When CAN'T I Get Tattooed? - Medical Conditions & Safe Tattoos (2024)

The urge to get tattooed comes to us all at different times. Ideas arise without consulting your schedule. Unfortunately, the timing may not be ideal for this point in your life. There may be physical ailments or conditions that would prevent you from being tattooed. Out of concern and consideration for clients’ health, most shops will not tattoo you if you have certain conditions. Choosing not to disclose medical conditions to your tattoo artist before your appointment could prove very harmful to your health. What would prevent you from being tattooed?

Pregnancy or Breastfeeding

Reputable shops will not tattoo any clients that are pregnant or breastfeeding. As with any tattoo, there is always the risk for problems such as infection. With pregnancy and breastfeeding, these risks would also be passed onto the client’s baby. As infants, these risks are also higher because their immune systems are not as strong. In addition, creating and birthing a child causes a lot of changes within the body. Many shops require clients to wait at least six months after postpartum or weaning off breast milk, sometimes even longer. That way your body has plenty of time to recover and return to normal so it is ready to endure and heal a tattoo properly.

Diabetes

Having diabetes doesn’t prevent you from ever being tattooed. It just means that you will have a lot of things to consider and address before hand. The primary concern is longer healing times. Tattoos are an open wound, as a tattoo needle pierces the skin thousands of times per minute. Longer heal times mean that the wound (tattoo) will be more at risk to bacteria and infection. The healing time is not as lengthy for those with well controlled diabetes. In addition, certain areas of the body with poor circulation or neuropathy will also have long heal times. Talk to your doctor before considering a tattoo, in order to keep your diabetes well maintained before, during and after the tattoo.

Psoriasis

Chronic skin conditions can pose unique risks for tattooing. There are a few possible triggers for psoriasis flares such as medications, stress, allergies, weather, illness or colds, and injuries / cuts to the skin – such as tattoos. Psoriasis doesn’t rule out even being tattooed though. First and foremost, you should speak with your doctor to see if you are a good candidate to be tattooed. You should not get tattooed in areas that regularly flare up, and your artist should not tattoo on or near a flare up. It’s also important to consider the ‘Koebner phenomenon’. This causes new flares to occur in areas with past trauma or injuries, where they haven’t before. Flares on new tattoos can cause them to heal poorly or take longer to heal.

Eczema

There are different types and degrees of eczema. Those that seldom have or have small flares are better candidates to be tattooed. While those with frequent, large and severe eczema should speak with their doctor before speaking to a tattoo a shop. People with eczema can have more sensitive skin, which could lead to allergic reactions to the pigments in tattoo ink. The process of getting a tattoo itself has the chance to cause skin irritations or flare ups – as the skin is punctured thousands of times and foreign particles (ink) is deposited below the skin to create a design. If your new tattoo triggers a flare up, it runs the risks of not healing well and lengthy healing time – which also makes it more vulnerable to infection.

Blood Disorders

There are several different types of blood related disorders or conditions. Some of them cause excessive bleeding or issues with clotting, which is not ideal for tattooing. Those with blood disorders may be turned away by shops due to the risks and issues posed by being tattooed. Blood disorders could lessen the artists visibility, extra wiping could cause the stencil to come off early compromising the design, and even dilute or push out some of the tattoo ink. This means the tattoo artist would either have to go over these areas multiple times, causing more trauma and pain to the skin – or end the appointment altogether. Also, blood disorders can also cause tattoos to heal poorly or long healing times.

Certain Medications

Certain medications, such as blood thinners (anticoagulants), would hinder the chances for being tattooed. Artists will not tattoo those taking blood thinners because it can cause excessive bleeding, which is not good while tattooed as mentioned above. Those that are taking anti-rejection medication for an organ transplant should not be tattooed until consulting with a doctor, due to the greater chance for infections. Even some acne medications pose risks when being tattooed, as they make the skin incredibly sensitive causing increased levels of pain and discomfort. It’s imperative to speak with your doctor if you are uncertain how your medication will affect your chance to be tattooed.

Conclusion

While these are notall of the conditions that should take special adherence, these are some of the most common among tattoo clients. Any client with an existing condition should at least confirm with their doctor whether or not being tattooed is safe. It is also important to disclose to your tattoo artist, so that they are aware and equipped to better serve you and ensure a safe experience. It should also be noted that every medical circ*mstance can be different from one person to the next.

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