In addition to choosing a body art professional who follows strict hygienic procedures, people can reduce the health risks associated with body piercings and tattooing by following doctors’ recommendations. If a person is taking a blood-thinning medicine, doctors recommend that the person wait until he or she is off the medicine before getting tattooed or pierced. Doctors also recommended that people with congenital heart disease take antibiotics before getting pierced in order to reduce the risk of contracting endocarditis.

If a person is susceptible to dye allergies, he or she can ask the tattoo artist to do a patch test. This involves having a small amount of ink punched under the skin to see how the body reacts. To avoid allergic reactions to piercings, people should make sure that their piercers insert jewelry made only of the highest grade of stainless steel, niobium, or titanium, the least reactive of jewelry metals.

Body piercing and tattoo professionals also stress that another important way to minimize potential health problems is to follow aftercare instructions. Tattoo professionals recommend that a person leave the bandage on the size of the tattoo. After the bandage is removed, they recommend washing the tattoo gently with a soap that is free of deodorants, skin softeners, or other additives; pat the tattoo dry with a soft towel; and apply a coasting of ointment. For the following two weeks, people should not rub, pick, or scratch their new tattoos.

The APP Web site explains how to care for piercings during their healing periods. A person should clean the piercing two to three times daily. The APP recommends that a person first wash his or her hands before cleaning the piercing and then soak the piercing by inverting a cup of warm salin solution over it. Disposable paper products, such as paper towels, are recommended for drying the piercing. During the healing period, the APP recommends that people wear loose clothing over their piercing and keep in the initial jewelry.

By choosing a piercer or tattoo artist who follows strict hygienic procedures and properly following aftercare recommendations, people can greatly reduce their risk of health problems resulting from permanent body art. However, health professionals stress that the health risks of getting tattooed or pierced can never be completely eliminated.

Beyond the health risks directly attributed to tattoos and piercings, several studies suggest a possible connection between permanent body art and other types of risk taking among adolescents. These behaviors range from sexual activity to substance abuse.

In 2001 researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center reported a correlation between teenage risk behavior and tattoos. The following year they linked these behaviors to body piercings. The studies included information from a national sample of 6,072 adolescents that was collected in 1995 and 1996. Youths in the study, who were in junior high or high school, ranged in age from eleven to twenty-one. Overall, about 4.5 percent of the youths had tattoos and piercings, with risk behaviors much more prevalent among those with body art than without. For example, girls with body piercings other than pierced ears were twice as likely as other girls to smoke, skip school, or engage in sexual activity. Pierced girls were also three times more likely to have friends who used drugs or alcohol.

A simply published in 2002 by the Adolescent Medicine Division of the Naval Medical Center San Diego reported similar findings. This study was based on a fifty eight question survey that was offered to teens who came to the center’s adolescent clinic. The survey contained questions about eating behavior, violence, drug abuse, sexual behavior, suicide, tattoos, and body piercings.

The study found that participants with tattoos and/or body piercings were more likely to have engaged in risk taking behaviors, including eating disorders, drug use, sexual activity, and suicide, than those without either. In addition, violence index scores were three times as high in males with tattoos and two times as high in females with body piercings compared with those without tattoos or piercings. Suicide index scores were nearly twice as high in females with tattoos than those without.

Researches are unsure whether the link between tattoos, piercings, and risky behavior exists because teenagers who already engage in risky behavior get tattooed and pierced or if teenagers get tattoos and body piercings and then become engaged in risky behavior. Either way, doctors believe that health professionals who see adolescents should take into consideration whether or not they have tattoos and piercings.

Allergic reactions are also potential danger of tattoos and piercings. Tattoo colors are made by mixing dry pigments with a suspension fluid. More than fifty different pigments and shades are used in tattooing. Tattoo pigments can be made from a variety of materials, ranging from vegetable matter to plastic-based pigments like acrylic. Organic-based tattoo pigments are seldom reactive to human tissue; plastic-based pigments, however, are more likely to cause allergic reactions. There is no governmental oversight of these substances. Although several color additives are approved by the FDA for use in cosmetics, which are applied on the skin, the FDA does not regulate the use of color additives in the practice of tattooing, in which inks are injected into the skin.

Minor allergic reactions to the tattoo dyes typically result in an itchy rash at the tattoo site. More serious reactions included the development of granulomas, nodules that form around material the body perceives as foreign. Severe allergies can result in shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, and fever.

