Safety Tips
There is no such thing as totally risk-free piercing or tattooing. Regulations for proper sanitation of facilities and shops that perform piercing vary by state, and there is no guarantee that your health department is consistently checking the safety and practices of these businesses. If you still want to proceed, there are steps you should take to be sure it’s the safest experience. Seek a trained professional, who has plenty of experience and follows “universal precautions,” which include specific sterilization and hygiene techniques. Never use an amateur. This greatly increases the risks. Be sure the professional uses:
- Surgical gloves – Before starting the procedure, the professional should wash his or her hands and put on a new pair of surgical gloves.
- Disposable or single-use equipment for needles, jewelry and tattoo pigment – Watch to be sure the professional removes the needles, pigments and jewelry from a sealed package before using them.
- Sterilized nondisposable instruments – All nondisposable instruments should be properly sterilized with an autoclave, a machine that uses pressurized steam to kill germs. Avoid having ears pierced with a piercing gun unless the part of the gun that touches the skin is sterile and has never been used. Typically, it’s not possible to autoclave these guns, so using them is risky.
- Hypoallergenic piercing jewelry – Because of the risk of an allergic reaction, select hypoallergenic piercing jewelry made of surgical-grade stainless steel, titanium, 14- or 18-karat yellow gold or niobium and make sure it’s free of nickel, white gold and cobalt.
Most states require parental consent before a child younger than 18 can get a piercing, but be forewarned – there are many reports that some places don’t ask for identification or will perform the procedure on adolescents without parental consent.
Next: Caring for Piercings and Tattoos
