People thinking about getting a tattoo or body piercing should make sure they go to a reputable tattoo artist who keeps a clean studio in compliance with Health Department requirements, so they don’t get exposed to infectious diseases, including the
People thinking about getting a tattoo or body piercing should make sure they go to a reputable tattoo artist who keeps a clean studio in compliance with Health Department requirements, so they don’t get exposed to infectious diseases, including the blood-transferred hepatitis C, or HCV.
But tattooing and body piercing most always poses a higher risk to the person wielding the needle than the one on the receiving end.
“We do prevention activities by regulating tattoo businesses, requiring artists to have a license and requiring them to work in a licensed facility,” said Jo Manea, Health Department epidemiology specialist.
“I don’t think any professional tattooists would reuse a needle; I don’t know any who would, even if they were asked,” said Andrea Bachtell, a tattooist at Blue Kauai Tattoo in Hanalei, “I take the same precautions for everybody,” she insisted.
In Hawai’i, tattoo artists must be free from all communicable diseases. They must also pass a test on microbiology and studio operating procedures. Licensed tattoo artists can practice only in licensed studios, which are inspected once a year for sanitation and operating standards.
“You have to treat everybody the same, like they’ve got something they’re going to give you,” said Moon Lake, tattoo artist and owner of Mana Ink Tattoo in Kapa’a. His customers have to sign a release form stating they don’t have hepatitis. Batchell said that clients may not know if they have something, or don’t want to disclose it.
Lake said that responsible studios will take precautions to keep blood and body fluids from contaminating anything. Mana Ink transfers ink to small disposable bottles for each tattoo. Plastic bags or sheets cover equipment and surfaces that could be touched by the client or tattooist. Tattoo and piercing needles are single-use, and all needles, tattooing and piercing equipment are sterilized before and after use in an autoclave to ensure safety. An autoclave kills bacteria with steam heating and pressure.
Both Lake and Nakao said they want to educate people about safe and quality tattoo work. They say “backyarding” is a major way HCV gets spread. In Hawai’i, a person must be 18 or have parental consent to get tattooed legally. But teens who get tattooed unsafely with shared homemade needles heated by cigarette lighters for “sterilization,” are at a high risk for contracting diseases, including HCV.
There are more young people with tattoos in Hawai’i than most other states, according to the Hepatitis C World Foundation. Most people in Hawai’i don’t know if they are infected with HCV, according to the foundation.
“When you have to go to the doctor or get a surgery, you don’t go looking for the cheapest one; a guy who’ll do it in his backyard. You want quality … It’s an industry that should be regulated; people need to be educated,” Nakao said.
The state Department of Health does not offer HCV testing. Diagnostic Laboratory Services Inc. at Kuhio Medical Center offers HCV antibody screening, offering non-insured patients a 50 percent discount off the regularly-priced $60 screening.
Manea said the department is not planning any education/awareness campaigns, even though hepatitis C affects about 20,000 people in Hawai’i.
Television star Pamela Anderson said last week that she contracted hepatitis C after sharing a used tattoo needle with her ex-husband Tommy Lee. She joins the four million Americans and 20,000 Hawai’i residents living with the disease today, though less than 1 percent of them claim to have tattoos, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control.
Hepatitis C is a disorder that causes inflammation of the liver. Almost four million Americans have HCV, and about 75 percent develop chronic infection. HCV accounts for 30 percent of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and liver cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Hepatitis C doesn’t show symptoms in 80 percent of those infected. The best way to prevent getting HCV is to avoid exposure to blood, and take care not to use anything that could come into contact with other people’s blood, including razors, needles, scissors and toothbrushes. For more information about HCV, call the state Health Department epidemiologist at 241-3563 or access the CDC Web site at .
