Toxic tattoos

[fitmommy]

Ok i wasnt sure where to post this.Im trying to help a friend out.Ok so i have a mom in one of my natural parenting groups and she posted this yesturday now i have 3 tattoos and im really kinda freaking out about this i had no idea my tattoo could cause harm this is her statement below she gave me permission.

Since I know some alterna-moms (like myself) are all ink’d up....I thought I’d post this here too.

Recently I have been seeing a Naturopath who has been working with some immune issues I’ve been having. I eat all organic, exercise, get sunlight, consume no wheat dairy or sugar EVER and drink a ton of water and take supplements that work for my body.....but for the last 6 months I kept getting sick.

So I find a Naturopath I like and during my first visit she asks me how many tattoos I have (she could see the few I have on my wrists). I told her 11 and she says "Are you aware of all the heavy metals in tattoo ink? I think we just figured out your problem."

A little deeper into the consult she asked me when all my current health issues started. Then asked me how far apart that was from my last tattoo. Two months. The thing is too.....I was covering a tattoo that had caused me problems 10 years ago and put me in the hospital. I covered the ugly thing in August and then in October I started getting sick. REALLY sick. Tonsil issues, UTI’s, swollen glands, flu’s (and I DON’T get sick. EVER.)....none of my herbal tricks were working. Homeopathy, nothing. Acupuncture helped with acute infection and pain.....but not the chronic issue. My right tonsil is still HUGE, just not currently infected.

So I’ve been doing some research and came across some interesting stuff.

This is what I found:
http://www.womenfitness.net/news/bea...tatoos_ink.htm
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories...iew/sid/19124/
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/calga...0-14840cc1885df


The thing is....I LOVE tattoos! I have wanted them since I was little. My husband has them and I think they’re dead sexy..... But if I’m going to eat organic and make my own probiotic foods and grow veggies WHY would I put lead, mercury, fromaldahyde, cadmium,etc....into my skin???

I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do.

Other than I ’shouldn’t have done it in the first place suggestions? Anyone else concerned about their ink?

Oh, and if you read the articles, one of them talks about removal being worse ’cause then the toxins have to filter through your liver, kidneys, etc.....

Nice.
*sigh*

[Twwly]

I'm very heavily tattooed, own a tattoo shop. (We also eat organic, grow most of our own food, raise our own meat, are only a couple toys shy of being a plastic toy free house, etc). So I am biased here of course, but educated. And this is my take:

I never personally recommend nursing (whose nurslings are getting nutrition PRIMARILY from the breast, ie 12 months and under) mothers get tattooed because of the heavy metals. A contrary position to the LLL; from the very simple research I've done using MSDS info & the ingredient labeling on tattoo pigment, have found that the molecular weight is small enough to pass through breastmilk. I think it's unfounded and irresponsible of the LLL to say that tattooing while breastfeeding is "SAFE". There are no studies, no FDA approval.

THAT SAID.

Exercise COMMON SENSE & PERSPECTIVE. I don't want or need the government to slap a safety label on everything I eat, touch or wear, I can figure it out myself, thanks!

So - I don't sit for hours for tattooed while my nursling is primarily on the breast. In our shop, the decision is up to the woman's discretion (unlike tattooing a pregnant woman - an unequival NO) and I would think it would be perfectly reasonable for a woman to decide to get a SMALL tattoo while nursing. The risk is theoretical, and very small.

So even as a tattooed person and a shop owner, I do think there is potential for risk from tattoo pigments.

And to tie this into your question... YES, removal is worse. When you remove a tattoo you blast it apart and it becomes your body's job to reabsorb and filter it. When your tattoo is just sitting in your skin, largely, that is where it stays.

I know I'm not your naturopath, but even if you had your neck completely tattooed, I am going to guess it's not your tattooing making your right tonsil flare up, or JUST your tattoos. I don't mean to trivialize, but there are SO MANY TOXINS in our natural world, in our living spaces. Do you own a couch? A mattress? Do you drink water? Breathe air? Use shampoo or pass by people wearing perfume on the street? There are chemicals everywhere and while yes, it is (I feel) important to reduce our risk levels by reducing exposure, you have to be reasonable. Our Britax Boulevard carseats off-gas, but that doesn't mean I don't use them. That ice cream cone on a hot summer day from the stand may not be organic, but it is sure delicious. And the heavy metals found in SOME tattoo pigments MAY impact my health if I pound enough of them into my flesh, but by gosh they sure do make me happy. Basic research and the powers of deduction show it's certainly not akin to smoking butts or eating McDonalds, unless you're talking about being tattooed from your nose to your toes.

