I think a tattoo might be a problem as there can be bacteria and chemicals in the ink that you might respond too. But if it's just a small tattoo you want, I'd still go and get it. I think again if you make sure it doesn't get infected, a small tattoo should be ok. I wouldn't get a big one though, or if I really wanted one, I would first get a little bit done. Like have the lines first, and if I reacted to it big time, I'd get the colouring later and just a tiny bit at a time.

the degree to which we're infected affects our ability to heal from injuries of various kinds, surgical or other types of traumatic injuries(think connective type tissues, herniated disks, tendons,ligaments and lifting weight, pressing down on remotes,levers on doors,coffee urns,computer mouse,typing, simply bending down to pick something up,holding a gallon of milk,text books,etc. in hand, walking down a supermarket isle with a gallong of milk/water all stress tendons ligaments, may even break them. healing from port-a-caths(open wound), tooth extractions, piercings, and so on.

hepatitis C from tattoo needles is a hazard; if this is a hazard, what other bacterial, protozoal, and ricketsial organisms are in the air?

tattoo = many puncture wounds = many opportunities for infection.

How compromised is your immune system by TBDS is one question you have to answer before you get any of these things done.

oops! redundant post

If you have a tatoo, you cannot donate blood for a period of time because your risk of disease is so great.

I have a very hard time believing that tatoo places have an autoclave for their instruments.

You also have to think of their "other" clientel. Pick a place and observe their customers for several days. Are these people you would share a needle with??

Unless you are flat chested, I personally dont see the allure of having breast implants. And they can leak. My old aquarium was held together with silicon gel!! It is an industrial substance.

My opinion about piercings have nothing to do with health except for tongue piercings--there is so much bacteria in your mouth.

Every piercing has to do with health - you have to take proper care of it or you will damage your health. That goes just as well for tongue piercings as it does for other kinds, including ear lobes. Actually ear lobe piercing can be very dangerous cause a lot of people have their ears pierced with a piercing gun, which is very unhealthy. It damages a lot of tissue and they're hard desinfect (most aren't).

Tongue piercings heal very very quickly as do some piercings of the genitalia. In fact the most dangerous common piercing* is the belly ring, because it heals very very slowly. If you get a common piercing and take good care of it there's only a small risk of infection.

However, what was said above about sterilization is very important. If you decide to get the tattoo, check the place out thouroughly, make them show you how things are sterilized.

I think it'd be a cool tattoo, too.

ps. The same goes for nail salons. They're also a big risk for hepC if not run properly.

The US is differant than the Netherlands. The constitution gives certain reponsibility to the Federal Gov. Everything else is decided by individual states and/or local authority. Differant states have differant laws.

I dont now how the Netherlands are, but where I live tatoo parlors are in drug infested areas of the city. Places where TB, Hept., and HIV run rampant.

The part of the US that I live is more socially conservative--even a small tatoo is looked down on. It is associated with drugs and disease.

I had breast cancer and getting my breast fixed has always been put on the back burner for obvious health reasons. But now that I'm healthier I care more about how I look. So, it's something I'm considering but wouldn't do it this year.

I'd like to be a walking billboard for lyme disease awareness and a tattoo would be a good conversation starter. I do realize it comes with certain risks if you're not extremely careful. Again, not something I'd do this year but possibly in the future?

"I have spent my hole life trying
not to get pierced or implanted"

Cadaver studies have shown tattoo ink beyond the skin, causing scarring and breakdown in underlying tissue. That combined with the trauma to the skin is enough to make me think twice.

As far as piercing goes, I would want my immune system is optimal condition before I would consider such adornment risks.

Breast reconstruction is as much a mental health issue as a physical one, and I would consult my doctor and my heart.

Tattoos are very normal here, my friend is in the government of the region (like a state, we have 12) and she has a tattoo, at work everyone but some hardcore christians loves it. She's also a lesbian, again, noone minds beside a few christians.

