ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993                   TAG: 9308240482
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium


HEALTH PANEL HEARS FROM TATTOO ARTISTS

Tattoo artists who spoke at a public hearing Monday left the indelible impression that they don't mind if their profession is regulated.

However, there was some difference of opinion on whether the state should get involved. Localities already have authority to regulate tattoo parlors' sanitary conditions, and some practitioners of the ancient art said that is sufficient.

The General Assembly last winter directed the Board of Health Professions to study whether the state should regulate tattoo artists and parlors. No decision was made Monday.

A few nattily dressed doctors and lawyers were scattered among the tattooed, T-shirt-clad majority at the packed hearing. Most agreed that some form of regulation is desirable.

Mark Rubin, a lawyer for tattoo artist J.D. Crowe of Yorktown, said few health problems can be traced to reputable parlors. "The places you have problems are where people are doing it out of their homes," he said.

He noted that Crowe's business is subject to local health department inspections.

"Mr. Crowe says this issue can be dealt with best through better regulation at the local level," he said.

The cost of state regulation ultimately would be passed along to the legitimate tattoo parlors, "and they aren't the problem," Rubin said.

But James August Warsing Jr., owner of T.J.'s Dermagraphics in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, said he favors state regulations. All artists should be required to complete at least a two-year apprenticeship, he said, and parlors should be inspected by state health officials.

Several speakers also discussed regulation of shops that apply "permanent makeup" - a tattoo process in which color is permanently added to a person's eyelids, lips or cheeks.

Marjorie Vaughan said she endured an "excruciatingly painful" permanent makeup job with no guidance on pain management. She said the ordeal can drive the customer to drink or drugs.

Permanent makeup artists should be subjected to whatever regulations are set for tattoo artists, she said.

Robbie Eason, who applies permanent makeup at her Richmond salon, said she adheres to the city's tattoo regulations and has never had a problem passing inspection.

"The rules we already have cover us enough," she said.

However, two doctors said the remote possibility of transmitting the human immunodeficiency virus through tattooing makes further regulation worthwhile.

Dr. F.J. Pepper, an Alexandria psychiatrist, told the committee about an AIDS patient who was "tattooed from head to toe" and was convinced he contracted the HIV virus from a contaminated needle. The patient is now dead.

"The state should mandate proper use of the equipment and sterility of the surroundings," Pepper said. "It might also test the artists for HIV, although I realize that would be controversial."

Dr. Carroll Thomas Petty, a plastic surgeon, noted that the tattoo artist's ink must penetrate the epidermis, or outer skin layer. "If the pigment can go in, blood can come out," he said.

"Why wait for a plague of statistics to verify what we already know about the exchange of bodily fluids and blood?"



 by CNB