Is it true that most tattoo artists have hepatitis?

[Allison]

If so how did they contract the disease?

[Clever_Cat]

Oh good god. NO.And I wonder how rumors get started...

[tdon61]

And where did you get this information from, Bigfoot ?

[lmay1787]

Wow, I don't know where you heard that but that is definately a stereotype. Most tattoo artists are clean and know their trade well. If you are afraid of going to a specific tattoo artist then look around and ask people where they go and you are likely to find a great artist.

[Stevie]

thats rediculous...even worse ... you believe things like that

[LSU_Tiger23]

no, the percentage of tattoo artist who have hepatitis is no greater that the rest of the general population.

[sweetangel41086]

This is not true by any means. I can see how this rumor could be started...Alot of people don't go to certified places to get their ink done and see that some needles are reused and the artists don't wear gloves or take the proper saftey precautions. In that case, their is a chance that someone they've tattooed had hepatitis and they don't wear gloves and somehow blood is transfered. That is a very rare case. Most establishments have procedures in place to prevent things like this from happening to their artists. It's is most certainly an absurd falsification.

[catherine i]

Hi from France ♫Nooo !!... It's not true ...Have a nice day,Cat.

[nikkilee911]

HAHAHA! holy christ. Wonder where that one started. That has to be one of the dumbest things I've heard today!

[motley_brew03]

No it's not true. Especially for professionals. In the shop I work at we take every precaution and follow standards to stay clean and healthy, and also take classes on bloodborn diseases & pathogens, CPR, and other health issues. Before we put on the gloves we scrub with antibacterial soap and then use Purell on our hands ( it makes a hostile environment for any bacteria inside the gloves) The gloves go on and we open the sterile pack of tubes and sterile pack of needles (IN FRONT OF THE CUSTOMER!) and set up our machines. Then we pour our ink into the ink caps, using Kleenex to hold and open the ink to avoid any cross contamination. We use squeeze tubes of Vaseline so we can squeeze a line out rather than scoop out of a jar, again, to avoid cross-contamination. I personally, used distilled water out of a bottle to fill my wash cup with, to ensure the water is cleaner. Any piece of furniture, armrest, or bench the customer will be in contact with is covered with a dental bib. After the tattoo is finished the gloves stay on until the machine is broken down, the needles are disposed of into a sharps container, the tubes are placed into the ultrasonic cleaner, and anything with blood (paper towels, tissue, dental bib) is deposited into a biohazard recepticle. Once the station is broken down and cleaned, we take our gloves off and dispose of them, too, in the biohazard bin, and wash scrub our hands again. All furntiure and tables are sprayed down with Madacide and left to soak for 15 - 20 minutes, then wiped down with alcohol. After the tubes have been in the ultrasonic cleaner for 30 minutes, we put gloves back on, scrub the tubes with antibacterial soap and remove ALL ink from them, rinse, seal in autoclave bags and place in the autoclave. Most people in my shop get tested monthly for any disease. This is our livelyhood, and we cannot chance not being able to do it due to carelessness. No artist worth his or her salt would knowingly keep tattooing at the risk of infecting others. Hope this helped.

[etrigone]

I'd be surprised if you can find even a trivial minority (.01% to .1%) who do. I know all of *one* tattooed person, not even an artist, who has it and he got it when he was outside of the country on non-tattoo related stuff. Real artists are so paranoid about blood-borne pathogens that I wouldn't be surprised to find they have a lower incidence than the general population - without even taking into consideration the damage such could do to the careers of them & piercers.Seriously, it'd be like asking if most cops are brutal thugs, which is *so* very much not the case. Repeat after me: stereotypes are bad, bad, bad, and questions like this really need at least some references so we can find the perps and talk some sense into them.

[Nicky C]

I've never met a tattoo artist that has hep.

[*miaow*]

Em... I don't think so. Say it out loud... it sounds very silly!

[cykomiko]

thats the dumbest thing iv'e ever heard where did you get that idea?

[sanju]

i dont think that makes sense.. why will they... i dont agree with this.. must be a misconception...