I think that as long as something isn't a big danger to health / safety, accepting it is the safest thing a nation can do. Things aren't secretive over here. I can go buy weed in a short skirt and top, and nothing will happen. Coffeeshops are in nice streets too. Actually, there isn't a street in town I really don't like as far as shops are concerned. Tattoos and piercings are accepted, so clean, nice shops appear. Just because that's what people who want to get pierced want. Being gay is accepted and I've been to every gay bar in town, haven't seen anything dirty or wrong happen anywhere. Actually people are politer than in straight clubs.

I wish more people around the world would just relax and see what things are really like. I guess they fear it will start with these things and get worse. But I for one never get offered hard drugs. I wouldn't even know where to buy them, and I live in a big city. People look down upon hard drugs here, except for a small percentage of people. Like in every country. Being gay is accepted (though we still need a bit of improvement there) but if anyone even suggests liking kids... You'll get in trouble, BIG trouble. We just feel lots of things are your own decision, and as long as you don't hurt anyone, do what you want to do.

That said, there will always be the not so clean ones, here or in the Netherlands. As others have said, check the place out first. Ask them lots of questions.

Go for it!

Since lyme my life is KISS, keep it simple, and I'm still tired and often overwhelmed.

More power to you.

I live in the suburban area of philadelphia, I have two eyebrow piercings, a belly ring, a tongue ring, and a nose ring, and a tattoo that goes along the back of my neck.
I guess you could say I'm a tatooed holy woman! ha ha ha I'm so funny! some of the piercings I've taken out. But the tattoo shops in my area, are not in drug infested areas and are not associated with people who do drugs, or being diseased(my father has a few). I suppose that depends on the people you run with though.

I agree, no matter what the location of the shop, or how well you know the shop owners. Careful consideration should be given when choosing the place. I knew the shop owner that gave me my tattoo, and I STILL asked past tattoo-ees (technical term)
about their experiences, and looked at their ink, and I asked the owner about his autoclave (every shop I visited had one).

I would go back to this guy, and If your considering getting one, check it out ask questions, and ask to see a book ( most artists keep a portfolio of the work they've done on people). Good Luck!!

-Kimmi

Mentally unstable and prone to drug/alcohol abuse???

Hahahahahahahaha!!!

You frighten me.

I hope you come out of that cave you're living in.... I mean geezzzzz. I'm a very socially conservative person but I also have two tattoos (and plan for more)... not all tattoo shops are in the slums and are frequented by drug addicts and prostitutes....

At the CHURCH I attend, many people have tattoos. It's not something that people brazenly display but people don't seem to be overly sensitive about it either.

I really hope you don't think any licensed tattoo shop actually uses the same needle on more than one customer!! Both shops I've been to have been well kept and I observed the needles being taken from sealed packaging.

Biting Back,

If you can find a nice, clean place in your area, get it done. I don't see why you shouldn't. We need to keep on living and not let this stupid disease rule our every decision!!!

I am just telling the situation of where I live. The tatoo shops are located in the worst part of town--areas frequented by prostitutes, drug addicts, sailors from haiti. That is the situation here.

In some states (not a regulation here) they cannot be within 1000 feet of a bar or place of worship. In some states (not the situation here) only a physician can do a tattoo. Some states have no regulation and in some states tattooing is illegal.

What people do in your church is up to them. I am Orthodox so I dont believe in mutilation of the body. That is my choice and it is a valid belief (just differant than yours). It is ok for people to believe differantly.

I didnt say anything about licensed tattoo shops re using needles. But,there are many tattoo parlors that are not licensed.

And just like with food places, licensing does not make any promises. You can have an inmate get a tattoo in prison, get out, and then go to a licensed place on the outside.

The last person I saw with a tattoo was a young girl about 21 who picked up MRSA at a local licensed tattoo parlor. The infection spread under the skin from her arm and to her back. She was hospitalized for 4 weeks, lost skin on the back, and was put on heavy painkillers.

Tj, you are correct about large companies. I dont think so much as mentally unstable. But I have worked in sales for years. The way your present yourself matters.

You are less likely to get a high end job with blue hair, using hand gestures like a gangster, having your underwear showing, ect.

That is life. It might not seem fair, but that is just the way it is.

All I am saying is be careful.

Don't mean to offend you... I just thought you seemed a little bit biased in your view of tattooing. I think almost all shops (licensed or not) use new needles for all customers.