Tattoos, piercing and HIV / Aids infection

When you think of having a tattoo done, first of all remember that it involves your skin being pierced and forming an open sore, and that blood will also be involved in this procedure.

Body art

Although body art and tattoos are very popular some safety measures must be taken. Since piercing the skin, and blood and needles are involved some warning lights should be going off, since working with open "wounds" and blood opens the entire Pandora's box of Aids and Hepatitis infection.

In saying this, the risk of HIV as well as hepatitis transmission exists if ANY of the instruments are not properly sterilized and disinfected.

When having a tattoo, ask the person doing it what type of safety precautions are taken to prevent the spread of blood borne infections, such as HIV or hepatitis.

When having any piercing or tattoos the risk of disease transmission exists if stringent safety measures are not met by the tattoo artist / piercing operator and one of the basic things would be the use of sterile and sealed needles.

Should you however decide to have some body-art or tattooing done, first make sure that you use a professional person that will also take care about the health aspect when creating a piece of art on your skin.

Some pointers when selecting a tattoo artist or piercing operator

• New sterile sealed needles must ALWAYS be used.
• He/she must use new needles at all times and the tattoo artist must be disposing of used needles in a responsible way after autoclaving them.
• New needles come in sterile sealed packages and INSIST ON SEEING THE SEALED STERILE PACKAGE before the body artist starts creating your body art tattoo.
• The working area must be neat and clean and must be sterilized after each customer to minimize the risk of any infection.
• New unused razors must be used when shaving hair from areas to be tattooed.
• A new container of ink must be used for EACH CLIENT.
• A health board license must be clearly displayed (if applicable in your country, state, province) to attest that the premises and practice have passed health standards.
• Also check your local city ordinances to see what safety rules apply in your area