On my part, it would be quite hypocritical to convince you that tattoos will harm your health, infect or kill, since I myself have more than one on my body, and I understand how harmless this process is, if done correctly. A tattoo is a cross between a cosmetic procedure and a medical operation: using a needle, pigment is injected under the skin and remains there forever. Therefore, it is worth paying due attention to the risks associated with this process.
If I managed to intimidate or alert you, then I’ll make a reservation right away: most of the risks that will be discussed in this article are reduced to zero if you choose experienced craftsman or a good tattoo parlor. But let's talk about everything in order.
Allergy
The main thing to be wary of before getting a tattoo is an allergic reaction to the pigment. I will say on my own behalf – I am an experienced allergy sufferer, but my body is extremely predisposed to tattoos. As a rule, if you have an allergy, it will be clear almost from the very beginning of the process. Modern paint, which is used in good tattoo parlors, is usually absolutely harmless and hypoallergenic. Therefore, only someone who gets a tattoo from a sleazy friend with a homemade machine for a bottle of beer should be very worried about this.
Infection
If unwanted particles come into contact with an open wound, it causes infection and contamination. The needle will certainly cause some damage to the skin and as a result, dirt or dust can actually get onto the surface, leading to unpleasant consequences. This risk is completely mitigated if:
- Needles, containers with pigment and all equipment used in the process are completely sterile;
- Objects located near the tattoo area (corners of furniture, chair, etc.) are wrapped in cling film;
- The premises are properly maintained: wet cleaning, compliance with sanitary standards, insect prevention, air conditioning;
- The tattoo artist maintains hygiene: gloves, hair tied up, clothes that don’t get dirty.
Improper healing
This problem is perhaps the most common in modern practice. It is extremely rare that a tattoo is in the process of healing, albeit as a result of a violation necessary rules, brings its owner something other than discomfort. Nevertheless, proper care for skin damaged as a result of tattooing is extremely important.
Now let's list the possible consequences:
- Infection as a result of premature contact with clothing and bacteria entering inflamed skin.
- Inflammation as a result of rubbing with synthetic or woolen fabric until the skin is completely restored.
- Welts and scars as a result of scratching and picking at the crust that forms at the tattoo site.
- Mechanical damage, scratches on the tattoo area.
- Fading of paint as a result of significant exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
- Slow or painful healing due to weakened immunity (illness, alcohol, poor diet).
All this can be easily avoided by following the simple recommendations that we wrote about in the next article. I would like to add that the most important and the most dangerous risk for any tattoo owner is poor quality work. It is the bad choice of the artist or the ill-conceived idea of a tattoo picture that often serves as the main reasons for disappointment.
So that you understand what we are talking about, below are works that it is difficult to be proud of, both for those who were the authors of the ideas and for the artists who had a hand in their implementation. Take a responsible approach to choosing a tattoo artist, follow simple rules, and enjoy the excellent results of your work!
The first thing you need to find out is what brand of paint is used. Often cheap paints can be used more harmful components, and are also more dispersive, which does not contribute to fast healing. Often, modern tattoo inks use components such as oxides of iron, copper, etc. Polymer particles can also be used. It is the presence of these components that scares people. First, let's take a closer look at the composition of primary color paints.
- Black - quality black paint is made from organic raw materials. Most often it is soot (amorphous carbon). Formed by burning wood, bones, etc. The most important source of black pigment is logwood, which is very expensive. Cheaper black paints are made from iron oxide and magnetite crystals.
- Red - the safest way to produce red pigment is to use naphthol, synthesized from naphtha. Then there is the option of using iron oxides (rust) and the most toxic method is the use of cinnabar and cadmium.
- The orange pigment is also created on the basis of cadmium; an alternative is iron sulfide. Organic ink has good stability.
- Yellow - as a raw material for yellow color use organic or inorganic compounds. Turmeric (plant), ocher, chromium oxide. Brighter paints contain more pigment and therefore carry more risk.
- Green - this color pigment is obtained using chromium oxide, lead chromate or crushed malachite. It happens when green color form a mixture of yellow and blue pigments.
- Blue - the main raw materials are cobalt oxide and lapis lazuli. Preference should be given to various copper compounds. They are stable and safer.
- Purple - this mysterious color is produced from manganese pyrophosphate and aluminum salts. The main disadvantage is poor light resistance.
