Any health risks related to commercial tattooing are usually exaggerated and sometimes people will go as far as to mount campaigns against tattoo shops opening up in their neighborhoods. Tattoo shops have come a long way from once being a taboo practice to now being one of the fastest-growing categories of retail business.
Because the numbers of tattoo shops are growing so quickly they are now being opened in spots that normally would not be called home to a tattoo shop such as middle-class cities and towns that have never had such establishments in their business districts.
In past times media has suggested that there are serious health risks related to tattooing. These suggestions include that tattooing may involve unusually high risks related to the transmission of such diseases as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
In reality, there has never been a real documented case of HIV transmission occurring via tattooing anywhere in the United States. On the other hand, however, more than five cases of HIV transmission through dentists and dental workers have been experienced.
Tattooing is usually associated with health risks primarily because it tends to involve needles as well as blood. When tattoo artists stick to the right processes of sterilization and sanitation, lesser chances exist for disease transmission to happen. When practices that are not sterile are used then tattoo artists experience a risk of syphilis, hepatitis B as well as a number of other conditions.
Issues concerning any health risks which may be related to tattooing largely exist because tattooing involves needles and blood. If the tattoo artists are involved in sticking to the right sterilization and sanitation procedures, lesser chances that disease transmission will occur exist. If non-sterile practices are used when there is a risk of syphilis, hepatitis B, and other diseases.
Infections can occur in new tattoos, especially without appropriate aftercare. Some people also experience allergic reactions to tattoo inks. Although the pigments used may have U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for other purposes, the FDA does not regulate tattoo inks. Tattoo artists must also take special safety measures regarding their hands.
Gloves help prevent disease transmission from bodily fluids, but bacteria thrive in the warm, damp environment they create. This means that artists must: wash hands thoroughly and often, inspect hands for cuts or sores and cover them with bandages, remove hangnails and keep nails short to prevent punctures to gloves, and refrain from tattooing when experiencing lesions, dermatitis, or allergic reactions.
Because of the nature of the rules and safety regulations that usually apply to the practice of tattooing, tattoo parlors tend to be very careful with the issue of providing these tattoos. The health risks described under most circumstances are those which occur in cases where the proper procedures required are not adhered to. As far as the United States is concerned, getting a tattoo is something safe which you should not bother about as long as you a dealing with a safe and reputable tattoo salon.
