Tattoos

Body piercing and tattoos are a popular form of body art that have been practiced throughout history by various cultures. Body piercing has been around for thousands of years.  Although difficult to believe, the history of piercing actually begins with the Bible.  It is mentioned in the Bible that body piercings represented wealth, prosperity, and power.  Society expected its members of high society to wear body jewelry to show off their beauty and affluence. Many cultures have attached themselves to there body piercings and tattoos. In today’s culture, tattoos and body piercings are a very popular form of art and younger generations are starting to get them. They are also indicative of a psychology of self-mutilation, defiance, independent, and belonging. There are many piercings sites that include ear, nose, eyebrow, tongue, cheek, navel, labia, and penis. Piercings are removable but therefore on the other hand tattoos permanently mark various areas on the body. Piercings are performed quickly and are done without anesthesia. Piercings are usually done by a spring loaded ear-piercing gun or needles. The needles diameter of a piercing needle is from six to an 18 gauge. Piercings can be done in tattoos and or beauty parlors. Originating from the Tahitian word for tattoo, the meaning is “to mark.” Tattoos are permanent marks or designs on the skin. An electric needle injects colored pigment into small deep holes made in the skin by the tattoo. In recent years, the ancient art of mehndi, or temporary tattooing of the skin with the paste made of henna has become very popular. Many people, who use Mehndi, are from foreign countries like Iran. Samuel O’Reiliy invented the electric tattooing machine in 1891. Tattoos machines work by using a hollow needle filled with permanent ink, the electric motor pushes the needle in and out of the skin at a rate of up to 3,000 punctures per minute. The tattoo needle inserts a small drop of permanent ink about 1/8 of an inch below the surface of skin each time it punctures your skin. In civilizations like the Aztecs, Mayans, and American Indians piercings were a part of their rituals and traditions. Cultural tattoos are placed on the time-honored method of a certain cultural ethnicity. The tattoos of the South Pacific Islands are placed by that method and display the artistry of their particular heritage. Many after having on tattoo for so long people want to either remove it for many reason so now we have currant treatments that include excision of because the laser removal has not been that successful, patients might be very unhappy and it will and could be very costly. Since piercings and tattoos are very popular, they both can give you potential health risks. Tattoos can lead to the transmission of infectious disease. Many of the infectious diseases’ are Hepatitis B and C, which can led to HIV. If proper sterilization is occurred the needles in both cases can lead to renal failure and even death in some cases. A recent Mayo Clinic study reported that 17% of college students with piercings suffered a medical complication such as infection or tearing. Body piercings and tattooing are unregulated in most of the United States, but illegal in some.