MsRad

wow msrad, that is pretty awesome. but seriously your first tattoo on your chest? youre one tough lady!

yeah it was funny because Chris asked me "you sure you want a chest piece as your first tattoo?" and to be honest, i hadn't really thought about the pain factor, but it actually has been one of my least painful tattoos! i think the wiring in my body for pain is just different from other people's because the most painful spots for me have been inner bicep and thigh by my knee. everything else has been a cakewalk in comparison.

i met Troy last year at MusInk. he's really a nice guy and very funny too.

getting tattooed is a journey , enjoy the ride.

this.

I was told 29 yrs ago to tattoo around moles , so I try to, never seen any proof of it.

yeah the mole bit was more of general advice. i don't have any tattoos where my moles are, but i do have a few that cover up freckles, so i just make sure i keep my eyes on them, and that they don't start growing uncontrollably. most of them are about the size of a pin head.

well, there's one person on here who would at least agree with that.

is there a place where i can watch it online? or does someone want to let me come over and watch it (and the Walking Dead!) weekly?

U BACK.

sort of. still mainly just lurking. and D, are you comparing me to George W.? ;)

first tattoo is my chest piece, done by Chris Conn, January of '05. sorry for the crappy photo, and there's been some fading and aging, but i still love it.

I am not concerned about tattooing causing skin cancer. But, to be frank, I am curious about tattooing hiding skin cancer that is already there or arises after being tattooed, correlation is not causation, for anyone thinking I am saying tattooing causes skin cancer, I'm not.

my current doctor, who is surprisingly very tattoo friendly, also shares this concern. she just tells me to watch for rapidly growing dark spots and make sure my moles stay the same shape and size.

the original article can be found here.

Although sleazy "scratcher shops" with unskilled artists and dubious safety records are largely a thing of the past, scientists are growing concerned about what's going into tattooed skin, not just how it got there.

New research has turned up troubling findings about toxic chemicals in tattoo inks, including carcinogens and hormone disruptors.

Inks, which are injected into the skin with small needles, have caused allergic rashes, chronic skin reactions, infection and inflammation from sun exposure, said Elizabeth Tanzi, co-director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. A study published in July suggested that phthalates and other chemicals may be responsible for some of those problems.

That raises questions about more serious, long-term risks such as skin cancer, scientists say.

One of the chemicals found in black tattoo inks, benzo(a)pyrene, is a potent carcinogen that causes skin cancer in animal tests. Dermatologists have published reports in medical journals on rare, perhaps coincidental cases where malignant melanomas are found in tattoos.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration launched new studies to investigate the long-term safety of the inks, including what happens when they break down in the body or interact with light. Research already has shown that tattoo inks migrate into people's lymph nodes.

For now, it's unclear what, if any, long-term health risks are posed by tattoo inks.

More people inked

An estimated 45 million people in the United States, including 36 percent of adults in their late 20s, have at least one tattoo, according to estimates by the FDA and a Harris Interactive Poll.

Most customers are concerned with how the tattoo will look years down the road.

"People usually don't come in worried about health concerns," said Mario Delgado, owner of Moth and Dagger Tattoo Studio in San Francisco. "People are more concerned about getting a good tattoo."

In July, German scientists reported that the chemical dibutyl phthalate, a common plasticizer, is found in black tattoo inks. In the study of 14 commercially available inks, they found low levels of the chemical in all of them and determined the substance could be the reason for adverse skin reactions.

With phthalates, which can mimic estrogen or disrupt testosterone, potential effects on fetuses and infants are the major concern. In infant boys, prenatal exposure to dibutyl phthalate has been linked to feminization of the reproductive tract.

But phthalates in tattoo inks may not carry the same risk.

"While this is a potential source of high exposure, it might not last very long and may not present a risk to health," said Joseph Braun, an environmental epidemiologist at Harvard University.

Metals found as well

Heavy metals such as lead, which can harm the reproductive and nervous systems, also were found in a study of 17 different black inks from five manufacturers.

Colored inks often contain lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, titanium and other heavy metals that could trigger allergies or diseases, scientists say. Some pigments are industrial-grade colors that are "suitable for printers' ink or automobile paint," according to an FDA fact sheet.

Black tattoo inks, which are usually made of soot, contain products of combustion called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, according to a 2010 study by the German scientists.

The PAHs in the inks include benzo(a)pyrene, which was identified in an Environmental Protection Agency toxicity report as "among the most potent and well-documented skin carcinogens." It is so potent that it is routinely used in animal tests to grow tumors. It also has been linked to skin cancer in shale oil workers.

"Tattooing with black inks entails an injection of substantial amounts of phenol and PAHs into skin," wrote the German scientists. They said the PAHs could "stay lifelong in skin" and "may affect skin integrity," which could lead to skin aging and cancer.

Scientists are debating the possible tattoo-cancer link, based so far on a handful of malignant melanomas found in tattoos and reported in medical literature.

"Even though cases of malignancies such as melanoma, basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas and keratoacanthomas have been reported for the past 40 years, it remains unclear what role tattoos play in their pathogenesis," wrote scientists from France's University of Montpellier in a 2008 study.

