Taming the tattoo: Stricter county rules target body decoration shops

Friday, April 6, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

Rey J. Caigoy paid $81 for a health card so that he can work as a tattoo artist and body piercer in Las Vegas, and he isn't happy about Clark County Health District plans to add what amounts to another $140 for a mandatory disease prevention course and a hepatitis B vaccination.

"Everybody's trying to take a piece of us," said Caigoy, who works at Sin City Tattoo II, which has two shops on east Charleston Boulevard. "Our fees are already too high and adding more is wrong."

Clark County health officials expect the stricter requirements for tattoo and body piercing parlors to be approved today by the state Board of Health.

Operators would have to be vaccinated for hepatitis B, and parents or guardians would be required to stay with minors during procedures. The Clark County Health District would enforce the new rules, which also would apply to establishments that offer permanent makeup.

Hepatitis B is a potentially fatal illness that attacks the liver, as do the other strains of the virus, hepatitis A and hepatitis C. The A strain is usually transmitted through contact with contaminated food or fecal matter; the B strain can be passed through contact with bodily fluids. Hepatitis C is most commonly transmitted by sharing needles, Rose Lee Bell, an epidemiologist with the Clark County Health District, said.

People can be carriers of the hepatitis virus without feeling sick themselves, which makes the illness difficult to track, Bell said. In Asia, where hepatitis immunizations are less common, as much as 20 percent of the population could be carriers of hepatitis, Bell said. The adult population of North America has just a half-percent rate of hepatitis infection, Bell said.

Forty-one active cases of hepatitis B were reported in Clark County last year. And that, Bell said, is "not even the tip of the iceberg."

The virus can be dormant for decades, Bell said.

"We know hepatitis is a real problem in Clark County as it is nationwide, but it's impossible to know the full extent of it," Bell said. "Encouraging vaccinations is one of the best preventive measures we have available."

New operators would have to begin the hepatitis B vaccination series within 30 days of starting work, according to the new regulations already approved by the district Board of Health. And current operators will have 30 days from the time the new regulations take effect to begin their shots, said Phillipa Pointon, district senior environmental health specialist.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration already requires employers to provide free hepatitis B shots to employees who work in high-risk occupations, and tattoo artists and piercers fall into that category, Pointon said. But because most operators are actually independent contractors, some owners have managed to skirt around the OSHA requirements, Pointon said.

"We wrote the hepatitis B requirement into our regulations so that there would be no gray area," said Pointon. "Most of the operators realize this is for their own safety, because the risk of a customer infecting them with hepatitis is very real."

The current cost of a health card to work as a tattoo artist or piercer in Clark County is $81, which includes $51 for a written exam and $30 for a hepatitis A immunization and tuberculosis test. If the new regulations are approved, the cost will jump to $221, with the addition of $20 for a workshop on preventing disease transmission and $120 for the series of three hepatitis B vaccinations.

T.J. Turner, a piercer who works at Sin City Tattoo II, said he was dismayed that the health board was passing on the expense of the hepatitis B vaccination to the operators.

"We've already had to pay a boat load of money to be in the business," Turner said. "I'm all for making sure things are safe, but if they're going to change the rules the cost should be on them."

Tim Thurtle, owner of Sin City Tattoo II, said although he believes there are already enough measures in place to protect both the public and the operators, making the hepatitis B vaccine mandatory won't hurt business.

"The days of the stereotype of the beer-swilling, tattooed biker are over," Thurtle said. "People from all walks of life get tattoos, and they have to believe they're coming to a clean, sterile environment."

Michelle Harvey, who was at Sin City Tattoo II on Wednesday celebrating her birthday, said she and a friend did some research before choosing a tattoo parlor. Harvey said cleanliness and the operator's reputation were top concerns.

"I'm rebelling a little bit because I'm turning 30, but I'm not going to do something stupid," Harvey said, after choosing a 3-inch dragonfly tattoo, which she will wear on an ankle.

Some of the regulation revisions are simply expanding on common sense, Pointon said. When the health board last revised the requirements in 1996, district officials assumed the adults who signed the permission forms for children younger than 18 would actually be present while the tattoo or body piercing work is done, Pointon said.

"Instead, parents were dropping the kids off and going shopping," Pointon said. "It's important that the adult stay for the entire procedure, and we've now made that explicit in our regulations."

Operators will now have to keep photocopies of picture IDs belonging to customers 21 and younger for at least two years and organize all records according to month and year, Pointon said.

The owner of nine tattoo and piercing parlors including Wild & Wicked Tattoo on Las Vegas Boulevard, said he approved of the stricter regulations.

"I go strictly by the health board's rules because I don't want the headaches or the aggravation," said the owner, known only as Sharky. "If other places in town don't want to follow the rules, that's their business."

Sharky said he already requires parents to stay with their children during any procedure. "It's not just for the kids, to help them feel comfortable, but for the protection of the tattoo guy or the piercer," Sharky said. "They are never alone with someone underage."

Candice Raasch, whose mother was with her when she got her first tattoo 10 years ago when she was 14, said forcing parents to be present for the procedures goes too far.

"Once parents sign the permission slip it should be over and done with," said Raasch, who has four tattoos and a pierced tongue. "I can understand what the health officials are trying to achieve, but I can also see how a rebellious kid might choose a tattoo twice as large just to aggravate his mother who's standing there."

The operators themselves suggested some of the regulation changes during public meetings, including a requirement that piercers complete an apprenticeship program before getting a license, and getting more training in disease prevention, Pointon said.

"Most of the people in the industry are as interested in improving safety as we are," Pointon said.