People don’t think of a tattoo as a medical procedure, but it does create an open wound and that can lead to infections.
So, Oregon has released a new video to encourage tattoo parlor owners to keep their facilities clean.
The video outlines many practices that may seem like common sense, such as "use gloves when handling any instruments that come in contact with a client’s skin.” Other suggestions are less obvious, like only diluting ink using sealed, sterile water containers.
Back in 2012, the Oregon Board of Electrologists and Body Art Practitioners issued rules to try to reduce infections.
Sarah Kelber with the Oregon Health Licensing Office said the video highlights some of those rules.
“We do facility inspections and look at artist stations," Kelber said. "We use the information from the inspections to helps us guide to what were the rules that people didn’t seem to know about and to get the information out there.”
The video runs about 20 minutes and covers everything from storing a customer's medical information to how avoid contamination when putting on latex gloves. There's also a shorter version the agency produced for consumers.
The Oregon Health Authority says it will continue its body modification education campaign by holding a Facebook Live Q&A on tattoo safety rules at noon Wednesday, Dec. 28.
Copyright 2016 Oregon Public Broadcasting