FDA's role

The FDA has the power to regulate tattoo inks and any added colorings. But the agency has never flexed its regulatory power, citing lack of evidence of safety concerns and other priorities.

In 2003 and 2004, the FDA received its largest cluster of complaints, more than 150, from people on the giving and receiving end of tattoos. Since then, the FDA has begun more research on tattoo inks.

One major question investigated by the FDA is where does the ink go when the tattoo fades?

Preliminary results show that a common pigment in yellow tattoo inks, Pigment Yellow 74, may be broken down by the body's enzymes, according to the FDA. Sunlight also breaks it down into colorless components of unknown toxicity. Also, when skin cells containing ink are killed by sunlight or laser light, the ink breakdown products could spread throughout the body.

Previous studies have shown tattoo inks move into the lymph nodes, but whether that is a health risk is not known, according to a 2009 FDA consumer update. Lymph nodes are part of the body's system for filtering out disease-causing organisms.

Because of the chemicals involved, California's Proposition 65 requires all tattoo shops to warn customers of exposure to carcinogens. The warning is included in the release forms that people must sign before getting tattooed in California.

Environmental Health News is a foundation-funded environmental news service. EHN publishes its own journalism and provides daily access to worldwide environmental news. For more on this story and others, go to Environmental Health News: Front Page.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

i couldn't find the thread where the unknown ingredients in pigments/inks and their potential risks were touched upon (i remember Dari expressing her curiosity), so if this seems better suited to be added there, please move it.

i haven't read the whole article as i'm heading out the door, but my initial reaction is "oh nooo....." not because i'm worried about getting cancer (because tattooing is the least of my cancer concerns compared to my genetic disposition and family track record for it), but because of the fear and regulation aspect.

anyways, thought i'd share it anyways.

i like Troy's sign idea.

we have to wait till October for the Freddy Corbin one? :(

my feet experience was the complete opposite of what you described, but then again, they're just outlines. my calf and shin on the other hand...

oh and one last think Areilla, the world of tattooing is full of opinionated people. what happened in the other thread is not nearly the worst i've seen. just shake it off, learn from it, and keep exploring on here. i think most of us on here are trying harder to keep our cool rather than be hot headed and reactionary. it's a challenge for all of us, informed and the uneducated, myself included. there's a lot we all have to learn about tattooing, but if you stick around here, i think you'll start to see a different side to tattooing than what you've probably already experienced.

Areilla, i think that artist crossed a line. at least from a customer's stand point. it was your work, and that's pretty disrespectful for anyone to rip if off without your permission, regardless of what style it was. personally, i wouldn't go back.

then again, i always let the artist design the tattoo for me. some artists may view having someone bringing in their own work as a slap in the face. after all, they are artists too, and perfectly capable of designing something that is unique and just for you (i've never seen one of my tattoos on someone else, other than the piece that inspired me starting this thread). that's half the fun for me, is seeking out someone based on their talents, and giving them a handful of ideas or something that's been stewing around in my brain, and then seeing what their imagination comes up with. but this is just my humble opinion and i'm in no way trying to argue with you. just provide you a different perspective.

man, i feel like it's so hard to know what to get in a back piece. i thought i was set on an idea, then i look at this thread, and a million other ideas just come into my head! i guess at the moment it isn't too pressing though, since i don't have the money to be spending on it anyway.

Have you been to Scapegoat, they are right in the middle of the Vegan Mini Mall. Sweatpea Bakery is like three doors down. I tag along with friends sometimes just to stop in the tattoo shop.

i have! but i also know people who have been tattooed by many of the guys there, and the work just always looks spot on. i fuckin' love sweet pea, especially their all you can eat brunch.

MsRad you are too kind. But i admit i was being sarcastic and speaking metaphorically.

yolks on me then! (well hopefully not, but you know what i mean)

it's hard to tell sarcasm from sincerity through text sometimes. and here i thought i was helping haha

i think about 99% of what i see coming out of Scapegoat is pretty awesome, and i'm not saying that just because i'm vegan.

i think an improved response might have been to link to the previous thread and also to the new tattoo newbie guidelines. just my own .02 as i slowly come back here. i was impressed enough with how this thread was handled to sign back in (not that my opinion counts for much, but just wanted to say "good job!").

and i think i get Deb's point (maybe?), and possibly another point she didn't even mean for others to get. her friend is missing out on the whole experience worried about what others will think, and on top of it, she'll never completely understand the experience of African Americans or other races for that matter, simply based on her own ethnicity/race. tattooing is kind of similar. if you're not born or develop that drive to be tattooed, then you're never going to understand the full experience, and if you're worried all the time about what others think, then you're probably never going to have that innate drive.

except for the jewelry shop. that's always seemed odd to me.

oh man 4am? that's brutal! i was thinking more like 7 or 8 haha. i'll be getting home at 11:30, so i'd like get 6 to 7 hours of sleep at least before attempting to do any of those exercises.

okay...when people fight on LST this is how I feel...but only on the inside...

can't see it!

I took it a step further and have a RECORD LABEL tattoo!

which one!?

man, that sounds nice!