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Journalism of Courage
A dummy’s guide to getting a safe tattoo, minus pain and infections
It’s a style statement so cool that most hot bods of the fashion world flaunt one. A tattoo—the permanent mark of attitude—is forever. It’s a rage across metros where youngsters, high on life, rarely stop at one.
A tattoo is a permanent design made by needles injecting ink under the epidermis, the upper layer of the skin. A traditional art form, doctors are all for it as long as the rulebook is being followed.
“You don’t want to end up like the woman who developed tuberculosis after an elaborate tattoo in her ear. The infection came from a roadside tattooist,” says Dr Siddharth Khera, consultant dermatologist and laser surgeon, and director of Yashsavi Skin & Laser Clinick in Delhi.
More common, however, are skin infections like pyodermas (pus-filled lesions), tetanus and allergic rashes due to tattoo pigments. In the trade, artists also talk of clients developing gangrene after being tattoed with rusted needles. The other spine-chilling tale is about keloids—glazed scars that protrude over the skin where a tattoo should be. Dr Khera adds, “We live in a world of Hepatitis B, leprosy and AIDS—blood-borne diseases that spread through the use of infected implements.”
Thus, it’s important to put as much thought into choosing the artist as into deciding the design.
Get your tattoo done at least a week before the party. “A tattoo is a coloured wound that should be bandaged and protected from dirt while it heals,” says Michael Cowasji of Tattoos by Mike, a parlour in Delhi and Goa.
Do your homework. The pain ranges from mild to significant depending on the size and body part—needle pricks on bones hurt more than on muscles.
Get a patch test done to judge your reaction to pigments. According to experts from the Mayo Clinic, “tattoo dye, particularly red dye, can cause allergic skin reactions like itchy rashes. These may occur years after the tattoo”.
The parlour should be clean and the assistants professionally qualified. The grips and other implements must be sterilized. The needles should be unpacked and unsealed in front of you.
The tattooist must wear gloves and wash his hands with antiseptic before each procedure.
Many tattooists dip their needles directly into the ink bottles, thus transferring the germs into it. Ensure that there’s a fresh tray of pigments before your procedure.
Find out how many needles the artist uses. There are around 23 different needle combinations for drawing and shading. Many start-ups use 1-3 needle combinations, resulting in you spending long hours for a medium-sized design. With the right experience and needle combination, the same tattoo could be done in a few minutes and with less pain.
The needle must not penetrate under the dermis. Keloids are formed when many untrained artists, in an effort to set the ink, dig too deep into the skin, destroying the epidermis and reaching the muscle layer. Stick to a professional artist with a proven track record.
Cowasji insists that you inform your tattooist if you have communicable diseases, are prone to heart attacks, suffer from diabetes or take drugs.
Avoid tattoos around the genitalia, the eyes and the navel due to the risk of trauma and scarring.
