8-19-08    i'm going to use this space as an ongoing information site to inform prospective and existing tattoo and body piercing clients of several safety and health issues regarding the body modification business in the nrv area.  first of all, i'll address the existing situation of tattooists and body piercers who are working without a license in both the blacksburg and radford areas.  let me clarify, first of all, that the individual shops may have an operating license, but many of the artists and piercers do not.  reported by several licensed artists that have worked in both blacksburg and radford, there are three shops in the nrv area in which no artist or piercer is legally licensed to practice in the state of virginia. 

remember, in virginia, an individual tattoo artist or piercers license must be displayed in the shop in which the individual is working.  however, it is easy to counterfeit an expired license and change both the name and expiration date.  in addition, an artist can tell the prospective client that his name is the name on the license when it is not.  any tattoo artist or piercer licensed in the state of virginia can be verified by logging on to the department of professional  and occupational regulation's website.  go to:  www.dpor.virginia.gov  - go to "licensing and regulation" - then click "license lookup" and type in the individuals name and check the box for their particular profession (tattooist or piercer).  remember to check the box that says "tattooing individuals" or "piercing individuals".

at this point, the thoughtful person is asking themselves, how and why is this situation being allowed to exist?  all the legitimate and licensed artists in the nrv area have been asking themselves the same question for several years.  as i'll descrbe within the next few paragraphs,  the situation is clearly a public health threat of a serious magnitude.  the threat can literally be life threatening since an unlicensed tattooist or piercer has absolutely no training in the prevention of blood borne pathogens and cross contamination.  think hepatitis and methicillin resistant staph aureus.   the agency entrusted with the protection of public health regarding licensing issues is the "department of professional and occupational regulation".  they have recieved multiple complaints from different people, both by phone and in writing over the past year, and there has been no effective response.

this  issue will eventually work itself out one way or the other.  in the meantime, i'll endeavor over the next few days, to describe how the prospective tattoo or body piercing client can take steps to protect their own safety.   we'll talk about the most useless question to ask a tattoo artist or body percer - "is everything clean?"   then we'll go on to learn what you can ask, and observe, to protect yourself.  i'll give you a tantalizing hint.  it's not, "do you use autoclave sterilization?" 

i'm looking forward to it.

saint john rowan

8-20-08   as promised, i'll try and share a little more information as i become aware of safety issues in the nrv area regarding tattooing and piercing.  brought to my attention today by one of our local artists,  there is an area  tattoo and piercing shop that not only has a staff of unlicensed and untrained tattooists and piercers, the shop itself does not  have a tattoo or body piercing business license or permit to operate.  this information is confirmed by the department of occupational and professional regulation.  now is a good time to begin broaching some of the specific issues that can threaten one's safety by unlicensed and unprofessional shops.  let's talk about the necessity of having a seperate biohazard room.  this is a room dedicated solely to scrubbing and preparing instruments that have been contaminated during the tattooing or piercing process.  whether legally mandated or not, this room is absolutely imperative, as we will see.  ideally, whenever possible, an artist will use disposable one-time use instruments.  unfortunately, due to expense, disposables are not always an option.  at this time i'll let you in on one of the darkest secrets of virginia tattoo and body piercing statutes, or lack thereof.   as unbelievable as it may seem, a separate bio-hazard, or dirty utility prep room is not legally mandated in the state of viirginia.  how does this tie in with shops that are unlicensed as a business, or are staffed by unlicensed personnel.  well, if a shop owners standards are so low that they can't be bothered to obtain the minimum  safety training required for an operators license, or the individual artists have not undergone the minmum requirement for their licenses, then what are the chances that there is a seperate biohazard room in the establishment?  it costs several thousand dollars  to build, so it's unlikely that artists with low standards will bother to go to the expense.  so where are they cleaning and prepping the contaminated instruments prior to steriliztaion?  would it make you sick  to learn that this was being done in the public restrooms in some area shops?  picture a woman who has unknowingly set her purse and cosmetics down in the aforementioned restroom.  lipstick, comb, toothbrush, etc., all contaminated by the disgusting practice of washing out tattoo tubes and piercing instruments in the public restroom.  don't believe it?  it happens every day in the roanoke and new river valleys. walk into each area tattoo shop and ask to see their seperate bio-hazard or dirty utility room.  we're  proud to show you ours.  we have a great deal of money and time invested in it.  you should clearly see a completely enclosed room with running water, autoclave bags, cleaning instruments, and an ultrasonic cleaner.  there should not be any other supplies stored in the dirty utility prep room, especially bandages, inks, soaps, paper towels, gloves or any equiptment that is used in the tattoo or body piercing procedures.  this helps to prevent cross contamination.  there should be no autoclave sterilizer in this room.  the sterlizer should be seperate and apart from the dirty utility prep room and the tattoo and piercing procedure rooms.   this helps prevent cross contamination.   if shop personnel appear nervous or ill at ease when asked where their dirty utility prep room is, that's your cue that something is wrong.  if a dirty utility prep room is on premises, that's a favorable sign that your safety may be a priority in that studio,  as we shall see, it's not a guarantee, but it is a favorable sign.  in the next few days, we'll examine some other methods that can help to assure your peace of mind and safety.  it's clear that state health and licensing authorities can't be depended on, so it's up to you and me.

agree or disagree, feel free to drop me a line from my web site.  click "contact us"

your friend,

saint john rowan

8-23-08   O.K., another method I recommend to assure your safety, is to be aware of the qualifications that a tattooist or piercer has before you allow them to perform a procedure on you.  It's as simple as doing a search on the Department of Occupational and Professional Regulation's license lookup site as to whether a tattooist or piercer is licensed or not.  Next installment I write, we'll speak about even more specifics that can help everyone get a safe tattoo or piercing.

