center found. And popular reality shows Inked on A&E and L.A. Ink and Miami Ink on TLC have brought the art — and business — of tattooing into T.V.-watchers’ living rooms.
As a business, tattooing is now a $2.3 billion industry domestically, with about 15,000 tattoo parlors nationwide, most of them small, independent shops.
Tattoo parlors are regulated by the states, but state regulation typically focuses on sanitation and basic health codes, Cohen explains, not on the safety of the dyes.
Now the FDA, which admits “it has never exercised its power under the federal cosmetic law to regulate inks or pigments used in tattoos and in the permanent makeup for eyeliner, lip liner and eyebrow color,” wants to step in.
Scratching the Surface
The FDA likely wants to avert a large-scale outbreak of skin problems like those caused by inks from Texas-based Premier Pigments in 2003 and 2004.
More than 52,000 containers of the inks were recalled in 2005, but not before the FDA received reports of more than 150 cases of people suffering from swelling, cracking, peeling, blistering, scarring, and chronically inflamed tissue where the pigments were used.
5 Ways to Protect Yourself
Skin infection is just one of the possible hazards of body inks. Tattooing done without taking adequate precautions can also spread blood-borne infections like hepatitis, tetanus, and HIV.
If you’re thinking about getting a tattoo, here are five ways to help you minimize your risk.
- Get your shots. Make sure you’re up-to-date with your immunizations (like hepatitis and tetanus shots).
- Look for sterile tools. Ask to see the tattoo studio’s autoclave, a device that uses steam, pressure and heat to sterilize equipment.
- Go to a professional. Check that the tattoo artist is a licensed practitioner.
- Make sure the studio follows standard safety precautions.
Be sure the tattoo parlor follows the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s universal precautions for occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials. Artists should use gloves, gowns, and protective eyewear, and should practice exposure control by washing their hands, properly disposing of contaminated materials, etc.
- Use common sense. Get recommendations from tattooed friends. If the studio looks dirty or makes you uncomfortable, go somewhere else.