Though tattoos are sometimes associated with rebellion, yet more and more Americans are getting them. According to a study, about 23 percent of Americans have a tattoo and 32 percent of people aged 30-45 have at least one tattoo on their body. However, if you decided to get a tattoo, here are some important things you should know before entering a tattoo studio!
Choose the right tattoo studio
If you are considering getting a tattoo, think carefully and choose a good tattoo studio. Do your research and inquire about sterile conditions, the protection of clients, changing needles for tattooing and check out their best tattoo designs. Don’t forget to ask whether you have the right to come back to the studio to fix the tattoo for free, if it didn’t come out the way you wanted.
Tattoo safety tips
- The night before tattooing, you shouldn’t drink alcohol or take any medication, especially not aspirin because it can thin your blood.
- Don’t get tattooed when you’re sick.
- Observe whether all tattoo needles are removed from sealed sterile packages.
- Make sure the hands of the tattoo artist are protected with rubber gloves.
- Ask the tattoo studio to provide you a list of the specific pigments that are used in making your tattoos, including the color and manufacturers.
- After tattooing, follow the instructions carefully in order to avoid risk of infection.
Tattoo health risks
Infection is a risk that accompanies any form of tattoo. More serious infections that are possible are HIV and various forms of hepatitis and other infections include MRSA or some other form of inflammation of the deep layers of the skin. Allergic reaction is also one of the possible dangers of tattooing. Tissue injury and inflammatory reactions to dyes or metals are somewhat rare side effects, but in any case if you think that there’s something wrong, you should quickly contact a dermatologist.
Tattoo removal
The process of removing a tattoo is long, painful and expensive, but it can be very successful with simple, black tattoos. However, it is often impossible to regain the old color or quality of the skin on that area. Today, laser is the most common method of tattoo removal.
Immediately after the tattoo removal procedure, the skin may turn white, and it takes some time to normalize the skin’s appearance. When removing tattoos, there are also some possible allergic reactions, because the lasers break up the pigments of the tattoos. The scars are still one of the major problems that remain after the removal of tattoos, especially in those procedures where it is almost impossible to remove a tattoo, because of its depth and the amount of color.
