I did some casual research a few years ago when I was the "House LC" for
an "on-the-edge" online mother's BB. Many of the mothers were tatooed as
well as pierced. Most of them were or had breastfed their children.
Although I don't have all the documentation I once had, some of the basics
are still rememberered.
I did a survey, which was answered by the women themselves.
Hep seemed to be much more common in those who engaged in other "high risk"
behaviors, such as multiple sex partners, IV drug use and those who had
been encarcerated (most of the "incarcerated" women had actually been in
Juvenile Detnetion Homes or Foster Homes with a large number of people, not
actual Prisons.) Also, the sex parters of those who had these risk factors
were at higher risk for disease. Prison or homemade tatoos tended to have a
higher rate of immediate infections, as well as Hep and other blood born
diseases. (People tend to do Home made tattoos in groups, where the same
instruments and ink pots (or ball point pens) are used, and proper
sterilization tecniques are simply not observed.)
Those who did NOT engage in other high risk behaviors did not seem to have
a higher risk of Hep ect than the general population of unadorned women.
Two of the women on the group were professional piercers, and they
maintaied that the "guns" used by Jewelry Stores and Boutiqies were more
dangerous than safer needle piercing in Tattoo Salons, as the "guns"
contained plastic, could not be autoclaved properly (and rarely were, most
were simply rinsed with alcohol or an other antiinfective) and often pieces
of human tissue were pushed behind the "earring back" mecahism of the gun,
increasing the threat to infection subsequent users. These women maintained
that piercing and tatooing should ONLY be done by those well trained in the
Art (something most part time workers at Jewelry Boutiques are not)
It is beleived that the ink in Body Art does not get into the blood if the
tattoo is done properly. Many homemade or prison tatoos often go too deep,
increasing many complications. Professional tatoos are usually much more
consistant and tattoo much shallower.
This survey was done casually, but the women who participated seemed to be
honest with their answers, as far as they were aware. The reports of
infection or complication, or lack of them, were not able to be tested
indepenently, obviously. All the data was self reported.
It appears that although some studies appear to link Body Art with
increased infection (including several forms of Hep,) other factors need to
be investigated in order to distuinguish whether it is the actual Body Art,
the tecnique used in tattooing or piercing or other personal and lifestyle
factors which increase blood born and other infection rates.
Most of the women in my survery, however, still decided to not tattoo or
pierce while nursing young babies.
The survey was terminated prematurely when the BB crashed and subsequently
was closed down.
Almost all of the published data on Tatooing and disease has been done on
males, and there has been no adjustments for lifestyle, method of tatooing
or other factors which could influence the results of infection
development.
This is a bit off topic, but I hope the raw info can be of some help to
those working with women who choose Body Art for thier lives. I am hoping
to reinstate this survey with an other group of people I am currently
working with online, many of whom are Body Art users.
Mary Jozwiak IBCLC, RLC, LLLL, AAPL
Private Practice
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