Tattoo Inks May Present A Greater Risk Than You Think

Recently I have been required me to get a real crash course in the body art world. As I have mentioned on many occasions I am not hostile to tattoos I simply rather individuals to acquire educated on the subject matter before submitting to such a lasting procedure. And then if they decide they no longer would like the body art I think they ought to be able to remove it for a minimum cost and no pain if at all possible.

I have so much information on body art inks that it would take several posts to include it all. First and foremost I will say that from a chemistry perspective body art inks are not inks at all, they are pigments inside a carrier solution. Huh? Simply put, it is kind of like adding together water to finger paints. However, in this situation the pigments are typically metal, plastic, or else vegetable based while the carrier portion is more than likely some alcohol solution.

There are two considerations, the first is the possible toxic nature of the 'inks' and the other is the fact that there is no regulation of ink structure. While your tattoo design artist is a dynamic artist, he/she is probably no a chemist. You should be concerned at this time since many body art artists mix their own inks. Is this occurring in a sterile atmosphere? Highly improbable.

It would seem that many additional people would come down with illnesses correlated to tattoos but it clearly does not seem to be that big of a deal. Well consider this, the human body is tough on many levels and does a pretty high-quality job of keeping us healthy. Still the subject here is the prolonged exposure to the polluted or toxic components of body art inks. So what happens in year 5, 10, or 20? As for the new wave of body art enthusiasts it may be too soon to ascertain. A few have found out the hard way that they are in fact allergic to materials in the inks. What do you do when you are allergic to something that is under the skin. Even the process of removal has the ability to make you even sicker as the inks are now passed through the lymph node structure and expelled...

There will be a much more in depth articles on body art inks forthcoming but I would persuade you to have a discussion to your tattoo artists about the inks they use and where they come from. Ask them about the location where they are stored and if there is a standard for sterilization.

Perhaps this is a further reason tattoo removal is on the rise like never before.

Author: J. Anthony ThompSon