MRSA and tattoos; what you should know

A brief description

MRSA (pronounced "mersa") stands for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, a mutated variant of a common micro-organism called staphylococcus, or "staph" for short. This bacteria occurs naturally on everyone's skin and staphylococcus aureus in particular is one of two types of bacteria responsible for the majority of skin infections. The other is Streptococcus. While staph infections are not uncommon with tattoos, this particular strain of staph is of concern because it is resistant to penicillin and methicillin antibiotics.

Regular staph infections are easily treatable with a short treatment of antibiotics if caught in its early stages. In severe cases, a trip to the hospital for an IV antibiotic is needed. MRSA on the other hand received its name because it is resistant to most penicillin based antibiotics, including many of the commonly prescribed antibiotics given by doctors for regular staph infections.

Where it's been found

In the past, MRSA was localized to hospital settings with patients who were already hospitalized because of major surgery. As patients are being released earlier from hospitals, this variant of staph is being transfered from a hospital setting to the home environment. Recent cases have shown up in public areas such as gyms and training rooms, schools and other public buildings. MRSA is also common among IV drug users, prison inmates and people who receive illegal tattoos and piercings from underground artists and piercers.

Infection control requires very stringent control procedures and most professional tattoo artists are trained in these protocalls. Going to an untrained or unlicensed artist or piercer is only inviting trouble. The ultimate responsibility for your health is you.

What to look out for

Shops that take responsibility for public health will have a good reputation by word of mouth. The saying, "bad news travels faster than good news", is never truer than in the tattoo community. If you are unsure of a shop, ask around.

Use your own common sense as well. Look around the shop. Is it clean? Do the artists present themselves in a professional manner? Do they have the appropriate safety equipment (autoclave, ultrasonic cleaner)? Watch them for a while as they work on a customer. Do they maintain a sterile field, or are they touching things with dirty gloves? Do they clean their station between customers? Do they spray down their chairs after each customers? Are needles thrown out?

Aftercare is important

Because the staph bacteria occurs naturally on everyone's skin, it is important to maintain strict cleaning and preventative aftercare proceedures after you get your tattoo done. While it is almost impossible to determine where an infection may have come from, it is almost always blamed on the tattoo artist or shop. It is human nature toplace blame on others. "I didn't have it before, now I do. Therefore you gave it to me." seems only too logical when faced with an infected tattoo. You have to realize that the act of receiving a tattoo creates an open wound and that in itself is invitation for infection. That is why it is critical that you keep the tattoo area clean.

Wash your hands before touching your tattoo. Keep it covered if you think it will be in contact with anything dirty. Use a good antibiotic cream such as neosporin®, A+D ointment or Bacitracin®. Follow all aftercare instruction carefully.

And finally

If you do think you have an infection, bring it up with your artist. Be straightforward but not accusatory. Let them see the problem area so that they can offer suggestions. I often see people misdiagnose infections, thinking they have an infection when it is only a reaction to the ointment. An experienced tattoo artist can tell you if you have a problem, what the problem is and the best way to resolve the problem.

At worst, the shop may have to pay closer attention to their proceedures to determine if the problem occured on their end. If they find that the problem is with them, then hopefully they will work to correct it, even if they may not fully admit that to you. Remember that determining the time of infection is impossible to tell.

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Information for this article was collected from the following sites.