- White - the raw materials for the production of white are compounds such as zinc oxide, barium sulfate, lead carbonate, etc. Pigments based on titanium oxide are also used.
As you can see, almost all paints use pigments based on oxides of various metals. How harmful can the use of such tattoo inks be to health? 
The sludge of a tattoo machine carries the paint into the skin to a depth of about 3 mm, into the dermis. The pigment remains in this layer of skin for decades. This means that a minimal amount of the substance enters the bloodstream, otherwise the tattoos would wash out much faster. You can consider the amount of substance entering the blood so minimal that you don’t think about any serious consequences from tattoos. Although it is impossible to completely deny possible harm.
How to reduce possible harm from pigments.
If you are getting a tattoo for the first time, you should not suddenly start painting over large volumes. Make one small tattoo first, even if you are planning to get a large tattoo on the whole body, it can be applied in parts with breaks. This will allow the body to adapt and develop an immune response to foreign substances. There is an opinion that tattoos make the immune system stronger over time. Since the body, thanks to foreign pigments, is always on alert.
Only get tattoos when good salons, where they don’t save on good colors and needles.
Pay special attention to hygiene. It is important that the room is clean, the instruments are sterile, and the technician is experienced. Since the harm from infection is much greater than the potential effect from the composition of the paints.
Worry less.People have been doing tattoos for a long time, sometimes even on the whole body, and as we see, they are alive and healthy. Much more harm is caused to us by exhaust fumes from cars, poor diet and various drugs, from mild ones such as caffeine to the most sophisticated and difficult options. So, most likely you have points on which you can improve your health. Tattoos, of course, won’t add to it, but the harm from them is so low that it’s not worth worrying about this problem.
As a last resort, if you are still seriously concerned about the harm from a tattoo, but your soul still asks. No one is forcing you to fill up your entire body. You can choose such as geometry or minimalism, where the amount of paint will be minimal, and at the same time the drawing can be quite interesting and beautiful.
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Indeed, the most a large number of health problems in connection with tattoos were registered when “tattoos” were customary to be done almost in the gateway: the “craftsman” tied several needles and, using ink, ink and other non-special pigments, drew a crooked design, which then necessarily faded and turned in God knows what. But before this, the tattoo almost always became inflamed and caused its owner a lot of unpleasant moments; and some were completely “lucky”: introducing an infection or virus into the human body during the process of tattooing is as easy as shelling pears.
Nowadays tattoos are much more common, so those who want to have a choice: trust an amateur or go to a professional who has a tattoo machine that allows you to inject pigment under the skin to the same depth, disposable needles, the possibility of complete sterilization, high-quality pigment and disinfection products. But this does not mean at all that a tattoo, even one made in such conditions, is completely safe and not harmful to your health. What can threaten your health during and after getting a tattoo?
Danger of infection. As already mentioned, the risk of infection is high only if you get a tattoo from a tattoo artist at home or even from an amateur. But even when going to a salon, where “everything is decent,” it doesn’t hurt to make sure that when working with you, the master uses disposable needles and carefully sterilizes all the instruments. It is important that everything in the work is either new or sterile, right down to the napkins. But even in such conditions, there is always a possibility of infection, because a tattoo is essentially a violation of the integrity of the skin. Theoretically, in the process of getting a tattoo, you can become infected with anything - from AIDS to hepatitis.
Allergic reaction. Modern tattoo pigments are not nearly as allergenic as they used to be, when an allergic reaction occurred in a third of cases. But even now pigment differs from pigment: cheap and not particularly high-quality pigment with more likely may cause allergic reaction, so don’t save money and be sure to ask the master what pigment he uses, whether there is a certificate for it, or any quality guarantees. Modern expensive pigments are the least allergenic and often boast a certificate confirming that they have passed laboratory research and have been found to be safe for health.
Complications during the healing process. Immediately after application, the tattoo is one continuous wound that heals over a fairly long period of time - up to several months. Firstly, you need to very carefully follow all the recommendations given by the specialist after application. Secondly, you need to be very careful during this period: protect your body from contact with sources of infections, protect the tattoo area from mechanical damage, etc. The risk of inflammation during this period is quite high!
Possible complications further. After you get a tattoo, the skin underneath is no longer the same: it contains pigment, and the skin often becomes more sensitive to all kinds of irritants. For example, tattooed skin may not tolerate tanning well and become inflamed when trying to lie under the sun; An unexpected and unpleasant reaction of the tattooed skin to certain cosmetic preparations may also occur. And such cosmetic procedures, as a peeling, and are not at all recommended for areas of skin with tattoos.