Like tattoo dyes, piercing jewelry can cause allergic reactions. Brass-plated, nickel, and gold jewelry are the most likely types to cause allergic reactions. A piercing allergy often results in a weeping, itchy wound around the piercing. At times the body may react by pushing out the jewelry.

Less dangerous but more common health problems associated with tattooos and body piercings are those that negatively affect one’s appearance. One such problem is keloids, scars that grow beyond nromal boundaries. People with darker pigmentation, such as African Americans and those of Mediterranean descent, have a greater risk of developing keloids. Keloids can develop after the initial tattooing or piercing or later, if the jewelry in apiercing catches on smothing and rips the skin. Often keloids can be removed only by surgery.

Another cosmetic complication is chipped teeth. This complication is specifically associated with oral piercings. Once the tongue is pierced, the jewerly may chip or crack a person’s teeth when he or she is talking or eating. Tongue piercings an also result in more serious health problems.

For example, a person may develop a lisp or have trouble swallowing ue to nerve damage in the tongue. The american Dental Association cites numerous other dangers associated with oral piercings, including the swelling of the tongue from the piercing; choking on studs, barbells, or hoops that come loose in the mouth; and uncontrollable bleeding.

Another danger of tattoos and piercings is that they can adversely affect emergency care. For example, some doctors believe that passing a needle through the pigment of a tattoo may pose a significant health risk, leading to possible neurological complications later on in life. Theoretically, if a needle is passed through a lower-back tattoo, then a pigment-containing tissue core from the tattoo could be deposited into the spaces surrounding the spinal area. Doctors believe it is possible that this could cause long-term problems such as arachnoiditis, a chronic inflammatory process affecting the protective membranes around the brain, spinal cord, and nerve roots. Because of this potential, doctors try to avoid inserting a needle through a tattoo. This can create problems during emergency care, particularly for pregnant women with lower-back tattoos.

Pregnant women often require an epidural anesthesia when they go into labor. This type of anesthesia is injected through the lower back into the lumbar interspace, the space surrounding the membrane that covers the spinal cord. If a woman has a lower-back tattoo, finding a tattoo-free location for the epidural could be difficult or impossible.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a procedure that produces a two-dimensional view of an internal organ or structure, is another medical procedure that can be negatively affected by tattoos. An MRI is often used to diagnose sports related injuries and chronic disease conditions. Some people have experienced burning or swelling in their tattooed areas when they have undergone an MRI. There have also been reports that tattoo pigments have interfered with the quality of the MRI. This has mainly occurred with people who had permanent eyeliner from micropigmentation. The theory is that the metallic components in some of the pigments interact with the MRI.

Like tattoos, body piercings can cause problems during emergency care. For example, oral piercings can result in tongue rips during certain procedures. “The potential for trouble arises in emergency situations when the patient needs to be intubated-that is, have a breathing tube inserted down his or her throat-to receive urgent care,” states Sandra Tunajek, director of practice for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. “A pierced tongue isn’t typically the first thing on the anesthesia provider’s mind while they’re preparing the patient for surgical or some other emergency care. The instrument used to insert the breathing tube may catch on the tongue ring, tearing the tongue or knocking the ring down the patient’s throat.”

Among the most dangerous of piercing infections is endocarditis, a life-threatening infection of the heart valves. People with congenital heart disease who get pierced are particularly susceptible to getting endocarditis. Left untreated, the infection can fatally destroy the heart muscle. A Mayo Clinic study of 445 patients with congenital heart disease found that nearly one out of four of these patients developed endocarditis after getting pierced.

The January 2003 issue of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal stated that doctors are reporting incresing numbers of people developing infectious endocarditis after body piercing. The article included an example of a thirteen year old girl who became seriouslly ill one month after piecing her own navel. She was born with a heart malformation that been surgically corrected when she was tre years old. The girl said that she had removed her piercing after two days because it looked infected. A month later, she went to the doctor after running a fever for three days. Tests revealed that she had an infection in one of her heart’s valves. The girl was treated with heart surgery and antibiotics and realease from the hospital after twenty two days.

In addition to individuals with congenital heart disease, people with medical conditions such as diabetes and hemophilia are at a greater risk than most when getting pierced or tattooed. Diabetics take longer than nondiabetics to heal from cuts. The lengthier healing time increases their chances of getting an infection. While a diabetic’s main risk is infection, the danger for a hemophiiac is that he or she will lose excessive amounts of blood when getting pierced or tattooed. Typically when a person is cut, the blood’s ability to clot heals the wound, but a hemophiliac’s blood does not clot properly. This can result in great blood loss.

