Piercings and Inkings

Inkings (tattoos) and piercings of various body parts come in and out of fashion. But they both carry health risks. And they are usually permanent.

Tattoos:

• Blood poisoning, hepatitis and other diseases can be spread by unsterilised equipment.
• Newer laser tattoo removal techniques can tone down and sometimes eliminate a tattoo with minimal side effects. They break up the pigment colors of the tattoo with a high-intensity light beam. Black tattoo pigment absorbs all laser wavelengths, making it the easiest to treat. Other colors can only be treated by selected lasers based upon the pigment color.
• Tattoo removal is not cheap. There is also the risk of scarring, and the treated areas may end up lighter than the surrounding skin. Check the dermatologist is properly qualified.

Body piercings:

• Can introduce infections, cause bruising, swelling, an allergic reaction or blood poisoning.
• If a blood vessels is pierced and bleeds, you can end up with the type of ear a rugby player has.
• Multiple piercings (such as the 2015 trend around the edge of the ear) leave permanent scarring where the holes later heal over, or dangling skin if very heavy earrings are often worn or very large earings have been inserted.