27 Can I Get Aids From Tattooing?
Description
This article is from the Tattoo FAQ, by Stan Schwarz with numerous contributions by others.
27 Can I Get Aids From Tattooing?
IMPORTANT NOTE: This section refers to tattooing specifically, and not
to other forms of bodyart. Some, such as piercing and cutting, require
the breaking of the client's skin to a deeper level than what is
achieved with a modern tattoo machine.
This section on AIDS & Tattooing has been contributed by Nick
"Buccaneer" Baban, who studied at the Univ. of Michigan School of
Public Health, Dept. of Epidemiology. He spent the summer researching
AIDS and IV drug use in NYC. "I'm not an expert, but I consider myself
knowledgable. Any furthur questions about AIDS can be e-mailed to me."
<Sadly, Nick has dropped off the net, so I don't have a current address for
him. Still, his information is still good.>
Obviously there is some concern about AIDS and tattooing because when
you get a tattoo, you bleed. But the mechanism of transmission needs to
be better understood.
AIDS is transmitted by intimate contact with bodily fluids, blood and
semen being the most comon. Intimate contact means that the fluid
carrying the AIDS virus (HIV) enters into your system.
Injection drug users (IDUs) use hollow medical syringes and needles to
inject drugs directly into their bloodstream. It is common practice to
withdraw a little blood back into the syringe to delay the onset of the
high. When needles are passed from IDU to IDU and reused without
sterilization, some of that blood remains in the syringe and is passed
on to the next user. If infected blood is passed, the recipient can
become infected with HIV, which leads to AIDS.
Tattooing is VERY different from injecting drugs. The needles used in
tattooing are not hollow. They do, however, travel back and forth
through a hollow tube that acts as an ink reservoir. The tip of the tube
is dipped into the ink, which draws a little into the tube. As the
needle withdraws into the tube, it gets coated with ink. When it comes
forward, it pierces your skin and deposits the ink. You then bleed a
little through the needle hole. This happens several hundred times a
second.
You are only at risk of infection if you come in contact with infected
blood. Since it is only *your* skin that is being pierced during the
tattooing process, only *your* blood is being exposed. This means that
the only person at greater risk is the artist, because s/he is the only
one coming in contact with someone else's (potentially infected) blood.
This is why reputable (and sane) tattoo artist wears surgical gloves
while working.
Another source of infection is through the use of infected tools. *This
is why it is IMPERATIVE that you make sure your tattoo artist uses
sterile equipment.* Needles and tubes need to be autoclaved before EACH
AND EVERY time they are used. Ink should come from separate cups and not
directly from the bottle. Any leftover ink should be disposed of and not
reused under ANY circumstances.
The key to HIV transmission is *transfer of bodily fluids.* Evidence
indicates that infection may require a (relatively) substantial ammount
of fluid to be passed. A pin prick almost certainly won't do it. HIV is
also a very fragile virus that cannot survive long outside the human
body, and is very easy to kill via autoclaving. (I have heard of using
bleach to sterilize needles. While bleach is an effective HIV killer,
I'm not sure of the procedures for cleaning the equipment after bleach
cleaning. As I personally have no desire to have bleach put under my
skin, I go with autoclaving as the proper way to sterilize).
If your tattooer maintains sterile conditions and proceedures, there is
almost no risk of infection. I say "almost" because any risk, no matter
how miniscule, is still a risk and must be recognized. That said, I am
the proud owner of a Jolly Roger tattoo on my right shoulder because I
knew my tattooist and knew he had sterile conditions.
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