Do you think body art poses health risks? If you said no, you'd be mistaken, but not alone in this train of thought.
About the campaign
According to the University of California, Davis and Sacramento State University, 40 percent of college students believe that body art is unlikely to pose health risks. Because of this discovery, the two higher education facilities have teamed up to raise awareness on the topic.
"40% of college students believe that body art is unlikely to pose health risks."
"Be Smart with Body Art" is the brainchild of the UC Davis Cancer Center and Sacramento State University Partnership. It focuses on informing people on the dangers of tattoos and piercings, especially the risk of contracting hepatitis C – a disease that's only treated successfully in half of the cases.
"We want to give accurate information about safe tattooing that individuals can use themselves and share with others," said Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater, a faculty member with the UC Davis School of Medicine and Cancer Center. "The hepatitis C virus can lead to liver disease and liver cancer, and our goal is to prevent new infections by informing young adults of all the ways it can be transmitted."
How to participate
The project is already underway, starting with a news conference, website and video in California. It's since taken off, and advocates of the project hope it gains traction over the coming months. The primary objective is to get students to ask five simple questions before getting a new tattoo or piercing, which are posted on the campaign's official website:
- Do you use only new needles?
- Do you wear single-use latex gloves?
- Do your sterilize all equipment that comes in contact with blood?
- Do you cover fresh tattoos to prevent disease?
- Do you use new ink caps for each client?
Before getting tattoos and piercings, students should chat up their artists. Once you get a tattoo, you can get laser tattoo removal. However, you can't undo certain bodily damages like a hepatitis C. Play it safe so you can embrace your ink without any tattoo regret.
Over 45 million US adults* are living with tattoos, but now permanent ink can be a thing of the past. PicoSure® is the world's latest breakthrough technology in laser tattoo removal providing faster results in fewer treatments. Visit www.picosurear.wpengine.com to learn more and find a PicoSure Practitioner near you. * Source: Harris Interactive, 2012