Permanent makeup
Permanent makeup is the application of tattoo lines that imitate makeup. They are applied to the eyelids, eyebrows and lips (this can be a contour or a complete shade of the surface of the lips). Since permanent makeup is mainly applied to mucous membranes and is done rather superficially, tattooing is not “eternal”. As a rule, permanent makeup gradually fades after 3-5 years. Harm permanent makeup coincides with the harm of tattoos in general; To this you can add the danger of getting an overly noticeable or sloppy result (which you will be flaunting for the next 5 years), as well as a special one. It is known that after permanent makeup, the skin on the eyelids and lips often becomes excessively dry and sensitive. Tattoo removal
If you have a tattoo that you just can't put up with, you can try to remove it. The modern beauty industry offers several methods (mechanical, chemical, laser removal), but in reality it is extremely difficult to remove a permanent deep tattoo: you may be left with scars or faint traces of the design. The skin remains severely damaged, takes a long time to heal, and in the future you are guaranteed to have to seriously work on it to make it relatively healthy. This is another argument in favor of thinking very carefully about the consequences before getting a tattoo!Decorating leather with various designs and ornaments has been known since ancient times and is popular among many peoples. To this day, people from different age and social groups people strive to get temporary or permanent tattoos for various purposes: some want to express their position in life, for others a design on the skin has a sacred meaning. There are also categories of people who come to tattoo parlors following the call of fashion.
Despite the fact that many people have tattoos, this does not mean that getting them on yourself is absolutely safe activity. Improper care of tattoos or failure to comply with medical safety precautions when applying can lead to irreversible consequences for a person’s physical health.
What types of tattoos are there?
There are several ways to apply different designs to the skin:
note
It is the classic way of drawing a picture on skin covering considered the most dangerous to human health.
Why is tattooing considered dangerous?
The main problem does not arise in the actual introduction of paint under the skin, which, of course, requires dexterity and precision from the master. Most of the calls to medical specialists after visiting a tattoo parlor are related to the consequences of improper care of the design and non-compliance with safety precautions when applying it.
The fact is that the equipment for applying a tattoo should be as clean as possible and treated with antiseptics. The master's needles and gloves must be disposable, and the paint must be strictly certified. Highly qualified craftsmen must subject the equipment to ultrasonic or ultraviolet treatment (quartz treatment) after each session.
You should not save on tattoos and use the services of salons with a bad reputation or unknown tattoo parlors. The salon and the craftsmen working in it must have special certificates and identifications confirming their right to carry out this activity.
Besides a tattoo should be treated very carefully, like a healing burn. Sometimes it causes severe trauma to the skin, so you will have to wear a sterile bandage for almost the entire healing period, as well as regularly treat the pattern with antiseptics and healing ointments (Pandenol-D, Bepanten Plus). Gradually, as the tattoo heals, it will become covered with crusts or exudate, so you will have to blot it for some time and seek advice from a dermatologist.
If this is not done, an incorrect regeneration process can not only deform the drawing, remove paint and negate all the discomfort experienced, but also lead to tissue decomposition, trophic ulcers and eczema.
The paint of the design eats quite tightly into the skin cells. It is believed that, if the area of application allows, it is easier to replace a tattoo with a new one than to remove it.
The process of removing a drawing is no less painful than applying it. The colored layers of skin are cut off using a laser. Often after such a procedure they remain.
Why are tattoos dangerous?
Despite the fact that drawing a picture on the skin is a fairly fashionable and popular way to decorate oneself, many, having learned about the consequences of incorrectly performing the procedure, as well as about long-term healing, refuse the idea of drawing something on their skin.
Most often, those who decide to get a tattoo are stopped by the following factors:
A spectacular image on the skin is not only a way of self-expression, but also a big risk, so it is worth consulting with specialists in salons and dermatologists before deciding to deeply print a design into the skin.
How to Reduce Health Risks When Getting Tattoos
In order to reduce the risk of unpleasant side effects and serious skin pathologies to a minimum, you must adhere to fairly simple rules:
Despite the fact that a tattoo is considered not only a painful, but also a dangerous way of self-expression, the right approach to its application and proper care during healing will help minimize risks and enjoy beautiful pattern on the skin.