And EVEN THEN (as I mentioned I am already heavily tattooed) the potential for health impact has essentially no impact on my choice to continue to get tattooed. It is a risk I am willing to take personally and I think it's a pretty small one.

ALSO. You can still make wise tattoo choices. There is no way that you should be getting tattooed with ink that contains formaldehyde or gluteraldehyde or anything like that. If your tattoo artist cannot have a dialogue with you about what is in their pigment, the choice is yours to find another artist. There are also a variety of pigment sources for a number of colours in the spectrum and some are definitely safer than others. You don't have to be a scientist to realize pretty easily that glow in the dark and black light tattoos are probably not a hot plan, either. Haha.

Another also. The consensus seems to be "well it's safe in the short term" (for most people, some do have allergic reactions) but what about "the long term". And about that perspective thing: one of the earliest evidence of Man on this planet, well he had tattoos. Born in ol' 3300 BC. Frozen in time in the ice was his body and the pigment placed into his skin. My point? While tattooing has only become really mainstream recently, it has existed for eons in sects of American, Polynesian and Japanese cultures (just to name a few). We've seen that this is absolutely one of safer activities man has taken up and has evolved appropriately over the last 53 CENTURIES!

Like anything else, make an informed decision. Use common sense and put things into perspective.

[milkmommie]

Wow Twwly, thank you so much for this well informed, balanced response!! I've been considering a really large tattoo for the last 9mos or so and really really appreciate the points you make here. My nursling is 2 and 1/2 and I've struggled with how long to wait before diving in and getting my dream tattoo done. Your perspective has helped me very very much!!

[Panserbjorne]

I have two large tattoos (over 30 hours of ink all told between the two) and I am in no way against tattoos. I don't regret any bit of mine. However that said, I will say that different people process things differently. Not everyone excretes metals well, and those people are the ones that can have difficulty. It's not a simple matter of what goes in...it's how you handle what goes in. Some people have a higher capacity to deal with toxins.

And those ancestors? They weren't using the ink we are, nor are they dealing with the level of chemicals, vaccinations, medication and subclinical deficiencies we are. Just sayin'.

[Twwly]

Yer welcome, MilkMommie.

And I totally agree Panserbjorne, people definitely handle things differently. You never know how it's going to work out for you until it happens. If people are prone to allergies, we recommend a spot test before jumping right in to half an armful of a particular colour.

Those ancestors WERE actually using a lot of the same things we were. They were also doing cave paintings with pigment, and putting those same pigment sources into their skin. Carbon black and ochres ranging from brown to orange to yellow, not to mention plant sources. They obviously weren't into the hot pinks, but then again they were also using spit instead of some distilled water and witch hazel.

I have no idea about the details of the medicines or cures they were using, but I bet it was a lot more inventive than ol' Phizer or GlaxoSmithKline. I mean, you either survived things like trepanation or you didn't, and if you DID, well. Raging success! Hahaha.

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by Twwly

Those ancestors WERE actually using a lot of the same things we were. They were also doing cave paintings with pigment, and putting those same pigment sources into their skin. Carbon black and ochres ranging from brown to orange to yellow, not to mention plant sources. They obviously weren't into the hot pinks, but then again they were also using spit instead of some distilled water and witch hazel.

I have no idea about the details of the medicines or cures they were using, but I bet it was a lot more inventive than ol' Phizer or GlaxoSmithKline. I mean, you either survived things like trepanation or you didn't, and if you DID, well. Raging success! Hahaha.

I think you missed my point. I am talking about toxic load. I'm saying that between the destruction to the environment, the toxins we've accumulated in our own bodies and the vast array of pharmaceuticals in use our ability to handle even minor amounts of toxins that were handled in the past has been compromised. It isn't good enough to cite that our ancestors survived it. Back in the day what didn't kill you often did make you stronger. Also, they had more wiggle room than we do now. We have traded acute diseases for chronic illnesses and that's a whole different ballgame.

[Twwly]

I hear you, we're absolutely made of different stuff nowadays. In regards to the original question about safety, I still think that the length of the "trial" (as unscientific as it may be) does indicate that tattooing as a human hobby appears to be a pretty safe one. We certainly seem to be becoming as a people more allergy prone and I definitely wouldn't be surprised if more and more people demonstrate allergic reactions or sensitivities in the coming years and centuries!