Like hemophiliacs, people taking mediciations that thin the blood are at risk of their blood not clotting when cut. Blood-thinning medications can make a person more likely to bleed heavily during and afer the tattoo or piercing process, and to experience excessive scabbing afterward.

Infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms invading the body are another health risk associated with tatttoos and piercings. These infections can occur because the needles open the skin, allowing bacteria to enter the body, and can range from mild to life threatening.

Piercing have a greater tendency than tattoos to become infected. According to a Mayo Clinic article, studies show that up to 30 percent of piercings result in infections. This is because often the piercing result in infections. This is because often the piercing needle goes through flesh, whereas tattoo needles only penetrate the skin. Piercings are also prone to infections because they have long healing times, ranging from six weeks for an earlobe to six months for a navel piercing; because they rub against clothing; and because unsterilized jewerly may harbor bacteria. Navel piercings are among the most common piercings to result in infections because tight-fitting clothing inhibits air circulation, allowing moisture to collect in the piercing.

The American Academy of Dermatology warns people to be careful when getting any form body piercing, except ear piercing, because of possible skin infections. Typical symptoms include redness and swelling of the skin around the area that has been pierced and pus discharging from the piercing. Ointments are often used to cure minor infections.

More serious infections may require antibiotics or surgery and can result in long-lasting effects. For example, nipple piercing infections may affect a woman’s ability to breastfeed. Infections in the upper ear can also be very serious. Upper-ear cartilage does not have its own blood supply, so taking antibiotics is often ineffective because drugs cannot travel to the infection site. Upper-ear skin infections may require surgical drainage of pus. The most serious of these infections can permanently deform the ear.

HIV and AIDS are not the only potential health risks associated with piercings and tattoos. “The primary fear most people express about getting tattooed or pierced is that they may contract the HIV virus, which may cause AIDS,” writes Jean-Chris Miller, author of The Body Art Book. “HIV is only one of many viruses that can be transmitted. Syphilis, tuberculosis, strep, staph, and hepatitis are just a few of the other diseases to take into consideration.” In particular, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are among the most serious diseases that can result from shared needles.

Hepatitis B can cause lifelong infenction, cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver cancer, liver failure, and death. Like those of AIDS, hepatitis B symptoms are treatable, but there is no known cure. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, there have been cases of hepatitis B being transmitted through tattooing.

A recent study by a former Centers of Disease Control (CDC) researcher also suggests that getting a tattoo can significantly increase a person’s chances of getting hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is an incurable disease that is transmitted through blood. It is a viral infection of the liver that often leads to fatal liver disease. “People who had do-it-yourself tattoos have a three times greater risk for hepatitis C than people without tattoos, and people tattooed in jail have an even higher risk. But the greatest risk comes from commercial tattoo parlors,” states Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “People who get tattoos at commercial tattoo parlors have a nine times greater risk.” Haley’s risk calculations are based on a study of over 600 people who were patients at a spine clinic in the early 1990s. His evaluation included information about lifestyle risk factors and blood tests. Haley found that out of 113 patients who had at least one tattoo, 22 percent tested positive for hepatitis C. Only 3.5 percent of the patients with no tattoos had hepatitis C.

Physicians recommended that before getting a tattoo or piercing, people need to understand the potential health issues associated with body art. Getting pierced or tattooed can result in both minor and major health problems. By understanding what these risks are, people can take precautions to prevent or reduce them.

The most dangerous health risk associated with permanent body art is getting infected with a bloodborne disease, a disease that is passed by contamination of blood. This happens if the tattoo needle or piercing who has a disease. Pathogens, disease-causing organisms, can live in dried blood for several days and in liquid blood for even longer. An individual receiveing a tattooo or piercing can come into contact with a pathogen if the equipment used has not been sterelized since its last use. Because of the risk, the American Red Cross requires that people wait a year after getting a tattoo to donate blood. The Red Cross also requires that people wait to donate blood for a year after they are pierced if they are unsure whether sterile needles were used during the piercing.

The most feared bloodborn diseas is HIV. HIV is a mutating retrovirus that attacks the human immune system and has been shown to cuase acquired immunodefiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS results in the progressive descrution of a person’s immune system, eventually leaving him or her unable to fight off colds and infenctions. Many AIDS symptops are treatable, but the disease itself is incurable and leads to death. To date, there have been no documented cases of tattooing or piercing resulting in HIV, but people fear this because the possibilit exists.