Later,

Saint John Rowan

9-01-08  It's been several weeks since quite a few people (both artists and clients) have made formal complaints to Virginia's DPOR regarding unlicensed and untrained tattooists and piercers plying their trade in the New River Valley area. It's still business as usual and nothing has changed. Whatever the good intentions of state authorities entrusted with the public health, they are so far unable to do anything to protect the public from tattooists and piercers who aren't licensed by the state of Virginia. So lets move on and explore a few things that can decrease a person's chance of contracting hepatitis and staph, remembering that in the NRV, there are entire tattoo studios staffed by piercers and tattooists who are unlicensed by the state of Virginia.

First of all, and one of the most commonly ignored warning signs, if you walk into a tattoo studio and it looks like a dump, for goodness sake, leave! Get Out! If a studio can't be bothered to vacum and sweep their floor, if the bathroom is dirty, or if there is no soap in the bathroom, if dust is thick, then what are the chances that the instruments, equipment, and standards of practice are clean? Not very good, of course. Let's address a couple things that are of no value in helping the prospective client. Periodically we get people who ask us, " Is everything clean?" If everything wasn't clean, does anyone really think that the tattoo artist or piercer would actually tell them the truth? Please be realistic. How about this one?, "Do you use autoclave sterilization?" Yes, I use autoclave sterilization, but so do the dirtiest tattooists and piercers in the business. You're just not going to find a shop that doesn't use autoclave sterilization anymore. It's not usually the lack of autoclave sterilization that is the problem. It's the cross contamination that occurs after sterilization that's the issue. But if you're going to ask about autoclave sterilization - then ask them, (or me) to prove they have autoclave sterilization, and to prove that they have their autoclave tested regularly. Now let's move on to the real nuts and bolts of how germs are transmitted during tattooing and body piercing. Number one, lack of adequate hand washing. A large percentage of tattooists and piercers simply do not wash their hands before, during, or after the procedure. Go in the employee or public rest room of many studios and you'll often find the soap dispenser empty or non-existant. If there's no soap, then how could they be washing their hands?

Second, let's examine cross contamination - what it is, and how it happens. What is it? "The touching of clean to dirty or dirty to clean". It's that simple. It happens before, and, or during the tattoo or piercing, and after autoclave sterilization and hand washing(if hand washing even exists). Here's just two examples of many that I've had the misfortune to witness. I'll give you an example that personally happened to me several years ago at the dentist. I'm having a difficult procedure done that involved some minor bleeding. There is, of course, some minor blood on the latex gloves of my dentist. He adjusts his overhead lamp so as to see better, thereby contaminating both the gloves and the lamp. He continues to work. Without removing his gloves, he opens the drawer to his medication cabinet to administer another injection of lidocaine for additional numbing. He continues to work and once again adjusts the lamp, (same gloves). Without removing or changing his gloves, he picks up his pen and chart to write in my progress notes. Again, he adjusts his lamp, all the while wearing the same gloves. Are you getting the picture? Some amount of my blood had been "cross contaminated" onto everything. And any contaminants that were on the lamp, the pen, the chart, the medication drawer are now on his gloves and into my mouth. This was a licensed dentist whose papers were in order. Make no mistake about it, he had worked in the same manner on the patients before me for years, and he continued to work like this on the patients after me. If a longtime experienced dentist is capable of that severe a lapse in asceptic technique, then what are your chances with a piercer or tattooist who hasn't fulfilled the pathetic minimum requirement of education by DPOR's department of cosmetology for tattooists and piercers? Before I move on I'll give you another example. Several years ago my wife and I were in a tattoo shop in Radford. We were new in the area and so no one in the shop knew us. The owner and his apprentice were tattooing side by side, each with their own client. The apprentice's tattoo machine needed an adjustment. She hands the machine to the owner; he puts his machine down. He makes the required adjustment to her machine. He hands her machine back to her. He picks his machine back up and resumes tattooing. She resumes tattooing. All this transpired without either of them ever changing their gloves at anytime. They both, of course, had trace blood on their gloves from each client that they were working on. Am I drawing a clear picture? There was a complete cross contamination of body fluids from one client to another. I could feel my stomach churn. Neither of their clients had a clue that anything was wrong. Their happy smiles never left their faces the whole time. And this was a licensed tattooist!

Ideally, you may be able to watch your prospective artist or piercer at work before your appointment. Are they opening drawers, adjusting lamps, or touching containers without barrier control - with gloves that have been contaminated? Did they wash their hands before the procedure and after taking a break when resuming the tattoo? If they didn't, then it's probably their regular routine and everything in the room is dirty to some extent. It means they'll do the same thing with you. Many tattooists and piercers work in private rooms that make it impossible for you to watch. It doesn't mean they're hiding something, just that they need privacy and a lack of interruption to do their best work. They may be willing to let you watch though. Here at Rendezvous you can easily watch tattooing and piercing through the glass windows of each room, and of course, everything is directly supervised daily by an R.N. licensed in the state of Virginia. I mentioned the "pathetic minimum requirement" of hours spent in education for the prevention of spreading blood borne pathogens. I regret to tell you that the average time that it takes to fulfill the requirement in Virginia is about thirty minutes a year. That's not just very sad; but also very dangerous. So please be sure that you have everything on your side that you can.

When I write again I'll talk about the biggest reason why the best of intentions by tattoo artists and piercers is not enough. It's the big reason why so many are attracted to our business as an occupation to begin with. It's called substance abuse.

Later,

John